Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just acquired a hatian boa with what appears (I am told) to be a huge water blister on it's back (?) from being in a wet environment. I have never had the need to deal with this type of problem. Suggestions on treatment would be appreciated.

Gary D.


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I don't believe in luck. Luck is God covering your a** when you screw up.

It may be a scale, its hard to tell from the pic, but there looks to be a tick in the center of that "blister". Ticks are fairly common on WC snakes, and can create some pretty nasty infected sores like that.. I'd poke around in that blister some to make sure thats not a tick.. If it is, some rubbing alcohol should make it let go and become more easy to remove, plus sterilize the area... If its NOT a tick, it looks more like an abcess or nastily infected sore then a water blister. Water blisters(at least in my experiance) look like pockets of water under the first layer of the scale, kind of like a blister humans get with second degree burns.. I'd get that cleaned out, and some triple antibiotic cream(not ointment) applied..
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DarkWave Exotics

Currently keeping:
1.2 southern scrub pythons
1.0 reticulated python
1.0 albino burmese python
1.2 jungle carpet pythons
1.0 irian jaya carpet python
0.1 sumatran blood python
1.0 ball pythons
0.1 green anaconda
1.1 emerald tree boas
2.2 colombian redtail boas
1.0 sonoran boa
1.0 cancun boa
1.2 normal and albino whitewater rosy boas
1.1 false water cobras
1.1 greyband kingsnakes
1.1 albino and het chinese beauty snakes
1.2 taiwan beauties
2.1 cornsnakes(Opal, okeetee, anery, stripes)
1.1 albino and multi het emory ratsnakes
0.1 albino checkered gartersnake
1.1 california kingsnakes
0.0.2 tiger leg monkey tree frogs
1.0 paddle tailed newt
0.1 foam nest tree frog
2 bearded dragons
9 leopard geckos
1.1 central american banded geckos
0.1 nile monitor
1.0 savannah monitor
0.1 russian tortoise

and lots of bugs, furry critters, fish and birds

I've had that problem with my black rat snakes. They like to soak. The worst case I experienced was with an amel female that got them during brumation from a moist environment. My fault. When she came out of brumation, I gave her a little more heat than normal. When she shed, most of the blisters popped, but there was some ugly looking scar tissue where they had been. I was very concerned because she's a beautiful animal and very mellow. Let's see, she's been out of brumation now for four months, has sloughed her skin once or twice (?) more, and you can't even tell where the blisters were. I hope that gives you some encouragement.