Hello all,
I recently rescued two Great basin Gopher snakes, a male and female. The male was said to have damage to his hemipenes and the female was a sporatic eater. Initially I could see that the hemipenese were damaged, but not to the extent shown in the photos. Upon bringing the two home I placed them both in the same enclosure until I had another enclosure ready so I can place the female separately. During this time, one of the snakes had bled inside the cage. I had assumed that it was the male. I immediately opened up an emergency space to place the female so that I could keep an eye on her and the male separately. The male had no obvious signs that he had bled, and nor did the female. I felt that I needed to keep an eye on both of them until I found out which one it was.
Today, I opened up the male's enclosure to do his routine checkup and found what you see in the photo. This was not there two days ago which is what definitely confuses me. As a result, the only thing that I can think is that it is a possible abscess.My herp vet that I have had for awhile closed up due to reasons unknown to me and therefore I don't have a reliable herp vet near me. I would like to get an idea about what could possibly be causing this. I have been calling veterinarians but most of them claim to have very little knowledge of reptile treatment. Additionally, I don't trust most typical veterinarians with reptiles. However, if someone knows of a good knowledgeable reptile vet near columbus, Ohio please let me know. At this moment, I have him soaking in some warm water/betadine solution. After that, I plan to rub some triple antibiotic ointment (neosporin..original, not plus) on the affected area. The cage has been completely and thoroughly cleaned and fresh newspaper has been placed in the enclosure instead of the aspen bedding that was initially in it's cage.
Can someone be of help?
Thanks,
Chris
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www.herpfanatic.com
