Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a fairly healthy eating ball that appears to have developed a fungal infection. Based on my observations the fungal infection is brown in color and on the scoots only. I have a spot that appears to have some puss between the scoots. This infection is also located in the anal pore area forward.

The bedding is aspen bark, and she is in a dry area. I have the snake in the classroom and she is handled by the HS students.

Can I utilize the standard fungal remedies for this?

And are antibiotics in order?

I've heard that snakes can use the same anti-biotics as humans, is this true? Thanks in advance.

the Aspen is chips not bark, sorry.

Fungal infections need anti-fungals not antibiotics- read below.

http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/MNAALAS/Snakes.html#Fungal

Fungal Infections
A number of fungal organisms can cause superficial and deeper infections of snakes. Most of these infections involve the skin and respiratory system. Fungal infections of the eyes are most likely to occur in snakes housed in damp, contaminated environments. Ringworm fungi that usually infect people, pets and livestock have also caused skin infections of snakes.
Snakes must be housed in scrupulously clean and dry enclosures. The flooring must be easy to clean and should not be of a material that encourages fungal (mold) growth (see section on Housing).

Snakes exhibiting problems with their skin and/or eyes must be examined by a veterinarian as soon as possible. A microbial culture and a skin biopsy may be necessary to obtain a diagnosis. Treatment of fungal diseases involves use of topical and systemic (oral and/or injectable) antifungal agents. Prevention of fungal diseases involves correcting underlying problems with husbandry.

I was sort of hoping I could get some insight on how I could deal with this myself. I've taken care of the tank, and had it sterilized by some of the kids. I also have some antibiotics and I would like to just gut load the mice with the capsul. Is that out of the question. I read that tetracyline was an option. Please excuse my ignorance.

The best possible action is to take it to a vet. If that's not possible here are some things I found on the web that may be of help, but I have no way of knowing for sure. What is for sure is that antibiotics don't heal fungal infections, so gut loading a mouse with tetracycline isn't going to help. And, from what I can read treatment needs to be both topical (on the skin) and internal (oral/injectable). These sections of text are from several articles on the web, again I don't know if they'll help or they may even harm. You could call a vet and ask about these. Good luck.

http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections+index-req-viewarticle-artid-35-page-1.html

Skin Disease
These are generally caused by fungi (mycosis). Symptoms include brown splotches that can be observed to grow. These patches can eventually break, releasing pus and then spread rapidly. They can infect an entire snake in only a few weeks.
It is important to treat these skin disorders as soon as possible. Your vet can prescribe general antifungal treatments, which must be consistently applied to your herp.

There are many types of fungus that can look/act alike, the only way to know for sure is a culture.....

Miconazole has been tried with little success but Tioconazole has a more successful record. If your vet doesn't have Tioconazole cream, go to the drug store and buy some Monistat1. The real threat with this infection is that yeast attacks the organs and more often than not, it reaches fatal stages before a successful diagnoses and treatment is derived. For this reason, you need to give oral meds as well as treating the skin.

I have been having some good results using lamisil and anitifungal cream for human use. I tried lotrimin, mycelex and several others. I spoke with the pharmacist at my local drugstore and she explained that there are many different types of antifungals that all work in a different way attacking and killing different types of fungi. The active antifungal in lamisil is terbinafine hydrochloride 1%, it is the only one that has turned the fungus black (I am assuming this means is it dying) and the yellow has not returned. This is my own personal experience and I am not certain it is a long term fix, I just know it seems to be working.

Thanks for the info!