Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I dont know how it happened. All I know is that it had to have happened in the past two days since two days ago I had him out and nothing was wrong with Tenchi my male burmese python.

I had him out for a bath, since he's deep in the middle of his shed. He suddenly became extremely pissed off, latched onto my arm. Five min. later I got him off. No fun, being bit by a 10ft burmese python. He acted normal after that, thought nothing of it, and continued to bring him upstairs for his bath. Again, he suddenly gets very angry, hisses, wiggling, trying to get out of my grasp and tries to bite. Thats when I find blood on my hands, that isnt mine. One of my sisters tries to hold Tenchi down while I inspect him.

I discovered that towards the end of his tail, just before his vent.. there are about five/six belly scales that have pretty much been ripped off. They are still attatched to him.. but barely. I touched them, trying to get a better look, he hisses louder. They were bleeding just a little, and there is a little bit of dried blood around them. I dont really know how to explain how they look...

Im wondering.. what can I do to help these heal, will these heal? I dont know how it happened. His cage hasnt changed in.. well over a year at least. He was out a few days ago, and this wasnt there. I dont think I did it to him today when I was getting him out of his cage, he didnt grab onto anything or hit anything that would cause his scales to be pulled like that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will try and have pictures tomorrow. I didnt want to bother him anymore tonight so I just put him back into his cage. My sister and I were having a hell of a time trying to hold him still.

Thank you!
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Randilyn -;,-
Desolate Gray: Reptiles

I couldnt think of anything that might have happend other than he got them caught on something when you were taking him out or puting him in his cage. Or maybe getin draged across the floor backwards. that's realy wierd. I hope he's gona be ok. Let us know what happend if you find out.
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Seth Mason.
Do lesbian frogs think they taste like chicken too ?

Today, I was taking him out for pictures when I noticed that his heat pad was extremely hot. And one spot in particular, was VERY VERY hot, hot enough to burn.

So it makes a little more sense. The heat-pad malfunctioned and burned my baby boy. I have a digital thermostat hooked up to the heat pad, and it still reads out 89 degrees. So I think the thermostat is also shot... possibly.

But Im glad I found out what happened to him. I threw the heater away, it was getting old anyways.

Now what should I do to help his scales heal? Just leave him alone and let it heal itself, or clean it, or what?

Thanks!
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Randilyn -;,-
Desolate Gray: Reptiles

One of the reasons that snakes seclude themselves during the end of the shed process (or the beginning of going opaque, which is when this cycle first becomes obvious to us) is that they are very vulnerable during this period. It is not just that their eyes are cloudy for part of this time and they cannot see as well, as is so often stated. The fresh skin underneath the old skin is not ready to be exposed; it is still developing, and handling the animal during this time can easily cause trauma. Even after the eyes clear, but before the snake has shed, it is still possible to injure the new epidermis by rough handling. In this case, moving a 10 foot python from its cage to a bathtub and back while it is “deep in shed” as you stated, can qualify as rough handling, even though I’m sure you tried to be gentle. It will almost surely cause the sort of friction between the old and new skin surfaces which can result in injury.

With smaller animals which you can scoop up and hold comfortably and loosely in your two hands, it is certainly possible to safely manipulate them while they are opaque if you really must (say, to transfer them to another container if you have to clean their cages).

If these large snakes had cages roomy enough to include a pool which they could choose to enter on their own, that would be great. Barring that, the safest way we can facilitate ecdysis is to add moisture to the cages at appropriate times. I’m not trying to diagnose long distance the specific problem you posted about. And I am definitely not trying to attack you. I am simply addressing the practice of putting very large snakes in bathtubs as a shedding aid which I constantly see put forth as a good husbandry practice on these forums. In our low humidity housing, I think we so often see dried, adhered sheds that we too zealously go to the opposite end of the husbandry spectrum without realizing that we may unintentionally do damage to the largest organ of the snake’s body – its skin.

-Joan
P.S. I speak from personal experience on this issue.

COuld be several things. Make sure this snake's heat pad isn't too hot (if you use bottom heat)....this sure sounds like a thermal burn to me. These types of burns can easily lead to infection so keep the wound clean and apply something like silvadene cream to the affected area. ANother cause could be a bacterial infection. Irregardless, when in doubt, seek a good vet. Good luck.

Rob Carmichael, Director/Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
City of Lake Forest Parks & Recreation