Skin problem with hatchlings?

[legitimatehypnotist]

I hatched out a beautiful clutch of high yellow Butters, Amels and Caramels this year. All were born extremely large and vigorous. It's been a month since they hatched out, and a few days ago, I noticed what appeared to be bruising beneath the chins of three of my hatchlings, and my heart sank. I'm posting a photo of the "injury".

I have begun treating the three snakes with daily betadyne soaks, but am reluctant to use neosporin, on the off chance that it's actually scale rot. I keep the snakes tanks clean and sterile, and switch out their paper towels daily. They often spilled the water dishes while I slept, and I'd wake up to a completely soaked tub and a wet snake. I remedied the issue, but I'm afraid of what this could be. I'll note that the snakes frequently attempt escape by pushing their heads in between the lid and the tub. I've never seen them stuck, but all of the snakes are affected in the same place. One of them also has what looks like a scrape atop her head. Could this be simple bruising and scabs from escape attempts? Or something much worse?

I can't get a vet appointment for another two days, and no GOOD emergency vets deal with reptiles in my area. I will be taking them in for a check up, but if this is something simple that somebody here has seen before, it would be nice to know to ease my mind. I am officially panicking.

 

[Talane]

I saw something similar to this with ball pythons on ball-pythons.net. The pythons were rubbing their heads against their cages and practically anywhere they could fit them. They would even sometimes rub themselves down to the bone! Most of the time the snakes healed up but it took them a while. If the vet has no answers for you, just try to keep the area clean and dry, monitor them for infections, and watch for slow healing. The python owners were able to stop their snakes from rubbing like this by getting a different type of cage, though not having a snake of my own I'm a bit unsure if what they were referring to would be an option for smaller snakes. Keep us updated!