Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im so frustrated because of my 5 Juvenile Boscs, one has recently been developing these nasty little growths! All are kept EXACTLY the same way(husbandy wise), but for some reason little Bilbo is getting these infections. Today we had to lance 3 that popped up this week!! One on his back, one on his front left leg, and one on his jaw!! The one on his front leg porduced a core the size of a chick- pea! Nasty stuff! Im lucky it wasnt as bad as a cat that came into the vet office today. The abscess it had on its chest burst on one of my colleagues and the whole place smelled soooo BAD!!!
Anyways, Bilbo is on antibiotics, and is in isoloation, on butcher peper, until his wounds close. I will try and monitor his habits and try to discover the cause of him getting these. None of the vets could figure it out, so I guess Ill have to find out on my own.

If anyone out there has experienced anything like this, dont hesitate to respond. You can e-mail if you dont feel comfortable posting.

Thanks, and Best Regards,

Michelle

I have read about a similar condition in the past. I believe the speculation at the time was that the cause may be viral as opposed to bacterial - and was likely to recur over the animals lifetime.

Hi,
If your thinking about the foot abscesses Mike Balsai and I wrote about some 10 years ago, this malady Michelle is describing is different - our malady only occured on the feet/toes.

I have never heard or seen this blistering before, except maybe "Guinea Worm" which is a nasty pathogen, but more common in Pacific varanids (but African types can get it too!)... are the blisters full of puss? Hallow? A bead-like substance eh? Sounds like a boil, which are stress/bacterial related...antibiotics should do the trick.

Are the animals housed together? Separate them!

Good Luck, Keep us posted...
markb

The animals have been housed together since early march, when I obtained them as hatchlings, as an ongoing experiment on group behaviour of Boscs raised together. They were given to me.

This has been my second crisis. The first involved the "runt"heaven forbid the term) Allie, and the need for her to be seperated. However after being seperated, she went ENTIRELY off feed for close to 2 weeks. She is now back with the group and thriving. Her body weight is the best its ever been. I still am baffled by that`one.- Could she have been MORE stressed by being seperated from her clutch mates??I do not yet have enough observational material to document such a radical idea, but its simply a thought. Bilbo on the other hand has been the most high-strung out of the group. He is usually by himself and has always shown the tendency to ALWAYS flee rather than be confrantational. I dont plan on reintroducing him. The other three are huge, and fiesty as can be(although, Barney is actually a sweet heart). They are agressive, dont back down, and from what Ive observed are content with eachothers presence. I can count on finding them nestled into the same burrow, when there are plenty of options if they were uncomfortable with eachother. I keep a close eye on their body language, wieght, feeding habits, and over all health apperance. If within a weeks time I havent been able to view a particular subject, I take the time and efforts to find him to see his current status. This has rarely been an issue. They have tended to be fairly active...you just have to know when to look.

Im sure there are many flaws to how Im carryout out this experiment. To what good will come of it? I cant give you a concrete answer. Perhaps I will end up coming to the conclusion that the project was a waste of time. We'll see.

Yours Truly,
Michelle Rossi

Where are my Indicus reports!!!! Hehe. Im sure youre very busy. Im very anxiously waiting.

Oh yes. I hate to wear out this topic, but... The question about Bosc brow ridges. I remembered where I saw the exaggerated trait exhibited. In Michael Balsai's "General Care and Maintenance of Savannah Monitors". First ed. 1992, Page 17.
Any idea of what Im talking about? Any other specimens that you know of with this unusual trait??

Thank you,

Michelle

Well if its any help my Bosc suffered from absesses much like you are describing.
The cause was determined by vet at the time was an allergic reaction. I was using Aspen shavings for his substrate (this was back when Aspen was considered the best choice for monitors) and it was my vets assertion that my monitor was allergic to this stuff. Every few weeks he would develop these postules. As you can imagine the problem went away when I switched to Cyprus Mulch, for the initial treatment my monitor was dosed with Amoxicillan sp? as a preventative measure for curbing any infection as a result from these lesions as they would drain leaving behind nasty open wounds.
This was back in 1996 when vets were doing more guesswork than practicing tried and true medical techniques. I cannot say if things have improved much.
I cannot say for my vets reasoning at the time either, if I remember right he had seen similiar symptoms from snakes left on cedar and pine shavings. All I can say is the substrate was changed and my monitor stopped getting these lesions.
Allergic Reaction? Bacterial Infection? Viral Infection? Bad Husbandry? It seems your choices are wide open for what ails your Bosc. If you learn of the cause please share.

-Kit

If those bumps were caused by common bacteria, then I would suggest its cause was stress. If the monitors otherwise healthy, then its normally caused by stressful interaction, either by other monitors or people. THIS IS VERY COMMON.

You should try to understand what stress does in these cases. Stress surpresses the immune system and common pathogens take hold. Your job is to support the health of the immune system. Curing the actual problem will not be of benefit, as it will reoccur. Also, once the stress is reduced, they heal very fast(in otherwise healthy monitors).

Again this is only a guess and may be not accurate at all. From the fact that you say the smallest and five, gives me some evidence that this one is the bottom of the totum pole. This is where it occurs most often.

About virus or other causes. As a keeper, you should look to the most common causes first. That is called proper trouble shooting. good luck F