Scale rot??? HELP!

awwalz01 · 09-24-16, 03:09 PM

Hello all,

Today I purchased a baby Mexican Black King! At the show, I held it and inspected it briefly... this was a mistake. When I got it home, I noticed that it appeared to have a bunch of scales that were raised oddly. I immediately realized that the snake had mites. Upon further inspection, I actually found a few mites on the snake. So I do some research on mite removal and decide the first step was to soak the snake. While soaking the snake, I noticed something else kind of weird. I noticed that around the cloaca, the scales had a strange color to them. I know MBKs can have some white speckling as babies, but this looked a little different. I tried to get as many good pictures as possible, but it is still kind of hard to tell what it is. My thought is some kind of infection (scale rot possibly?), or just abnormal colored "white" speckles.

Any ideas from more experienced keepers? Also, if anyone has any tips on snake mites, I would love to hear those as well. I have quarantined him from my other animals as as precaution of course. I have him on paper towels and just a hide and water bowl in his cage.

Obviously I am not very happy about this situation, but as of now I am just worried about the snake and the rest of my collection.

Thanks,

Andrew

dannybgoode · 09-25-16, 12:34 AM

I can't help with the marks but did you quarantine the snake (that is keep in it an entirely separate room to you other snakes? Was this done immediately or only after you noticed the mites?

If not you could well be dealing with a mite outbreak in the entire collection. Others will tell you whether you should treat the whole lot as a precaution and how best to treat them also.

In the meantime keep the new snake in an entirely separate room and make sure you have a thorough hygiene process in place in for if you handle this snake and then go to the rest of your collection. You don't want to be carrying mites between the two.

JellyBean · 09-25-16, 01:23 AM

oh no. Poor little guy
Others can help more than me, but just a thought...

Is it a weekend show? If so, I would be knocking the doors down first thing in the morning to "discuss" arrangements from the vendor.

Sorry, and good luck.

macandchz · 09-25-16, 09:53 AM

from the pictures, it almost looks like a tear of some kind. maybe some neosporin would help. unfortunately, some vendors get away with selling a poor guy in this condition. hope you caught the mites in time before they get into your collection.

awwalz01 · 09-25-16, 01:34 PM

It was only a day show unfortunately. It comes once a month and the same guy is always vending. I have actually talked to the guy a bunch over the last 8-9 shows and decided to buy one from him. I still think he is a great dude even though he probably shouldn't have sold this snake to me. I will confront him about the snake next month for sure.

I wish I could get better pictures of it because it somewhat looks like it supposed to be there or something. I can't tell though.

I originally brought the snake into my living room which is right next to my snake room. I noticed the mites rather quickly once I got him out. I never took him in the snake room but I still took all of the precautions with my collection. I just ordered some provent-a-mite so hopefully that will help when it gets here.

JellyBean · 09-25-16, 02:20 PM

I hope you have it under control quickly. Good thing you caught it right away.

I'm glad you'll have a chance to give the guy feedback because there is a great chance that he now has an outbreak as well.

Albert Clark · 09-25-16, 11:20 PM

Sorry for the dilemma. Beautiful snake too! Be careful with the proventamite with baby snakes. Don't overspray the enclosure. Remove the water bowl also. Make absolutely sure all the area in the quarantine enclosure is dry and all the vapors have dissipated. It may be best to wait 24 hrs b4 placing the animal back into the enclosure. I know that Pro Products says you can place the animal back into the treated enclosure like in 30 minutes or so but that really is much too soon. There is no hatchling or juvenile snake dose for proventamite so just be very careful. Be cognizant of the other snakes as well. Good luck. That doesn't look like scale rot at all. It looks pretty normal.

awwalz01 · 09-26-16, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Sorry for the dilemma. Beautiful snake too! Be careful with the proventamite with baby snakes. Don't overspray the enclosure. Remove the water bowl also. Make absolutely sure all the area in the quarantine enclosure is dry and all the vapors have dissipated. It may be best to wait 24 hrs b4 placing the animal back into the enclosure. I know that Pro Products says you can place the animal back into the treated enclosure like in 30 minutes or so but that really is much too soon. There is no hatchling or juvenile snake dose for proventamite so just be very careful. Be cognizant of the other snakes as well. Good luck. That doesn't look like scale rot at all. It looks pretty normal.

