Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'll give you the low down.. I purchased this snake 4 or so months back. He's never had a problem with eating, shedding, defecating.. He eats a big medium rat routinely every 7 days. He's a very messy snake, spilling water into his bin almost as soon as it goes in. I usually have to change the newspaper every 2 days or so because it becomes saturated with water. He's never had a problem with mites or any respiratory infections while in my possession. Something has happened within the last 3-4 days, he's developed what looks like puss filled cysts under multiple scales.. I've never seen anything like it before and I've been trying to locate cases of it on the internet without much success. I will definitely be taking him to the Vet, but cannot do so until tomorrow. I would just like to know if there is anything I can do while he's here. Your advice/opinions are much appreciated.. By the way, he thinks he's a venomous snake...

Here are some pics, I'm referring to the white sacs under the
scales.



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Joe Lydon
Got Boids?

I do not know what those are, but just an idea would be check for other types of insects in the cage or room....such as spiders, or something that could cause an infectous bite. Just a guess because I have never seen that before....although I did order some Captive Hatched baby ball pythons and a couple of them had some sort of small white bumps on them, that did appear to have some look like puss might be in them. I do not know what that could have been but it may help you locate some info if you check out ball python stuff. Hope this helps, Andy Federico

The thought of spiders never even crossed my mind.. I recently moved to Tinley Park and there are TONS of spiders in and around my house.. When I first moved in I had to spray the hell out of the little covered compartment outside my basement windows, there were a minimum of 50 or so spiders of various species per window (5 windows).. I do recall being bit by spiders before and having a little reaction area with puss that healed in 2 weeks or so.. Another thing that I have read and has also been pointed out to me by someone else is that his cage may be too damp because he's constantly spilling water which could have caused IMO some type of bacterial infection.. He doesn't have scale or mouth rot though.. I have put him on dry aspen, removed the water and I'm going to wait for him to shed before I get too worried. Thanks..
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Joe Lydon
Got Boids?

Since he's opaque now, you might wait until he sheds and see if the problem disappears with the shed. Mark

Is this snake wild-caught?

If this snake had mites prior to you recieving it, these may be abscessed bites. They may also be subcutaneous cysts caused by migrating parasites... definately more common in wild caught animals. Of course you cannot rule out other pathogenic causes without a veterinary work up, but as long as the snake is bright alert and responsive you have a few days to get an appointment.

Ian

np
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Joe Lydon
Got Boids?