I couldnt find much info searching the forum so I guess Ill revisit this if its been brought up before. I noticed that my male has two bumps one about 4-5
inches from the back of his head and the other around 3-4 inches from the vent. The rear one is about twice the size of the other. Out of curiousity I rubbed
it with my finger nail to get an idea of hardness, and it almost looked like an infection, so also just to see if it was %*!@*. He is in shed and because of
that the skin sloughed off of the spot I rubbed. I didnt see any puss, and the spot is soft.
From the little I read it doesn't look like parasites, because it appears to be on the skin. With that being said, the area of his body does have a slight
bulge almost all the way around. This is not the same with the smaller one. The scales where I rubbed are now red as you'll see in the picture.
Has anyone seen this before, or have an idea?
here are some awful pictures, Im sorry its the best I could do right now.
                        
 -  - ks's The Green Tree Python Forum - Chondro Forum - moreliapythons.com - ssnakess.com - chondroweb.nl - -  - MVF Chatroom
|
skin bumps?
| Author | Comment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 gutterxphenom |
skin bumps? |
Lead | ||
|
Posts: 32 (06/23/08 18:31:34) |
|
|||
|
gutterxphenom |
||||
|
Posts: 33 (06/23/08 19:11:12) |
Thanks for your help in the chatroom folks. I have it treated as an abbrasion with 50% nolvasan and neosporin. I will update with any news.
Thanks again!! |
|||
|
Kim Heller |
||||
|
Posts: 1907 (06/23/08 19:45:35)
|
Keep a close eye on it. i had a snake that had something similar. I was advised that it might be parasites, but this was a CBB animal I had since it was a
baby. When the animal died, I had a necropsy done, and it turned out to be cancer. I'm not trying to be a downer...just wantd to let you know my limited
experience with something like this.
"Wow, that is a hot snake, I would definitely hit that."
|
|||
|
gutterxphenom |
||||
|
Posts: 35 (06/23/08 20:27:42) |
Kim,
How did you treat it before you found out it was cancer? Did the treatment seem to have any effect? Thank you for the heads up. I will be watching him very closely. |
|||
|
Kim Heller |
||||
|
Posts: 1915 (06/23/08 20:37:59)
|
I didn't
 I noticed one day that he was looking a bit uncomfortable, mouth slightly open. I pulled him out, and he sounded like he had a slight RI. Then
I noticed the bumps. Quite honestly, I don't know how long he had them. They were not visible when he was coiled on his branches. He died within a week i
think. On the day that he died, I came home from work and he was on the bottom of the cage, already gone. The vet had done a needle aspiration, and we had been
waiting on the results. That is when I sent him out for a full necropsy.
I'm kind of a freak with the animals now, always poking and prodding to make sure there is nothing odd going on. He was a good Chondro, and it sucked to lose him. I'd probably do what was advised in chat, but if you don't see an improvement, have a vet check done. Kim "Wow, that is a hot snake, I would definitely hit that."
|
|||
|
Only Chondro |
||||
|
Posts: 617 (06/23/08 23:57:37)
|
Looks like a bacterial infection,kinda scale rot.
When you touch the scales they feel slime. It can smell too. This happens when the cage is to moisture. OC |
|||
|
gutterxphenom |
||||
|
Posts: 36 (06/24/08 05:40:55) |
OC, I haven't noticed any smell yet. When I rubbed the area the loose skin rubbed off, but it wasn't really slimy. Would you recommend any other way to
treat this rather than nolvasan and neospirin?
Kim, that sounds like an awful way to loose a snake. Reading stories like this have me almost paranoid about my own. I try at least if anything to observe them for about 30 minutes a day, just to make sure they all seem healthy. I haven't noticed him holding his mouth open or any symptoms of RI, but I will certainly get a vet's opinion if this isn't shaping up soon. I had him out on saturday and never noticed any of these bumps, so whatever it is, it just materialized in the past few days. I didnt have much of a chance to check him out before I left for work this morning. All the lights were still out and I didnt want to disturb him after the ordeal last night. He isnt acting weird, he is perched and seems otherwise healthy. I will update again when I check him out this afternoon when I go home for lunch. Thanks again for the help, and keep the info coming! |
|||
|
Blue Ridge Biological |
||||
|
Posts: 474 (06/24/08 06:09:02)
|
I agree with Ron in that it appears to be similar in appearance to a typical looking bacterial skin infection. Not saying it is that for sure, but that would
be my guess based on just a photo. There are a number of ways to deal with a skin infection using topicals, but based on experience working with vets in the
zoo/aquarium sector, rinsing the area with a Betadine solution daily works well as it seems to have a drying effect along with killing bacteria. I would also
recommend keeping the enclosure on the dry side (being too wet may have been the initial problem). A healthy snake can usually recover from such an infection
without any topicals at all if the infection site is kept clean and dry, but the topical treatments generally won't hurt anything. I personally would
avoid the petroleum based Neosporin, but if others here have had success with it and recommend it then it's worth a try. I think the main thing is to
concentrate on keeping it clean and dry at this point. If you do that it should start healing rather quickly. If you keep it clean and dry and it gets worse
then you should get it to a vet right away.
