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Underbelly Crackling and rough

C

Core 3lement

New member
Hi, I'm new here and one of my snakes has a really crackly sounding underbelly and it is rough with some scales appearing to be shrunken and discolored. What would be the cause of this...I keep the cage clean, I use Aspen bedding for those who want to know and the snake is about 2 1/2 yrs old at a length of 2 3/4 of a foot...any help will be appreciated:)
 
Sorry bout the pics...my Digicam is kinda bad, but the skales are flaky...like loose skin and the corners look "chipped".....is this scalerot???? I have another corn that just shed and is fine....same living conditions as this one.
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It's a bit difficult to see from the pics, which are a bit fuzzy. However, from those and your description, it does sound like scale rot. Hopefully someone else can take a look at the photos and comment.

If it is scale rot, it's a fungal infection that's made worse by humid conditions. It's transmissable, so you need to keep a very close eye on your other snake and make sure you always wash your hands between handling each of them. Also make sure they never share any equipment like feeding tanks.

I've been there and this is what I did to get rid of the pesky stuff:

- Completely emptied and disinfected the tank and all its fittings and threw away the normal bedding (bark chips in my case).

- Stripped back the tank to absolute minimum fittings: newspaper substrate, one hide at the cool end, one hide at the warm end and a water bowl. Scale rot spores will stick to anything - you need a setup that's easy to keep spotlessly clean.

- Replaced the newapaper every day, disinfected and rinsed the viv and fittings every day, making sure that all were absolutely dry before putting the snake back (as you've seen, the fungus can flourish in damp conditions).

- Every other day, I wiped the snake over with Bettadine to kill any fungus that was present on her body. Don't know what you have that's equivalent in the US - hopefully someone else can advise.

It took several weeks of this treatment for the scale rot to clear, and it was some time after that before she ate.

It's a major pain in the butt to sort out, but it needn't be a major health issue for the snake if treated correctly for long enough.
 
I don't know what betadine is...I am figuring some sort of iodine based solution... I think I saw something about a peroxide/water mixure with the use of bacatracin which I do have since I use that when I get tattoos....but let me search the topics for scalerot topics and see what OTC meds I can use and I will switch over the substrate to newsprint and clean the tank with the Bleach/water solution every day......it just sucks because my hydrometer says the humidity is moderate and not tropical which would indicate great fungus breeding conditions....thank you for your help it is much appreciated and sorry for the pics- my cam only can get so close before the pic blurs and you cannot really see the conditions of the underbelly from far away since he is small.
 
Ok I tracked a thread that talks about one owners treatment of using a 50/50 peroxide/water solution with the aid of Polysporin (figuring basic Neosporin is the same thing). The viv was stripped to bare minimum, paper towel substrate and a shoebox for a hide. The medication was applied 2 times a day for about a week or 2....is this really a possible medical treatment for my corn....I don't want to apply anything to him that can potentially harm him further.
 
If you use neosporin do not use the medicated kind and make sure to use newspaper or paper towles for substrate so the asoen is not sticking to your snake and rubbing more. Good luck!!
 
Hi, I think you're refering to my thread, i'll post the link for others:
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81210

Maybe you can compare your snake with my pictures. But it sound like scale rot. My snake had that crackling noise. From the pictures it doesn't look that bad, so don't think there is nothing to worry about. IF there is some liquid under the scale it would be bad, you'd have to get it out and I would try to find someone that knows better.

The things I did worked, he is now feeling fine after a shed. He is still on paper towels and i'm checking him regularly to see if it comes back.

Polysporin is the same thing as Neosporin, they both contain "polymyxin B (as sulfate)" and "bacitracin zinc". Make sur that is NO pain killers in them.
 
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