Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed a few weeks ago that she was moving around awkwardly lifting up and twirly her tail around her cloaca area.

This is an 03 female normal boa, i had bred her to a male and separated them when the male lost interest which was a week before she had her POS which was 5/15. Thats when i started to notice this.

Then, only a couple of weeks later, she went into shed again, and this time there was a noticable burn-like scar completely encirling the area just above the cloaca. It looks like underneath the shed area, her scales have turned bare white. I tried to get a pic of her belly scales but she got nasty, and also appears to be gravid.

I really am at a loss with this. Can anyone help me cure this boa?

Thanks.

Vince C.

here they are..

That looks like an immediate trip to the vet. Looks like an advanced infection through at least the top two layers of skin. That is not something that is treatable at home. Please get that animal to a vet ASAP to get the treatment started.

Billy

I would recommend you take your snake to a vet and have that identified ( cultured ) before the snake succumbs to septicemia and dies from a massive systemic infection, remember if not treated aggressively, this is can and will most likely be FATAL.

Go to your (a) vet, or don't keep snakes you can not afford to properly care for.

Sorry for the harshness, but sometimes I get a little emotional.

It's usually the same BS comment about No Reptile Vets in the area.

Look harder they usually exist.
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Thanks,

Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

I took her to the vet yesterday and he is doing the culture...he gave me an antibiotic cream that is useful for treating burns, and in the mean time i am giving her .3cc injections of Baytril every other day, until the results come back and he can know if i should stick to the baytril.

On another note, i have had sick boas before and have aggressively cared for them and successfully brought them back to full health.

On this specific animal, i noticed this only a few days ago and am now treating it agressively.

I just don't understand how this came about. Does anyone have any ideas...could it have been a bad rat???

Thanks.

Glad to hear, what caused this is most likly environmental and related to your husbandry practices.

I guess it could be caused by a diseased rat. Also rodent bites, sometimes end up giving the snake an infection.

Also damp and unsanitary conditions can cause infections as well.

Your vet should figure out some intel from that "culture" he swabbed from the snakes mouth and also most likely at the site of infection.
here a good link for you to read.

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Thanks,

Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research