Hey everyone. I just took in a rescue for the first time with severe scale rot. I have a local breeder helping me and she is outstanding and I am so thankful. I am just looking for a few extra opinions. I had been doing betadine soaks for this snake, and now she is in shed. She is on paper towel bedding with just room humidity. I don’t want to keep her on anything damp because the scale rot is so bad, but how can I help her shed? Are humidity boxes ok? I had read that betadine can be drying so I wasn’t sure about continuing to do that.
Edit: my breeder friend also does a lot of rescue work and has several years of experience. I wouldn’t have asked for help from someone that didn’t have experience with this type of injury. I just wanted some extra opinions on how I could help her shed. I have made her a vet appointment for tomorrow 2/6.
Have you taken this one into a vet appointment? If not it needs to be done ASAP for an evaluation and antibiotics as at this point just betadine soaking is not enough.
It seems like some spots of skin on the belly is just completely gone
Keep the paper towel setup and enclosure moisture to a minimum. Thats as much advice as I can give you because there’s not much else I can do but tell you to get this BP to a vet.
It’s so bad. And she is so skinny. I haven’t taken her to the vet yet. My breeder friend has been helping me. She is still moving around a lot and has a lot of energy. I wasn’t expecting her to be so active because I know she is uncomfortable. The girl said she had noticed it 2 days prior to messaging me and asking me to take the snake. How did she not notice this? I was absolutely furious when I saw her. I want to do what’s best for the snake. Thanks for your response.
If you truly want to do what is the best for this animal then take her to a qualified reputable reptile vet yesterday, immediately, if not sooner. Your breeder friend may mean well but he/she cannot provide sound medical advice/medications including antibiotics, which this animal so desperately needs. This forum can provide advice but imo, there is no otc advice we can give at this point that can heal this poor animal without exam and meds etc prescribed by a vet.
She may seem energetic to you by moving around a lot but this behavior could also mean the poor thing is uncomfortable. I commend you of course for taking on this precious girl but by doing so you have automatically accepted the responsibility for providing her the utmost best of care which is seeking immediate medical attention by a qualified reptile professional.
I highly doubt this is true to be brutally honest. They were actively neglecting this snake… I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t have septicemia
Definitely get in a vet appointment as the soonest possible time or see about an emergency vet visit, its absolutely at that point.
Expect a course of antibiotic injections and a possible ointment for the belly, if the snake survives there will be heavy scarring on the belly that may impede motion and movement.
Neglect is the only way to not notice this severe condition. Possibly the smell that brought her attention to it.
Definitely a vet visit.
I, unfortunately,have seen injuries this severe. An unregulated heat mat was the cause.
For scale rot to advance this far and the animal to be so emaciated it would have had to have been left in a cage decorated with feces and/or raw sewage for weeks.
Just wow!
Being active while in this state is a sign of discomfort. It’s also a sign that her will to live is good.
There is hope. It is going to be a rough road for her but she has you. Thank you for taking this on.
More than weeks… Quite literally months, between the severity of the scale rot AND emaciation. That doesn’t happen over a few weeks vacation.
Thank you, OP, for taking this poor ball in. Please do seek advice and treatment from a certified exotics vet, as this is beyond an at-home remedy if we’re being ethical and really wanting to give this animal a shot at survival. I hope the poor thing makes it for you.
I agree with @gabonica1 and the heat mat.
This looks very much like a burn and they can sneak up in a very quick amount of time compared to scale rot. Literally can go from a little pink to skin falling off because it’s the tissue underneath that dies first.
I agree with comments above. This snake absolutely should see a vet. Not a breeder. The stomach even has the zippered corset look of a burn snake to me. Her belly scales are just gone because the injury went to the muscle and killed the skin. So unfortunately even when this snake starts eating you will need to be very cautious about food sizes as she heals. As @cmsreptiles said, there will be impeded movement. And obviously may still remain painful after healing. My rescue boy does not like having his tail touched at all because it was part of the worst burn.
You will need the vet to possibly help debride the dead and dying skin.
They might also recommend some antibiotic injections just to make sure she can handle the infection. But her weight can be a concern
They will probably recommend a skin cream like silver sulfa.
I don’t know if they will still recommend betadine soaks. Mine didn’t.
For this case…
Paper towels only. You can do a soak daily with water to help with the shedding. You will most likely be doing that to help clean the cream off the belly before adding the next day application.
Do not offer a large water bowl. Either a very small one she cannot climb in or try and let her drink some of the soak water before she goes in it. If she’s soaking that can keep the tissue moist after washing off the topical. Bad for her to drink and bad for the skin to be left wet and unprotected.
With luck she can recover. But it’s going to take months. As long as she’s not loosing more weight and she’s active just let her be. If she does start loosing weight and starts slowing you may need to assist feed a very small meal each week to get a few calories in for healing.
The smell was terrible. I smelled her as soon as I went in the room where my husband and daughter had put her until i got home from work. It took everything i had not to cry.
Are we even sure that scale rot is the only thing going on here? With how severe the wounds on her belly are, I almost wonder if she suffered burns at some point, maybe from sitting on an unregulated heating mat? She’s literally missing entire sections of her belly scutes.
Definitely second the suggestion of getting her to a vet ASAP. As in, this is precisely the sort of situation where it’s worth paying extra for a same-day emergency appointment, if you have a local reptile vet that offers them. This is going to require systemic antibiotics, antiseptic soaks are not going to cut it for an infection this severe.
Her being active is a good sign. Hopefully you can get her responding to some antibiotics before she goes totally sceptic. I’m glad she’s at least with someone who cares now. Good luck to you and her, I hope you’ll keep us posted on how her recovery goes.
That poor creature. I’m glad she’s landed with a human who cares. She’s going to need veterinary help as soon as you can possibly get her seen. She needs more than even the best home recommendation: she needs prescription meds. Hopefully with good medical treatment, attention and time she will be able to recover. Thank you for taking on this challenge.
I do think it started as a burn. The girl that had her before told me the heat mat had malfunctioned and burned her and that she wanted to rehome the snake. I asked her to send me pictures and i about died. The enclosure was cracked on the bottom like it gotten too hot so i got her a new one. I don’t know what this girl was doing. She also told me her cousin was a breeder and she had been asking him what to do. She still had the poor girl on her coconut bedding and it was soaked in the picture she sent me. I made sure to ask her cousins name so i know not to buy from him or recommended him to anyone else. I was floored when she told me he didn’t even tell her to get the snake on paper bedding. Thank God for my amazing breeder friend that told me to get this snake away from that girl immediately.
Thats great to hear! Once those antibiotics get to work you’ll probably see quite a bit of improvement with your BP.
Just continue making sure she stays clean and dry outside of soaks and if she relapses with this issue to get her back in, it may take a few rounds of antibiotics with how severe this wound is…
