A skin problem

[serpenttongue]

I would say scale rot, although it looks like a few other things such as body blisters that have gone back down but left their usual trademark scar. It also looks like the scars that can be caused when a snake sheds its skin before the shedding oils have cleared completely, causing small patches of the new skin to be lifted away as it sheds.

But i would say scale rot. Scale rot on the dorsal surface is usually caused by high humidity, so i would drop the humidity (even remove the water bowl completely) and keep the cage warm and dry.

At the stage that these patches are at, there MAY be no turning back. You may have to let them worsen and become scabs of dead scales and eventually drop off (this will be their way of healing). If it does happen this way you must let them drop off themselves when they're ready else damage will be done to the raw flesh underneath.

If the snake sheds before they become scabs then theres a chance they'll clear before things get worse(as long as humidity is low, cage clean, dry and warm), but usually when they're at the stage they're at, they usually go all the way.

[adbacus]

Caused by cold, damp/humid vivs, poor sanitation, scale damage (bites from live prey).

Treatment if early, disinfecting sores, an old remedy -cod liver oil on sores (so can't vouch, but know ppl who have used this treatment). SSD cream - Silvazine in some cases or Antibiotics if bad enough. By my understanding you tend to hit the snake with a shot of injected antibiotics as well as the cream if you start with antibiotics. as they normally start becoming septic.

Generally - viv cleanliness with lowering of the humidity. Balancing ambient and floor temps -i.e. warm floor with warm ambient temp.

Here's a thread with an apparently bad one:

Sheding to much?

[whiteyluvsrum]

can you explain more lucas, im interested in it now.

[Aussie Python Lover]

Ouch I havent come across anything like that yet :-S

[moosenoose]

Just another angle on this; I had a Darwin once with very, very similar marks on it! I initially thought it was from a bad burn, but it seemed to get worse each day.

The snake was air freighted, regrettably, to me in the middle of slough and we put it down to an extreme case of retained shed. Has the snake had a bad slough recently??

Unfortunately I can’t tell you the end result with much accuracy as I sent the snake back being that I had paid for a female, but ended up finding I’d been sold another male (Had it been a female naturally I would have persisted at my end with getting it right) According to the original owner he upped the humidity and proceeded to feed the snake up to get it to the next shed. Supposedly you can’t tell it ever had a mark on it now. (That might sound odd, but that’s what I was told)

All the best.

[nightowl]

interesting moosenoose, my snake seemed fine until she shed and those marks were there. It wasn't a trouble shed, came off in one piece. The only thing I can put it down to is humidity in the enclosure for the week leading up the the shed. She was also at the tail end of Fortum injections as treatment for a RI and the temp in the tank was kept near 30deg/c to avoid toxicity from the antibiotic so maybe the raised temps provided more humidity with the water bowl close by...

[moosenoose]

Hmmm scary. Like I said, I didn't see the end result of the one I sent back so I'm not entirely sure about the fix, or even to this day, what it was that caused it. It just looks very similar.

Best of luck with it nightowl, keep us posted. I hope it comes good.

[serpenttongue]

Originally Posted by moosenoose

According to the original owner he upped the humidity and proceeded to feed the snake up to get it to the next shed. Supposedly you can’t tell it ever had a mark on it now. (That might sound odd, but that’s what I was told)

The fact that a snake has scale rot is usually enough to quickly elicit a shed, just to help the sores heal quicker.

Just thought i'd add that

[serpenttongue]

Originally Posted by nightowl

interesting moosenoose, my snake seemed fine until she shed and those marks were there. It wasn't a trouble shed, came off in one piece. The only thing I can put it down to is humidity in the enclosure for the week leading up the the shed. She was also at the tail end of Fortum injections as treatment for a RI and the temp in the tank was kept near 30deg/c to avoid toxicity from the antibiotic so maybe the raised temps provided more humidity with the water bowl close by...

Scale rot usually wont show itself until after the snake sheds. It is much more likely to occur when humidity is raised during the snakes opaque stage of shedding. If it's not getting ready to shed it could handle the humidity much better. A snakes skin is at its most sensitive when its preparing to shed.

[nightowl]

could explain things thanks serpenttongue

[Gekkocha]

My best guess was that it was some kind of scale rot or skin infection, but having never dealt with such a problem before, so I was unsure.

The spots have always looked dry, never seeping or blistering. The scales look shrivled and scabbed up. He has shed normally several times scince I aquired him earlier this year. The condition must not be acute enough to cause accelerated shedding.

Originally Posted by nightowl

definately dermatitis (scale rot)

One of my Port Mac Carpets had it not long ago. Not sure why, she was kept in a clean enclosure with dry substrate (newspaper). I thought it may have been a reaction from the Latex Gloves I started using at the time. I treated it with Iodine spray and Silvazine cream. The iodine was applied to the infected area and left to dry for 10 minutes, then Silvazine was applied .

Like you said, Nightowl, I am not sure why this has happened. I have always kept my caging very clean and also use dry newspaper as substrate.
The breeder I bought him from is an experienced and reputable keeper, I doubt the condition would be the direct result of suboptimal husbandry on his part either.

I will be consulting a vet for treatment options.