Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a pair of porph. coxi from pro exotics on the 5th of this month. Everything has been going fine until this morning I noticed a skin irritation on either side of the female's neck, about an inch down from the head. The skales look kind of crinkled and discolored. A few on the left side are even a little black looking in areas. She has shed once since I've had her and it was incomplete. I have a tuperware container w/ damp spag moss and hole in top as one hide and log as other. The temp. is mid to high 70's. I did notice a bit of mold or fungus growing in the moss today, so I changed it and didn't wet is so much. The male is kept right on top of her container and he has shed twice, both full. I am hoping that her next shed will take care of it, but I am worried. I know it is hard to say what is wrong without pics, I'll try to post some soon. Any suggestions would be appriciated. I think I will take her to a vet, when I find one in my area.

Matt Kauffman

It sounds like it probably got a little too moist for whatever reason. I would simply hold the snake gently, and submerge the area in some hydrogen Peroxide, or Betadine for a minute. Then when the snake is thoroughly dry, dab some Neosporine on the area. Look on the belly too, as this is a very common area to see discolored brown scales on snakes that have been too moist.

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

Thanks for the advice. That's exactly what I did. I'm going to give it a few days to see if it improves before taking further action. I took some pics, but I don't know how to post them. Don't you need photo bucket or something?

Matt Kauffman

Well,...you don't necessarily "need" Photobucket, but it sure makes posting pics extremely easy for me. There are many different ways to post pics, but yes, I would suggest opening a FREE account with Photobucket. It is easy as pie, and free, so you can't beat it in my opinion!. You can post a bunch at once, and have captions too if you want too,....also, they don't have to be smaller file size, as with some other options.

Here's just a couple of several hundred pics there. So go to their site and get going!..LOL!

~Doug




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