Good luck. Will |
|||
|
Sony Raju |
||||
|
Posts: 1264 (06/24/08 06:21:08)
|
i had a neonate once, that had something like that. it was caused by too much humidity(when i first started to keep chondros). i put neosporin on the wound and
dried out the tub, and in time and a coupel of sheds, the animal was as good as new.
|
|||
|
Only Chondro |
||||
|
Posts: 619 (06/24/08 07:13:50)
|
Blue and Sony are right its the best way to treath him/her with that.
Its What Sony says a beginners fault. You will see when your animal shed the scales will be a bit twisted,but that will go away after a next shed. Other thing can happen (keeping them to wet) is blisters filled with slimy moisture,THAT can be deadly for juv,s OC |
|||
|
gutterxphenom |
||||
|
Posts: 37 (06/24/08 13:57:49) |
OK so I applied some betadyne, just now. Will, Do you know or have a general timeframe on how soon I should see him begin to turn around? Also, your screen
name Blue Ridge herp, where in Blue ridge? I only live about two hours from the hiawasee area if you are familiar.
The neosporin seemed to help him overnight, it was still pretty irritated, though. Of course all of this would pop up while hes in shed, so now once this ordeal is over I get to soak the poor fella. Thank goodness he seems to be taking it all in stride. |
|||
|
Blue Ridge Biological |
||||
|
Posts: 477 (06/24/08 17:10:15)
|
You usually don't see major improvement until after a shed, but if you have good environmental conditions and are using a topical treatment the inflamed
area shouldn't get any bigger and also generally becomes less red and irritated looking.
You mentioned the body seeming enlarged in the area of the bump. That seems a bit odd to me and isn't consistent with a localized bacterial skin infection. The bulge you noticed seems a bit ominous after reading Kim's post on her experience. Hopefully the slight bulge is nothing. Maybe I'm not reading it correctly, but in your last post you mentioned needing to soak the animal due to a shed cycle. I'm not sure if you routinely soak your chondro during a shed cycle, but I think most people here would agree that soaking is not at all necessary to get a nice shed from a chondro. I'm familiar with the Hiawasee area, but I'm in the northern section of the Blue Ridge. Will |
|||
|
gutterxphenom |
||||
|
Posts: 38 (06/24/08 17:21:43) |
I dont typically soak them and I wont until he seems to be recovering. He has been pissed at me since I tried feeding him saturday so I think he may have just
neglected shedding, and now given this he is even more upset.
The swelling or bulge has gone down since yesterday and it was only apparent on the larger spot. If that area doesnt go down pretty soon I will contact a vet just to be on the safe side. |
|||
|
pharmabull |
||||
|
Posts: 348 (06/25/08 01:41:53)
|
If it's indeed a bacterial infection, complete wound healing could take a quite long time, maybe two or three sheds. A chondro doesn't recover from a
dermatological infection as you do from influenza...this will take much more time because the tissue has been affected.
|
|||
|
gutterxphenom |
||||
|
Posts: 39 (06/25/08 04:34:11) |
He looks much better this morning. The swelling has gone down, and the skin seems to be undergoing the repairing process.
Now to soak... I wanted anyones opinion on this as well. Of course I may be overreacting, it may be part of the paranoia caused by reading horror stories on here. He should have shed over the weekend and as surprised as I am because Ive caught him drinking multiple times last week, as well as keeping him misted (that seems to be the reason for the bumps in the first place) but his skin is flaking off everytime I have to move him to see or treat him. So the question is, should I soak him for a little bit and treat him again with betadyne once hes finished, or just treat with the meds, mist him, and let him do his own thing? Im leaning towards soaking because I dont want to raise his cage humidity again until he seems to be well recovered and of course, he wouldnt have a retained shed if he had done it himself anyways. I think hes just pissed off with me and doesnt want to move right now, even to shed. Or just tell me Im crazy and to relax and leave him alone. Im just trying to do whats best for this guy. I really appreciate everyones help so far, thank you. |
|||
|
Kim Heller |
||||
|
Posts: 1917 (06/25/08 08:25:26)
|
I'm happy to hear he is looking better
 . As far as the retained shed....I'd let him heal first. Get rid of those bumps. A retained shed is not going
to kill him, and when he is better, you can address the shed. You may not even have to soak him. A warm, wet towel draped over a perched Chondro works. He will
probably stay under it for awhile, and that will loosen the skin. As he crawls out from underneath the towel, the friction will help him shed. You can repeat
that as often as necessary until he is completely shed
Nothing wrong with being concerned about his well-being. That just means you care very much for him, and want what is best
Kim "Wow, that is a hot snake, I would definitely hit that."
|
|||
