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I have a male Okeetee thats 3 years old. He has been kept with a female Okeetee cage mate for 3 years. Ten days ago i took male out to feed in feed container and he had 15-20 boils on him. Some the size of a pea. Boils were on the side of body only mostly on neck and around vent with a few scattered all over the sides of his body. Female shows no sighns at all. I keep them on aspen and temps are good. Took him to a vet last saterday and she said she "thinks" its a systemic infection and put him on Baytril shots. He is no better a week later. Has anyone ever seen this before?

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Here's one of the pics I took of the snake in question.

I've received several other responses from experienced keepers elsewhere, one suggested trying Tylon 50 from Tractor Supply. Said it got rid of abcesses in his snakes that Baytril did not.

At this point, since it's not improving, and we really don't have a good idea what it is, I would suggest the diluted Betadine or Chlorhexadine soaks. I would be considering the Tylon, and continue the Panacur.

I SUSPECT it's subcutaneous or intramuscular encapsulated nematodes as seen in the link below the image, but I'm obviously NO vet, and it's just based on personal experience with something similar.
LINK ADDRESS: http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/reprint/22/4/527.pdf

If it IS a nematode issue, the panacur will help. If it's just a systemic infection and baytril isn't targeting the specific bacterium, maybe the Tylon will? I have no idea, just trying to help the poor snake, and at this point, it's not in good shape AT ALL. The bumps are all over the snake, and it appears to have developed new ones near the mouth.

Eustrongylides in N. WaterSnake

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I have a snake with something similar.

About 2 weeks before he is due to shed, he develops small abscesses/boils all over. Usually around 25 or so.

Then he sheds, and the infected looking areas stay with the shed, and the actual snake is now fine, unblemished. This can happen every to every other shed cycle for him. It's not systemic, but some sort of strange pyoderma with my snake. It doesn't appear to be harming him, and seems mostly cosmetic, but we're going to be trying to bathe him a couple times a month in diluted chlorhexiderm solution to see if we can make it stop.

I'll be interested to see if the 'boils' resolve with the next shed then come back again with your guy. Hopefully they'll stay away for good though.

Thanks Courtney for the great picture!!!!!

Dosing for the Tylon 50: 5 mg/kg per day for 7days administer subcutaneous injection, if you decide to go that way. I can't recall what the stupid chlorhex dilution is..I'll get that info to you ASAP. What % chlorhexadine do you have on hand?

Me personally I would separate the snakes. Some of those boils look like bite marks. Even if they aren't, its always best to house corn snakes separately.

Second, I would have your vet do a biopsy of one of those spots, or at least draw a culture to see if it is bacterial. No point dosing the snake with medication if the symptoms have nothing to do with a bacterial infection. Check your cage for mites too...the male may just have bad reactions to mite bites, something the female doesn't, but both could be covered in mites or ticks. Check water bowls, especially if the snakes soak in them quite a bit. Otherwise, check the snake for mites.
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PHLdyPayne

Forum Princess

I know its not ticks or mites for sure.