Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

Please help, I need the benefit of all the experience here. Rather than keep my eastern indigo cages uniformly damp, I use a big sweaterbox half full of moist sphagnum with a cut-out on top as a humid area for them. The rest of the cage is bedded with newspaper (coincidentally, I am in the process of changing the bedding in all my cages to aspen).
As I cleaned cages tonight, and removed one of my adult females from the 'damp box' I noticed she had a few blisters along her bottom edges. After I got my heartbeat back to normal, I finished cleaning her cage, replaced the newspaper with aspen, and put her back, only without the 'damp box' and temporarily without her water bowl.
By the way, I've got a small group of indigos (3.4)and this hasn't been a problem for any others.
Since I have a better chance of finding Santa than a reptile vet in this area, what should be my next step in curing my girl?

Thanks,
VinnyButch

I know you probably won't want to hear this but I would change back to dry newspaper until this is resolved. It will be easier to keep spotless and will harbor less bacteria then aspen bedding. You did the right thing in removing the humid hide for now.
If you caught it early you might be ok if you just keep her clean and dry. If it gets worse or doesn't appear to be improving you may need to find a vet that can prescribe appropriate antibiotics.
Keep her cage as clean as possible and good luck. Hopefully some of the more experienced Dry keepers will have some better advice to offer
Good luck,
Chris

Best way to get this under control is to go to paper.

I would treat the blisters daily with Betadine, it seems to be a pretty good cure-all for Dry skin infections.

Do this until the next shed, and if the condition isn't 90% better, go to the vet.

Indigos can get skin infections from both bacterial and fungal sources, and the symptoms can look very similar.

Your vet may need to snip a sample to see what you are dealing with in order to get the right drug if it gets to that point.

If it makes you feel any better, indigos in the wild sometimes spend lots of time in damp burrows, and lots of them get blisters. They seem to have a pretty good tolerance and tend to bounce back quickly.

That said...I'd still try to get it under control asap.
I highly recommend you go to newspaper. Dampness is the enemy right now.

Good luck....let us know what happens!

Betadine is a really good idea.
A friend of mine used Silvadene cream once with good results. It's fairly expensive and prescription only but it seems to work well too.
Chris

My vet believes it the best topical anti-biotic for snakes, but, like you said, you need a prescription.

If you want to get something over the counter, I'd go with betadine, but...watch it the stuff stains everything red!

Hi guys,

First I want to thank you for the helpful responses. I went back to newsprint, and removed the damp hide box. I've been using Neosporin on the blisters and they seem to be healing great.
But of course, there is now another question. She has begun a shed cycle, but the blisters aren't totally healed as yet. I don't want to put the damp hide box back until her skin is back to 100%, but I also don't want her to have a problem shedding.
Do I keep things dry and deal with shedding problems, or give her the humid box and go back to the blister problem after the shed is complete, or do I try for a happy medium, trying to give enough humidity for an easy shed, but not so much as to re-aggravate the blister problem?? And since you guys have been so great this far, do you have any suggestions to find this 'happy medium'?

Thanks,
VinnyButch

Dean is right about blister disease occuring in wild animals. This is fairly common in Indigos and kingsnakes(getulus) that I have come across in the wild in South Florida. It is especially common in snakes that are in a pre-shed condition. I've always wondered if the blister infection triggers a protective shedding response, or if the bacteria/fungus simply get a foothold in the old, about to be sloughed off skin.

I would recommend a good disinfecting of your animals cage in addition to the other antibiotic treatments. I still think the best substrate for large snakes that will crawl through their copious quantities of poop is good old newspaper. You can tell at a glance when it is damp. You may find that after your Indigo's next shed, the infection has eaten little divots or scallops into the belly scutes. My experience is that these will disappear with following sheds. Keep your Dry.........dry, and he should be as good as new in no time.

I successfully treated blisters on a group of wc getula this year that were from a real damp area. It was bad, but not horrendous. Anyways, I used triple antibacterial ointment from Walmart. Just rub a lil dab on the blisters. I agree that you should go back to the newspaper for now as it will keep shavings and dust from the wound. I reapplied every 3rd-5th day.

Let us know how it turns out.

A.C.

Hi again everyone,

I just wanted to let everyone know that my formerly blistered adult female eastern has just completed a perfect shed and is her gorgeous self again. No blisters and no scars that I can see.
Please accept my sincere thanks for all the help. Let's hope she has some pretty little babies this season!!

VinnyButch