Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have any pictures of blister disease on a snake? My cali king shed yesterday afternoon while I was in work and when I came home I removed the shed and the shed was clean and in one piece. No problems. I picked my snake up and noticed an odd colored scale on the top of his back. I inspected further to see if it was a mite and it was the scale itself. The color is a reddish/brown color. I had a humidity box in the enclosure for about 2-3 days. The snake spent a good ammount of time in the box while his eyes were blue. After his eyes turned back to normal color I took the hmudity box out. Anyway it's only on ONE scale. I never noticed it before and think it's recent. The only reason I noticed is because it's on the white part of his body. I checked him over and it seems it's only one scale.

Should I put some neosporin on the scale just to be safe? Like I said it's not a mite and the snake is eatting fine/drinking water and is acting like his normal self. I will be checking again tonight when I go home to see if it got worse/better. Of course if it got worse a trip to the vet is required.

Also just so everyone knows I do not mist the tank in any way! I keep it as dry as possible,spot clean every day and clean the enclosure once every week or two. I know blister disease comes from damp enclosures but do you think him sitting in the humidity box for a few days caused it? I mean I used DAMP,not wet,paper towel inside a storage container with a hole cut in the side.

I think your cal king is fine. If you had of said your snake had weird blister looking stuff on its belly then I would've have immediately jumped on the old "scud" or zonata disease band wagon. Since you said your snake had one scale on its back.....I think you are pretty safe and really shouldn't worry to much.

I once had some creamsicle corns that somehow would always get a blackhead...yes a zit...no matter how much I cleaned they would still get them (1 or 2) periodically. Bottom line is no cause for alarm unless it's on the belly. Please post a picture if you can.

Cal kings come from very dry terrain....don't treat them like brooks or eastern kings.

Take care,
Russ

Thanks a lot Russ. I didn't think it was anything after reading up on blister disease. I am fairly new to snake keeping so any little thing I usually ask a few questions. I'll keep a close eye on the scale and see what happens. If it gets any worse I will take him to a vet.

So I don't need a humidity box for a Cali King?

like russ i think your animal's probably fine. are you sure it's not just a scale that's a diff color than the rest, that alwayks has been? Most snakes have a few of those. I have a snow honduran with several little bright red spots...they are not mites, not infections, nothing but tiny spots where the red pigment is present though the animal is otherwise an anerythristic and free of red. I've seen similar anomalies on most snakes.

plus, keep the situation in perspective: would your parents take you, or would you take your kids, to a doctor if a comparably-sized area of your body was a little diff color than the rest of your skin? It's good that you're paying attention to detail, i think that will serve you well, but there's no need to overreact in this situation, i wouldn't think.

good luck!
terry

I checked it just now really carefully and it looks like the very tip of the scale was some how wounded.It's not red but discolored from the rest of the white scales. I tried to look for my magnifying glass but it seems one of the kids misplaced it...lol.

Anyway I put a dab on neosporin on the site just to be on the safe side. It doesn't appear to be an infection of anykind and could have actually been there before but I just hadn't noticed it. Like I said he is in very good health,always alert,out sitting in the haba-tree I have in his enclosure or in one of his two hide boxes,drinks plenty of water and is a very aggressive feeder.

I try to take the best care of my animals that I can provide. I have a female rottie,a male doberman,one male cat,5 female ferrets,a yellow rat snake(who escaped 2 weeks ago but I am confident he is still in the house),a corn snake,the banded cali king,one green anole,one house gecko and a painted turtle.I know I have a small zoo!

Like said, it doesn't sound at all like blister disease. Just an FYI though... neosporin or any antibiotic cream is the last thing you want to put on blisters caused by too much moisture. You want something that will both kill bacteria and dry out the blister. I've used hydrogen peroxide with good results.

Hopefully you'll never see blister disease. I've never heard of a captive king or milk ever having it. My WC eastern milksnakes seem to come in from the wild with it.
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Martin Whalin
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Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

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-Carl Kauffeld

zonata disease has only been known to host to zonatas and not other snakes. Unless I am mistaken...?,
Jeff Teel

How hot do you keep the cage? We had a similar problem with a cali from heat resulting in single scale problems. The shed would kind of stick to the scale. We used biomist to get rid of it. The snake didnt like it, but the problem was gone after her next shed. We keep them in the low 80s now, we didnt realize how hot the cage was getting during the day when this occured.