Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had a bamboo coxi for about six months now, and he is healthy and eating without hesitation every week on a fuzzy, however I noticed to my shock today he has little bumps on both of his sides, it seems like they are protuding from the inside. They all had to come up like this almost overnight, as I mist his moss hide and such on an almost daily basis. His overall health doesn't seem affected, but obviously I am deeply concerned. the spots are not discolored/bleeding/leaking or anything, just looks like he has swallowed some small pebbles or something. I noticed one of these little lumps a couple days ago, but just thought he had accidently swallowed some of his bed-a-beast bedding and that he would pass it naturally. If anyone has any idea what is going on, please let me know. I will try to post a pic as soon as I find a digital camera.

I'm not familar with keeping that species but if NA rat snakes are kept too moist they will develop skin blisters. Buddy.

>>I'm not familar with keeping that species but if NA rat snakes are kept too moist they will develop skin blisters. Buddy.>>

That is probably what they are. The blisters can weaken the snake, and make the snake more susceptible to parasites that it may already be carrying.

I thought about it being blisters too, since he stays in his moist moss hide box 90% of the time, even though I keep his temps in the desired range. I should be able to post some pics tonight.

It could be some kind of subcutaneous parasite. I would get it to a good exotics vet.

-Toby
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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

It's extremely hard to venture even a guess without a good picture,...so please do whatever it takes to post some shots. Then we can go from there.

It could be any number of things.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Here is a pic, you can see the little "raised" spots on his side, they appear as light colored in contrast to the rest of his body.

Here's a picture of the lumps on my snake.

That looks to be little pustules caused by fungus/bacteria from excessive moisture under the scales. In other words,.....stop misting the animal, and put a smaller water bowl in the cage for a while so it can't soak. Then submerge the snake(except for the nose of course) in a shallow solution of Hydrogen Peroxide and Betadine for a few minutes, you'll have to force it down and keep it there with both hands. Then dab some antibiotic/antifungal ointment on all the pustules after the snake has thoroughly dried from the above mentioned Peroxide submersion.

It's not a great looking closeup photo, but that's certainly what it looks like to me.

Decades ago when I had some watersnakes, they would get them as well. You'd think that a water snake would be somewhat resilient to water problems,....but in natural bodies of water, like lakes, creeks or ponds, etc..., there is a tannic acid content in the water that helps prevent this(the reason it's brown)......that, and the fact that the snake can bask itself in the sun to completely dry off periodically.

try to pop, or poke one of the more noticable ones with a small pin, and if it leaks pus,...bingo! you'll know it's pustules.

anyway, do like I mentioned once a day for a week or more, and see how it goes, then you can go from there.

However, if those do NOT start to get noticeably better after a week or so, or you don't think you want to stay on top of it for the duration, I would STRONGLY recommend that you see a good qualified reptile vet. If these are left untreated, or get worse and continue to grow in numbers, they can eventually kill the snake. I'm not trying to scare you, or downplay this thing, But you really MUST make certain it gets better, and not worse, that's all.

If you do as I mentioned, it should work like a champ!..

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Another sign to look for if it is INDEED what I think it is, is the presence of a brownish discoloration to the ventral(belly)scales as well.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I thought it might have to do with moisture, as I keep him misted pretty often, his breed requires a good deal of it. There is no discoloration of the ventral scales that I saw. I kinda live in the styx, so a qualified reptile vet is probably about four hours away, so I was hoping it was something i could remedy myself. I will try your treatment as soon as I can. thanks for your advice.

Necrotizing Dermatitis is what that looks like.

The snakes environment is too moist. You will need to dry him out to rid him/her of it and then do not keep him as moist.

You should email this person for the best husbandry techniques for this specie.

robyn@proexotics.com
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Roberts Realm Of Reptile Research
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Thanks,

I opened my mouth and out flowed a melody black.

>>Necrotizing Dermatitis is what that looks like.
>>
>>The snakes environment is too moist. You will need to dry him out to rid him/her of it and then do not keep him as moist.
>>
>>You should email this person for the best husbandry techniques for this specie.
>>
>>robyn@proexotics.com
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>>=========================================================
>> Roberts Realm Of Reptile Research
>>=========================================================
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Frank Roberts
>>
>>
>>
>>I opened my mouth and out flowed a melody black.
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=========================================================
Roberts Realm Of Reptile Research
=========================================================
Thanks,

I opened my mouth and out flowed a melody black.