It is seen fairly commonly in very young green anacondas that soak themselves for extended periods. Even only slightly contaminated water can cause this if they are soaking in it for long periods of time. It is a bacterial infection of the skin beneath the scales and is many times referred to as blister disease. The best remedy is to remove all sources of water except a very small water bowl for drinking. Do not allow the snake to soak in water no matter how clean it is. Keep the cage environment as dry as possible and continue to feed the snake normally. Typically under these drier conditions the abscesses will disappear after one or two sheds and no antibiotic treatment is needed. This will usually solve the problem in 95% of the cases, however stubborn cases may require a topical antibiotic. Some individuals have trouble with the next shed under these drier conditions and it is alright the soak them for a few hours to help remove the shed. The young anacondas we have produced are kept from birth in cages with small water bowls only, no bowls large enough to soak in are used. We do however keep the humidity slightly elevated. Under these conditions I have never had young show these abscesses, and we have raised several young green anacondas to adults and produced young from them with no access to water other than small drinking bowls. Hope this will help you and let me know if you have any other questions on this. Good luck.



Kelly

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