Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

I have scoured the net and can't find any information on what's happening. I found one guy who had the same thing, took his snake to a vet and the vet didn't know what was going on. Just recommended antibiotics, which didn't seem to work.

Anyway, the top of my 2 year old kingsnake's scales are peeling off (the enamel part, the shiny part), leaving actual, dull scale underneath.

He was housed fine, humidity good (around 40), water, aspen shavings. I suspect the shavings were not replaced for a while. I didn't see any over abuse, no faecal matter left uncleaned. But I did notice bite marks from mice. On his side, there was pushed up scales.

So I moved him to a new terrarium. Super clean. Put down paper towels as substrate and gave him a bath, cleaning out these areas with hydrogen peroxide. He looked better right away. I applied triple protection polysporin and have been since. He looks a lot better but the scale enamel is still peeling.

He's moving fine. Good strength when handling. Still curious and drinking. Hasn't eaten for a couple of weeks, but he was kept pretty fat so I'm not concerned.

I just don't want to go to the vet and have them shrug, charge me and have him pumped full of meds without a sure diagnosis.

Any help would be awesome. I'm not worried yet, just concerned...

Just an update guys...

I gave him another run under the faucet today as the top layer scales were really coming off. I wanted to remove as many as I could so they wouldn't stick to the terrarium everywhere.

I cleaned his side, where the scales are slightly raised. It looks like the skin there is scabbed over. Disinfected that area with some more hydrogen peroxide. Then put him back. He drank a lot and went into his home (which is now an empty cereal box; I wanted to keep things as free from any bacteria as possible).

After a few hours, I checked on him and he quickly poked his head at me, a sign that I usually interpret as hunger. So I got a mouse, and he seemed a little interested. After a few sniffs, he shot at it. An excellent catch and I'm happy.

Hopefully it'll stay down, but the good thing is, now I get a stool sample too. The scales are really coming off fast now so I'm still worried but will wait for anyone to post some help or for him to defecate so I can bring that to the vet too.

Cheers

Sounds almost like it could be fungal instead of bacteria causing the problem.I wonder if you could use a fungicide on a snake? Hope everything turns out okay for you and your snake.

Thanks for the reply calebjg,

He's defecated since and it looked good. Nothing unusual in colour, consistency, or odour. I periodically keep checking his scales and while the enamel is still coming off, there is nothing other than that. The raised scales look a lot better. The skin looks like its scabbed over and I disinfect with HP to make sure they aren't a breeding ground for anything.

He's getting ready for a moult now. Eyes are clouded over and he's coloured grey instead of black. I hope the moult goes well. I don't know what it's going to look like with a lot of the enamel missing. Crossing fingers it comes off whole.. but will cross that road when I come to it I guess.

My biggest worry is that it returns. The guy who posted about this online said even after a shed, the problem returned. I've kept things really sterile so if it is bacterial, hopefully I killed it and his immune system can handle the rest.

Will keep you guys updated. I was thinking about taking pictures to help others that may come up to this problem.