Albert, thank you for the concern. I was for sure going to wait longer than 30 minutes to place him back in the tub. Would you recommend using a different product instead? I know Nix is also a common mite treatment. Do you think I should skip the provent a mite and use this? Or something else?

chairman · 09-26-16, 06:19 AM

Sorry to hear about the mites. Nobody sells proventamite locally (I'm right across the river from you) so you'll have to have it shipped. In the meantime, Feeders Supply and the big chains carry avian mite spray, you can use that.

If you bought the snake from who I think you did, don't follow any advice that they have to give. They're way old school, would probably recommend no pest strips directly in the cage to treat the mites.

awwalz01 · 09-26-16, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chairman

Sorry to hear about the mites. Nobody sells proventamite locally (I'm right across the river from you) so you'll have to have it shipped. In the meantime, Feeders Supply and the big chains carry avian mite spray, you can use that.

If you bought the snake from who I think you did, don't follow any advice that they have to give. They're way old school, would probably recommend no pest strips directly in the cage to treat the mites.

Who do you think it is that I bought it from?

Also, I already purchased it online. I can always use it in the future so I am not worried about spending more money to go out and buy Nix or avian mite spray. Although I don't know much about the avian mite spray.

chairman · 09-26-16, 06:40 AM

There are usually two vendors at the show that have a very large variety of reptiles, most of which they didn't produce. There's nothing wrong with that, but having a lot of turnover can invite problems, such as mites, if you're not very careful. Can also create problems for your neighbors at a show, mite eggs travel easily on customer's hands.

The bird mite spray that I've used is Scalex. Give the snake a 15 minute soaking in clean water to give it a chance to drink. Then you spray the snake, avoid the eyes. Spray the cage, let it dry before putting the snake back in (spraying an empty tank and then adding paper towel substrate after speeds the process). Don't give the snake any water bowls for whatever time period the product's instructions say. The product doesn't take care of eggs as quickly as proventamite but it'll knock down the adults.

awwalz01 · 09-26-16, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chairman

There are usually two vendors at the show that have a very large variety of reptiles, most of which they didn't produce. There's nothing wrong with that, but having a lot of turnover can invite problems, such as mites, if you're not very careful. Can also create problems for your neighbors at a show, mite eggs travel easily on customer's hands.

The bird mite spray that I've used is Scalex. Give the snake a 15 minute soaking in clean water to give it a chance to drink. Then you spray the snake, avoid the eyes. Spray the cage, let it dry before putting the snake back in (spraying an empty tank and then adding paper towel substrate after speeds the process). Don't give the snake any water bowls for whatever time period the product's instructions say. The product doesn't take care of eggs as quickly as proventamite but it'll knock down the adults.

The vendor I got him from only had a few animals. I think I know who you are referring to and they are usually somewhat assholes so I never buy any products from them.

I will look into doing the Scalex treatment. I haven't heard much about it until this post so I will probably do more research on it and then see where I get from there.

Thank you so much for your help!

Albert Clark · 09-26-16, 11:04 AM

Proventamite is a great product if used correctly! It's the only mite product that I have ever used so I can't speak on any other products. It's efficient and convenient but does require attention to detail. The biggest mistake people make is overspraying the enclosure. It really only takes one metered spray burst for any 10 to 20 gallon enclosure. There are several tutorials on you tube that may help you understand the application procedure. Just remember you really don't need that much to treat effectively. And even less for the younger animals. As long as you are conservative with the spray and remove water bowls and keep the animal out of the enclosure for 24 hrs b4 placing him back you should be ok. Keep him on the paper towels also.

chairman · 09-26-16, 12:35 PM

It sounds like our customer service experiences have been somewhat similar...

Scalex is a pyrethrin-based mite killer. It may be useful to research that substance if the product itself doesn't provide any snake-based results.