Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just bought this guy at the wasatch reptile expo in Salt Lake City UT. When I got him home he had this pus-like scabby material on part of him. Is it skin-blister disease? I have never seen it. Is it a forced-shed problem? What should I do? He has eaten, and is in seemingly good health I put him on newspaper and applied some antibiotic oinment to the area. Help!!
Thanks in advance

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Jeremy J. Anderson
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Did you buy him like that? Maybe its a burn from a heat lamp or something. Too hard to say for sure. I would take him to a vet to rule out anything infectious, ESPECIALLY if you have other animals....you definately would not want anything to spread.

ALSO, I would contact the person you bought him from. If you don't remember then try contacting the sponsors of the show...they might have a list of the vendors at the show.

GOOD LUCK!

He looked good when I bought him, and I transported him in a styrofoam box, to insulate him from heat during the drive home. When I got back to Boise he looked more or less like this.
I have contact info for the seller but haven't been able to reach him.
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Jeremy J. Anderson
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Most reptiles can be carriers of all kinds of diseases, parasites, and infections. However, in the wild, these things usually somehow seem to balance out in nature. In captivity, when animals carry stuff, the balance is no longer equal....In fact, if the animal undergoes any kind of stress at all, its immune system can be overrun by infection, disease, or parasites.

I bought some solomon island ground boas that had some sort of parasitic infection when i got them...however it did not show until they got home (or at least I did not notice till i got them home). The problem was probably enhanced b/c of stress on the ride home. The vibrations of an automobile may not even be noticeable at all to us, but to a snake...could be like an earthquake. I looked & looked & looked for stuff on what type of parasite it could be, BUT no one had pictures to share, or if they did, they weren't willing to portray an image of having sick or ill animals to protect reputations.

With more and more people getting into the herp hobby, it would be SO useful to have a site to refer to for photo comparisons of sick animals. Maybe herp vets will come out with sortof a WebMD for herps someday. Today, however, things seem very disorganized in terms of herp health. Thats why you will find that MOST people will advise you to take any animal with the slightest thing wrong with it to the vet. Even though you may get better help from someone online, especially if there aren't any herp vets nearby your home. Plus, some people don't want to be liable or 'to blame' if they were incorrect in assessing what the illness was and the snake dies.

SORRY TO GO OFF, nothing personal towards you...its just that I can sympathize with your frustrations of trying to seek help with a sick animal. I ended up losing all but one of my ground boas, which I still have quarantined FAR, FAR away from the rest of my collection even though it appears in great health. It was one of the few that did not appear sick to begin with and I quarantined it seperately from the other sicks ones.

I attached a site someone sent me when I was looking for herp health stuff... hope it helps a little... if not try posting in the herp health forum...i think a vet floats through there every now&then. GOOD LUCK
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/toc_171200.htm

Maybe an idea,
You said he looked fine when you bought him but after the trip home he looked like that.
I have seen moisture get under the skin of a snake that is about to shed. It looks like blisters. I have never seen it off color like that, though. That is kind of strange but I wouldn't panic until I had given it a few days to see if it is indeed going into shed.
Just a thought

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Jimmy (draybar)

i was reading on the boa forum about someone who had a boa with a skin problem also. One thing that was reccomended was to use a powder instead of an ointment. The reason being that you want the wound to dry out and to not stay moist. Most ointments will hold the moisture in which can lead to infection.

Good luck with it!
Rick S.

-0egs
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Jeremy J. Anderson
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