Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi
i'm new to the forum
i have a 7 year old 8 lbs female brb
since the beginning of march skin lesions apeared on her dorsal
scales.treated topically with sylvadene.introduced to a male
march 7 till april 4.copulation was observed only during first few days.havent noticed ovulation.acting gravid(staying on hot
spot,off feeding last on jan 25,sometimes back part of body on
the side).shed on april 1 and april 22.although the lesions
are healing i took her to a vet with reptile orientation who said it isnt scale rot but coudn't identify them positively.
thus he offered precautionery antibiotic treatement.
like to receive your opinions

Hi Tal, welcome to the forum.

Sounds like a big girl. From the timelines you are correct, she may be gravid although I'm becoming more convinced that laying on her side thing is not a clear sign of being gravid. I caught one of my proven breeder males doing the same thing and I'm pretty sure he's not gravid.

several questions....

setup - temps, ventilation, humidity, substrate, enclosure description, what kind of heat elements used.

Prior history - at 8 lbs she's a pretty good sized one, did you raise her up or did you get her as an adult? I'm assuming since you know she's 7 years old, she's not a WC?

Your timeline implies she developed the skin lesions prior to being introduced to the male? Has the male shown any signs of lesions?

Hope all turns out well for you and your BRB's.

Of course pictures would help!!!!
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

tal,
...Dave gave good advice. We need more accurate info to help you much but generally skin lesions result from substrate problems. Changing to clean paper substrate when they have skin problems is always a good idea.
...Gravidity is tough to diagnose early on. Topical antibiotics are probably safe for gravid snakes but PO and IV antibiotics can be teratogenic (cause birth defects) and should be used very carefully on gravid snakes. Teratogenic effects are most likely during early development and so avoiding using them for the first few months is especially important.
Jeff

>>hi
>>i'm new to the forum
>>i have a 7 year old 8 lbs female brb
>>since the beginning of march skin lesions apeared on her dorsal
>>scales.treated topically with sylvadene.introduced to a male
>>march 7 till april 4.copulation was observed only during first few days.havent noticed ovulation.acting gravid(staying on hot
>>spot,off feeding last on jan 25,sometimes back part of body on
>>the side).shed on april 1 and april 22.although the lesions
>>are healing i took her to a vet with reptile orientation who said it isnt scale rot but coudn't identify them positively.
>>thus he offered precautionery antibiotic treatement.
>>like to receive your opinions

thanks for aii the replies
here are some pictures of the big monster-sher/and her set up / i am not sure she is not WC since i bought her in israel on nov 2002 and she was already 4 ft.i don't know her origin.during the last 18 months her cage is located in a balcony and is curently heated with an uth pad.during winter i add an inner cage 50 watt hit cable.temp.bet 70-85 f.(she ate until jan 25)humidity is bet 60-85% till the lesions appeared i used aspen as substrate then change to newspaper.the male is not mine and to the best of my knoledge didn't 'catch' anything (he is 17 years old and aiso lives in an outdoor set-up)

i added some pictures in the photo gallery