Sick ball, all outta ideas...........

mykee · 02-07-03, 04:16 PM

I noticed about two weeks ago that my male ball python Kane, 7 mos. old, had some loosening of his belly scales. I thought nothing of it and misted his hide a little, a few days later, I noticed what looked like browning of his belly scales, I noticed the differenc eimmediately as he isa an albino. Upon closer inspection, it looks like the outer ends of his scales are rotting. they have brown flecks on the outer rim. Firstly, everything in his environment is up to standard. 2 hides, humidity, size of tank, substrate, water,and so on. I went to the vet, who happens to be an exotics vet (Markham Road Animal Hospital) and he said that he could not figurte it out and is treating him with a 'carpet vaccine' hoping that whatever it was, will clear up. He gave him a dose of invermicine (sp?) a B Complex to stimulate his eating response (as he hasn't eaten in a month) and a take-home dose of Flagyl for three days. I am going back to see him on Thursday, and was wondering if any of you have had any similar experiences of know of what might be wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

mykee · 02-07-03, 04:55 PM

Sorry, vet also said it looks like an inner systemic infection, and that he probably had it from before I got him, and for some reason is finally manifesting it now, lucky me!

Corey Woods · 02-07-03, 05:12 PM

Mike,

It sounds like Scale Rot to me. What substrate are you using? If something other than dry papertowel I'd switch him over to dry papertowel. If it is just a minor case then just put polysporin gel on his stomach twice a day until he sheds. You won't see any improvement in his scales until the next shed as the outer layer cannot heal it's self only the underlayer.

I wouldn't give him the flagyl every 3 days......that may overdose him and could cause devistating side effects and/or death. If your vet couldn't diagonose him then I'd say he isn't as good as he says he is. You could try the injectable antibiotics but again I think that is unnecessary unless it is a severe case of scale rot. The polysporin should heal him up like new in about a months time. Keep him clean, dry and warm and you should do alright. Also, ivermectin isn't that good for snakes either......why would he give him that?????

Corey

Tim_Cranwill · 02-07-03, 05:48 PM

My buddy's ball had a case of scale rot and the polysporin seemed to work. But don't cut any corners (not saying that you will

). Change the paper towles everyday and keep his floor dry.

Just out of curiousity, when yo say "everything in his environment is up to standard. 2 hides, humidity, size of tank, substrate, water,and so on.", can you give specifics? What are the actual temps and humidity. What is the substare? It might help...

Good luck

mykee · 02-07-03, 06:26 PM

Cranwill, 92-ish in hot hide, 70-75-ish in cool hide, 33gal. glass tank, Reptisun 5.0 light. 18 hours light on, 6 off. Cypress mulch substrate. 55-70% humidity.

Corey, thanks for the advice, is the inver-blahblah gonna do any harm? I finished the Flagyl (.2 cc for 400 gr.) Should I just use the normal Polysporin, or the cream one?

Thanks all......

Matt_K · 02-07-03, 09:29 PM

use the normal gel ploysporin!! even if its for yourself, i would say use the gel!! Not the white cream :medzorro:

mykee · 02-07-03, 10:04 PM

Excellent, just got back from my Anniversary Dinner, (six "glorious" years) and picked up both from Shoppers. Gel it is. Thanks.

P.S. if you live in Toronto, and are a carnivore, you absolutely MUST try The Tulip at 1606 Queen St. E. Best steak I've ever eaten. (No, I don't work there).

Lisa · 02-07-03, 11:28 PM

Tulip has great steaks. congradulations on 6 years. Good luck with your ball python.

mykee · 02-18-03, 05:53 PM

Thank you all for your suggestions, they have all been helpful. It seems tht I may have overreacted a tad; had a few friends over after the reptile show last Sunday, and they looked at Kane's belly and both said that it was not, in fact, scale rot, but a very minor case of thermal burn (only about 12 affected scales). Still my fault, but definitely the better of the two. I followed everyone's advice and applied Polysporin (the GEL one) twice a day for about a week, at which point, Kane went into shed. He shed a few days ago, and is PERFECT, and when I mean PERFECT, I mean PERFECT. White belly, no marks at all. (In the process of purchasing Helix's right now). Second part of this message is that I had scheduled a follow-up with my so-called "herp vet" and left Kane at home, attending myself. He was shocked to notice that I was there alone, seeing as how flustered I was the previous week. I proceeded to tell him that I was not bringing him back because I was dissappointed with his diagnosis, you know, it being WRONG and all. I told him what was wrong, and told him that if he wanted to charge me for the visit, that was fine with me, as long as he took this misdiagnosis seriously. I told him it was worth the $40ish bucks for the consult if, when I left he truly considered what happened, and to take his job a little more seriously, so that this lack of knowledge does not put other reptiles, that may be in his care in the future, in danger. Thanks for your ears. Mykee

Lisa · 02-19-03, 02:54 AM

Glad to hear your BP is doing better.

stormyva · 02-19-03, 06:01 AM

Glad to hear your bp is doing better and fully recovered and GOOD FOR YOU for putting your foot down with that vet.

What did he say to you?

Linds · 02-19-03, 10:28 AM

Glad to hear everything worked out

For future though, if you ever need to see a vet again, I would recommend taking him to High Park Animal Clinic. Did you vet do any blood tests? You can't diagnose a systemic infection without those. It sounds like your vet didn't really know what he was dong and more or less was jsut throwing guesses

Especially just prescribing drugs that can be hard on the system such as flagyl without knowing what he is treating

Here's the info for HIgh Park if your interested in finding a new vet...

Dr. Regan, Petra Burgmann, Judy McFarlen
High Park Animal Clinic
3194 Dundas St W.
Toronto, Ontario
M6P 2A3
416-763-4200

mykee · 02-19-03, 04:42 PM

Linds, thanks I will take the info down on that Vet, but I think with the help I got here, I think in the future, if any of my babies gets sick again, I will just post on here and let all the amateur vets help me out.

So far: Amateur Vets (you guys) =1
"Real vet (formally trained)=0

Thanks.

Linds · 02-19-03, 06:12 PM

True that most vets are useless, and there alot of people on here that are more knowledgeable than the vast majority of vets, but even still comes a time when a vet is needed, no matter how good you are. I don't go to the vet often, I can handle most situations fine, and I have the basic treatments here, but its good to have one for any major situations. But for the most part, vets are useless, I have access to vets all over the place, as close as 10 minutes from me, but it's very scary when you know more than the vet! - which is why I have 4 hours of driving if I need to see one

Corey Woods · 02-19-03, 07:19 PM

I'm glad the little guy is doing good for you! If you ever have any problems don't hesitate to give me a call........

Corey