Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need some good rat snake medical/health advice. I just checked on one of my bruminating adult female black rat snakes and discovered she has what looks like blister disease. Her bin is 100% clean and free of excess moisture and certainly not damp. She is on clean newspaper and her water dish is always fresh. This disease is usually caused from bad care and hygiene practices but my snakes are kept SUPER spotless. I think I've read somewhere that this disease can also be caused by food left over in their gut before cooling them down...I hope that is not the case because I think that would be fatal. Anyway, I've never dealt with this before and not sure of the best path to take. What do you guys think? What antibiotics would be best? What is best to put on the blisters themselves? Should I open them and clean them out with something? Any advise would be helpful..I really like this big sweet girl and will do whatever it takes to help her.

Does she also have brown, discolored/rotted looking ventral scales? Also, do the sores have what seem to be pustule heads? If not, I seriously doubt it is blister disease (ulcerative or necrotic dermatitis). This doesn't seem very possible with the clean/dry conditions you say you have been keeping it in. As you mentioned, this disease is caused by prolonged damp conditions. It sounds like it could possibly be fat deposit bumps, or roundworm cysts under the skin though.

If it does turn out to be blister disease, here are the steps to take............

Treatment for "Blister Disease":

Just as with all the other diseases and illnesses, a qualified reptile veterinarian should be consulted and assess the severity and nature of the problem.

The first thing to be done is immediately place the snake in a dry, clean caging environment. I would also bring it out of brumation slowly and raise the temps back into the low-mid 80's to raise the snake's natural metabolism and auto-immune system to help combat this. The environment can either be a layer of clean newspaper, paper towels, or dry aspen in the enclosure.

The next step is to treat the snake with a povidone-iodine solution (Betadine) soaking. This solution is typically in the 10% range, and afterwards an application of Betadine topical ointment can also be applied to the affected areas afterwards. Depending on how severe the individual case is, the vet may choose to also administer an antibiotic injection to help things along. If all goes well with the treatment, you should begin to see a very noticeable improvement in the snake’s condition. Any raised abscesses and brown ventral scales will dry up and get better and better looking with each successive shed.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Thanks Doug. I just got her 3 weeks before placing her into cool down mode. I don't how she was kept before I got her...perhaps not very good and that combined with the brumination has caused this. She was also originally a wc so who knows what the poor things been through. She's out of brumination now in a nice warm cage and receiving vet care.
Thanks again.

Ahh, good to hear the snake is being warmed back up and recieving vet care. Yes, who knows what conditions it was kept in prior to your owning it. The much cooler temps certainly could have lowered the snake's metabolism allowing the ailment to take hold.

Best of luck with the treatment so it can heal up soon!

Let us know how things go............

cheers, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com