Snake Scabs?

[the.badger]

Hey guys, handling my Brissie coastal tonight while we cleaned his house and noticed he has a few scab type things on his back, about 3/4 the way down. Tried to get pics for you all but they didn't really come out, so I'll describe them as best I can.

They're only small, about 5 scales or so each, there are 3 of them, two about 4cm apart and a smaller one about 1cm underneath one of the top ones. They're slightly lighter in colouration and feel slightly rough.

I don't think it's mites because of the light colour, also he hasn't been in his water bowl and I haven't seen any mites in his enclosure or in my hands while handling.

I think it might be injuries from a dog bite - previous owner said his dog used to 'play' with snakey. Or it might possibly be patches from a previous bad shed.

What do you guys think, and what do you think I should do about it?

 

[serpenttongue]

Hard to say without pics. Could be either dry patches after a dry shed, or scale rot patches....

 

[the.badger]

Oh crikey, scale rot? Sounds bad.

 

[serpenttongue]

It might not be that.

Pics, dude, pics!!

 

[mckellar007]

scab type? have you got cages around the lights?

 

[the.badger]

Sorry guys, I tried to get pics but my camera is no good at night and my SLR has a flat battery

There are no cages around the lights as yet as I can't find any that will fit the set up in Melbourne, I'll be going to Ballarat in a week or so and I'll get some from Pails for Scales then. But I don't think they're burns because there are only these 3 tiny patches, they're at the rear of his body and they're on his back, not his belly.

Just looked at a pic of some particularly nasty scale rot along a snakes belly and these patches don't look like that as yet. They're not indented or anything, they sit flush with his scales and I think I can see his scales under the dry scab type thing. They look very dry.

Should I just wait for him to shed, and take him to the vet if they get worse or bigger?

 

[mckellar007]

it sounds alot like a spotted i saw a couple of weeks ago. had a burn just up from its cloaca on the top of its back. ended up getting infected and needing antibiotics. its fine now. just looked like scabs.

 

[Shonfield]

with no cages around the lights i would say your snake has burnt itself on your light.
cant help you with what to do about it because im not expert but id say put cages on the lights and take it to a vet.

 

[Rache]

If it is a bad shed you could try giving him a warm bath or spraying on some skin shed spray. If in doubt tho I would take him to a vet. I know of a place in Sunshine called Living Jungle that sell a few different types of cage lights and might have the one you need, there is also upmarket pets in the city and Amazing Amazon in Glen Waverly that may have cage for you lights.
Best of luck. Hope all turns out ok.

 

[the.badger]

Thanks Rache, I'll check it out and get some cages.

 

[mckellar007]

If it is a bad shed you could try giving him a warm bath or spraying on some skin shed spray. If in doubt tho I would take him to a vet. I know of a place in Sunshine called Living Jungle that sell a few different types of cage lights and might have the one you need, there is also upmarket pets in the city and Amazing Amazon in Glen Waverly that may have cage for you lights.
Best of luck. Hope all turns out ok.

dont forget totally reptiles in rosanna!!

 

[the.badger]

Oh where is Rosanna? I live in the Dandenongs and work in Narre Warren.... anywhere around there?

 

[mckellar007]

probably a while away.... its near montmorency, greensborough, eltham etc

isnt there somewhere in narre warren that has reptiles? i remember seeing it in the trading post.

 

[sarah_m]

Bunurong in Frankston is only 20 minutes further from Narre Warren, they have a good range of stuff

 

[the.badger]

Thanks sarah_m.

Yep there's a reptile store in Narre but they don't have cages that will fit our set-up.