Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 2yr old Ball python has been healthy since the day she was born, but I went away for only 3 days and when I came back her tail looks awful =( If you have any idea what this is please tell me... i dunno if that white tip on her tail is bone but its scaring me to death. The other snake is a Columbian Boa, that shares the tank with her. Neither of them have ever had any health problems... =

it kinda looks like the beginning stages of scale rot,or even a burn what kind of heat do u have in the tank under tank heater or hot rock or something different

The tank is at my room temp this past week cause its been over 70 in here. But usually there is a 100 watt Red Heat bulb on the tank.

Oh and thats only from 8pm to 7am

The first thing I would do is seperate the two snakes, If it is an infection then you don't want the other snake in contact weather it is contagious or not because it harbors bacteria. I would try to get it to a vet so you can get a cream for it, I have found silver sulfadiazine works magic. Make sure you keep it clean and dry. Good luck. Erick
Exotic Designs

It's hard to tell from the photo, but I would get it to a vet. It could be dry skin or the beginning of some skin infection. In the mean time, Neosporin should be safe.

BTW, you really should consider separating these two.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Okay, Im going to seperate the 2... the vet here wont be open until Monday tho... she will be okay until then i hope. Thank all of you and any more suggestions are greatly appreciated

I would seperate them, put the ball on newspaper and raise the temps slightly.

what is the humidity in the enclosure? and when was the snakes last shed?

The snakes last shed was about a week and a half ago, and I have no clue about the humidiity, I have had her for 2 years and the other snake for 15, both have been healthy...but now this happend.

My female pastel had the same problem that i notice on your snake. I called Brian Potter of Chicago Reptile House, and he told me that it was a heat burn, he recomended that i soak the snake for 20-30 minutes in warm water, and put Neosporin on the burn/infection. I did that for a week straight. When she shed, she shed the skin that was burned, but it also peeled the scab off, and the tail was raw now, and bleeding a little. I continued to put Neosporin on the wound, and surelly it healed perfect. It worked for me. Hope it works for you.

Sargon

Here is a link to another forum. Somebody put their bp with their boa and the boa decided to make a meal of the bp.

www.bobclark.com/bcforums/topic.asp?whichpage=1&Forum_Title=Picture+Forum&Topic_Title=Can+I+house+my+Boa+and+my+Ball+Python+together%3F&CAT_ID=1&FORUM_ID=11&TOPIC_ID=20213