bredli scale rot

i just got home from a local reptile faire, and i got me a real beaut of a bredli female, and i had made a deal with another guest before the faire about a bredli he had, and wanted to trade for 2 of my a. maculosa hatchies, we traded and he went home, i went inside to see the faire while the bredli was stocked in the wardrobe section, wich they had assigned to ppl who brought or bought animals, but wasnt ready to go home yet.

i went to get it, so it could be sexed by a friend of mine who had a booth at the faire, and when we picked it up it had some really really nasty scale rot.










the guy i traded with was long gone, i wrote him a text and told him that, that was just not alright, he claimed he had no clue.

anyway do i regret the trade? i fear for what will happend to the 2 maculosa's but im happy i got the bredli into custody.

now i will have to see if it can be treated, i plan on soaking it in an F10 solution daily for a period and keep it as steril and dry as possible.

i have never seen such severe scale rot before with my own eyes in the 20 years i have kept reptiles.

so if anyone has suggestions on how to treat it, please im all ears.

20 years Reptile experience and you didn't check the condition of the Python ?
Lesson learnt the hard way !

it has been a long time since i checked snakes for anything like that, mostly because i have always had dealt with honorable breeders, i have seen a couple of pictures of it in its enclosure wich seemed to look fine, but again those can be snatched off the internet, so yeah i learned the hard way, back in the days when 80-90% of the snakes in the trade where WC you had to check because they where more likely to be infested with ticks, mites or other unwanted ****.

it sucks, but atleast it is in good hands, now i just need to see if i can get it in good condition.

I would generally advise a vet for that as it looks nasty. I would definitely not be bathing it in F10 solution though, you really need something like Betadine and probably antibiotics. F10 is a disinfectant and will irritate the tissue further. To clean it up, sterile saline solution followed by a topical antiseptic (Betadine or similar) and antibiotics like Neomycin. Although a Vet would definitely be the wisest move as it will almost certainly kill the snake if not treated properly.

Basically unless you really know what you are doing get it to a vet, it is treatable, but messing about and experimenting will give you a 100% dead snake.

i used F10 since i found a treatment description with it.

Scale Rot - Reptile Forums

and i got told i could use that, and i read up on the product where it was also proved to be useful as treatment for scale rot in snakes.

anyway ill give it a week with mild F10 bathes and keeping it dry, if it doesnt seem to improve im gonna take it with me to the vet, when my dog is getting his annual visit.

what causes scale rot? is it painfull to the python.. it looks bad..

well most cases its caused by keeping them on too moist/wet substrate or too dirty substrate so they lie in their own urin and ****, in the beginning it shows as redish miscoloured scales and can be treated quite easily if taken early in its stage, just by keeping it dry and clean, but severe cases like this it is painful for the snake, its scales well basically rot away and can create open wounds and worst make the infection internal aswell.

Snotty said:

I would generally advise a vet for that as it looks nasty. I would definitely not be bathing it in F10 solution though, you really need something like Betadine and probably antibiotics. F10 is a disinfectant and will irritate the tissue further. To clean it up, sterile saline solution followed by a topical antiseptic (Betadine or similar) and antibiotics like Neomycin. Although a Vet would definitely be the wisest move as it will almost certainly kill the snake if not treated properly.

Basically unless you really know what you are doing get it to a vet, it is treatable, but messing about and experimenting will give you a 100% dead snake.

Click to expand...

yes, i would have thought bettadine too. Don't ever prescribe yourself or your animals/children/people around you antibiotics though, it decreases the populations immunities to abuse antibiotics and use the wrong ones.
Seek a vet asap, reptile owners are great at dealing with things without vets but something like this is causing the animal a lot of pain and needs prescribed antibiotics. Angel got burnt really bad once and looked like that. she had an anti biotic course administered once every three days but injection (which i was able to do for here with needles at home) prescribed by dr Michelle Bingly who I would strongly recommend if you live in or near sydney.

I would take it to the vet, it really needs to be on some antibiotics (they sometimes use Fortum). Soaking in a Betadine solution will help but it may actually need the minor surgery to clean the ventral scales. Find yourself a good Herp Vet.

As stated i bought a female on the same faire, shes a stunner nothing wrong with her other than a few mites, so shes still in quarantine, anyway i gave her a good soak today wich she seemed to enjoy alot, so i snapped a couple of shots of her.

enjoy
View attachment 262877
View attachment 262878

A little update, looks to be healing up nicely, gonna see if he wants to eat this weekend.

Looks more like a healing burn to me - it's obviously a very old lesion - and much of it has healed already. Nearly all the ventrals have been burned away toward the back end of the animal. In my opinion it's too localised for a severe scale-rot infection. Looks like it's clean and healing well though.

Jamie

Scribble_pants said:

Don't ever prescribe yourself or your animals/children/people around you antibiotics though, it decreases the populations immunities to abuse antibiotics and use the wrong ones.

Click to expand...

You can't prescribe yourself or your animals/children/people around you antibiotics - unless you are a doctor or a vet.

Looks like a healing burn to me too.

I agree Jamie, doesnt appear to be a pure scale rot infection. There does seem to be burning of the ventrals. I am assuming you are using a f10 solution? Personally if i was you mate, i would be utilizing some form of betadine solution. Maybe a small dose of baytral or linco, just to fight off any internal infection that you may not have noticed.

I don't think antibiotics are necessary - there is no sign of active inflammation or swelling, or pus exudate. The wound looks clean, dry and healthy, and is healing well.

Jamie

when i got him he had a couple of spots that was open beneath the skin, they are closed now, its hard to see because the damaged tissue is drying up, but he is actually healing up, he still seems alert and curious wich is a good sign considering his condition.

Well all the best with him mate.