What's this?

Hello!

This is Rey, she just turned 5 years old this summer and has had absolutely no health issues her whole life. :crossed_fingers:

I took her out today for a bath and to eat and all of the sudden I noticed something on her nose area. My first thought was scale rot or something but there are no other signs around the rest of her body. Her husbandry hasn’t changed at all lately and her behavior has stayed the same, so I am pretty in the dark on this. If you know anything, please lmk!

1 Like

Is it indented? Could you give us some more info on her care, a picture of her enclosure, a good description of what the issue looks like in person, and a picture of something like a quarter next to her head for size reference?

2 Likes

It kinda looks like a scab to me, could happen due to something in the cage she’s rubbing her face on.

1 Like

I agree with Logar, definitely need a bit more info. Especially on how her cage, temps and how heat is set up.

The good news is that it doesn’t look to be too serious at the moment. I think if you keep her in a clean temporary enclosure and monitor it til her next shed it should mostly clear up. You may need to give her an extra couple of soaks when she’s getting ready to shed to loosen the area up a bit more and keep the humidity up towards the 70% mark if you could to make it as easy as possible.
I don’t think you need to worry too much about antibiotics and such as it looks pretty clean at the moment. The bath should get whatever little grit is on the area out. But you do want to monitor her for a bit for any type of swelling in the area or if it starts to look angrier and larger in size. Use this photo as a reference point while checking her. It’s in an area that can be very difficult to work on if it does become infected.

While she’s in a clean temporary enclosure or tub I would take a good look at her enclosure and check for any sharp edges or areas she could have wedged her nose into and gotten that in the first place. It could have been from burrowing to hide or trying to reach or get away from heat being the most likely reasons.

She looks like a really pretty girl though!

2 Likes

@lovethesnakes42 I know you said you took her out for a bath and to eat so I’m assuming you feed her out of her enclosure but do you feed live or frozen thawed? If you feed live that spot could be a small bite mark from a rodent?

Just a way out in left field guess which is where I most usually am!

1 Like

She eats frozen thawed, so thank goodness a bite is a check off the list :white_check_mark:

1 Like

Good idea with the extra humidity and soaks, I’ll definitely do that.

She’s in a 4’ x 2’ x 2’ with a reptibark, moss, and organic topsoil mix substrate. (I would send a pic but I turned it into her temporary setup, so it looks nothing like it was)
Her ambient/cool side temp is 75, and her warm side ranges from 88-93 controlled with a heat mat and thermostat combo.

I did tare a part her enclosure like crazy for sharp things and found nothing that could do it besides maybe her cork bark.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

1 Like

What brand enclosure is it?

The Dubia.com Reptile Habitats one (I think it’s called).