I just noticed Henry has a bump on his nose. I don’t think it is anything serious and probably is from rubbing on the screen top of the enclosure. I figgured I would ask you fine people for your options to put my mind at ease. Thank you!
-Robert
2 Likes
That isn’t something I have seen with nose rubbing before personally. Normally you get an open sore and not a swollen lump. I would be concerned about an abscess myself. If you have the ability, a quick checkup at a reptile vet wouldn’t hurt.
1 Like
Oh no thats not what I wanted to I hear. His personality hasent changed other then pulling away when I try to touch the lump. If no improvement by tomorrow ill call my vet and set up an appointment for him.
1 Like
It’s likely an abscess, but if he’s still eating and drinking and otherwise acting normally I wouldn’t stress too much.
Most likely the vet will remove it, and hopefully test the material to check if it was caused by a bacterial infection or not.
My ball python girl Butters has an abscess on her lower jaw — got it removed once, and it came back. Since they determined it was non-bacterial, I’ve decided to just let it go instead of pouring more money into trying to get rid of it permanently. She still eats and drinks like normal, and otherwise acts like she always has… so I don’t think it’s bothering her too much.
2 Likes
How quickly did it swell up, and when did you notice it? If you could, try and prevent him from rubbing it more by putting aluminum foil over the bottom of the screen.
I first noticed it yesterday because the scales looked a little different and slightly stretched, then today noticed an obvious bump and scale spread on the tip of his nose. But yes thanks for the idea I got some foam board I can ziptie to it.
He last ate a large rat 2 weeks ago, maybe he “stabbed” himself with his sunstrate and eventually got infected?
It could be from substrate, or it could be from a small scratch from a nose rub and bacteria from the substrate getting in it. No real telling the exact cause.
It’s most likely rubbing, possibly stress related. It can turn into something more serious or get infected/result in an abscess though. Has he been introduced to a new enclosure or anything like that recently? It’s most likely nothing to worry about. Twice when I have changed enclosures one of my more active BPs has developed a bump on her snout but it has gone away as she settled in.
1 Like
Keep eye on it…If does not get better or gets worse definitely hit up a Vet…If its infected dont want it to get worse. If he stops eating get him checked out asap.
1 Like
Thank you! That’s my current plan, the swelling doesn’t look any worse today, if anything it might have gone down a little bit. I’m just going to keep a close eye on him for the next few days, if no improvement or get worse I’ll schedule an appointment with my vet right away. Again thank you to everyone for your advice, I know I’m probably just being overconcerned, but I don’t know what I would do if something happened to my big boy.
2 Likes
Good to see he’s getting better.
1 Like
Hey did you ever figure out what it was and what did you do to get rid of it?
1 Like
Boas get things like this a lot and for a variety of reasons. Often it’s impacted teeth from striking at the cage, sometimes it’s broken bones from striking, other times it’s related to respiratory infections. Seeing the vet is the best approach to dealing with it. I’ve had a couple boas with things like this over the years and even with vet care it can be something that comes and goes throughout life.
4 Likes
Henery healed up perfectly!!! It took a few shed cycles but he is good as new. Never figgured out what caused it, my best guess was from rubbing. Thank you for asking!
6 Likes
I would say that most of the nose rubs I’ve had are due to a boa that isn’t quite comfortable enough to stop seeking a new place to reside- making slight changes to environment does the trick almost every time, more hide areas each with different heat gradients. Cookie cutter care doesn’t work for every individual and some of the localities and species of available are notorious for this, indicating a lack of knowledge imo(me too). The above mentioned condition is swelling caused by face pushing.
The two other causes of rubs that are much more serious are tooth abscesses and wounds from bites. These are tough ones, as without more invasive procedures in way of surgery, they will not go away on their own.
1 Like