I HAVE A BIG BCI PROBLEM!!!

[LuiBoohead]

I have a 5 year old bci, 8'7", 44 lbs, and a couple of months ago he shed a perfect shed but his skin was left with a few white spots that appeared to have no scales. They developed scabs which came off within a couple of weeks. Now, around those spots, his scales are coming off, leaving exposed meat!!!!!!!!!! He is refusing meals but he's not had a bad attitude (except for when i checked him for mouth rot). Scales falling off. The scales falling off are not on his belly but on his sides. Please, someone that has any info, please help me..........I can post pics if that might be of help.

[The Snake Guru]

Sounds like Scale Rot.
Gonna need some information from ya though girl. Give me the Run-down....Temps, Humidity, cage setup, what heat sources your using, substrate, the whole 9 yards....we'll see if we can't figure something out.

Also if possible, pictures of the affliction would help.

~B~

[LuiBoohead]

:eek:

[LuiBoohead]

Temp is between 80 and 90 during the day and about 70-75 at night. he is on a 12 hour on/off light cycle with an UTH and no heat rocks or anything like that in his cage. He's in a 100 gal aquarium with humidity at 65% give or take depending on the weather.I live in south arkansas, so humidity is super high normally here anyway. I use aspen for substrate. He has a soaking bowl large enough to submerse himself in, which he does quite regularly. http://myreptileplanet.com/imagehosting/thum_200475c395b52e51.jpg (http://myreptileplanet.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=640)

http://myreptileplanet.com/imagehosting/thum_200475c39774dbe9.jpg (http://myreptileplanet.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=641)

[The Snake Guru]

Well at first glance, it looks like a healing burn to me. Is it possible that he's getting close to any overhead heat sources? (Such as basking bulbs, reflector hoods)

Also the I would try to keep that nighttime temp in the low 80s....souldn't be dropping that low at night, he is an adult so he can probably handle it, but these are tropical boas....70 is definitely getting on the low side....78 to 79 is as low as I ever let mine go.

~B~

[LuiBoohead]

It's not a burn. There's nothing in or around his enclosure that his skin could touch. The chunks of scales actually came off in my hand. Could it be scale rot?

**Oh, and note taken about the night temps, thanks for that tidbit, I didn't know that he should be warmer at night**

[The Snake Guru]

Well then my second inclination would be blister disease.

You say he soaks quite a bit, which isn't a normal thing for a boa to do. There are a couple reasons why excessive soaking takes place:

1. He's hiding in the water bowl:
If there is no available hide spot, some boas will hide in the water dish.
Solution: Add hide hut

2. Mites:
In an effort to ease the irritation from the little buggers they will soak to kill them off.
Solution: I use Reptile Relief, remove everything from the cage, spray the snake and cage down, repeat process as directed on the bottle, usually takes 3 to 5 weeks to completely cure them.

3. Excessive Heat:
Not quite sure but you said your cage temperature ranges into the 90s during the day, wasn't sure if that was ambient cage temperature or hot spot only. Should be the hotspot only.....if the whole cage is reaching 90 during the day, he is soaking in an effort to cool himself down.
Solution: Regulate Temperatures better daytime temps in the overall cage should range around 85 degrees with a hotspot of 90F (provided by your UTH)

4.Low Humidity:
You said your cage humidity is running around 65%, that shouldn't be an issue.
However a light misting every once in awhile to get it up around 70% and then letting it drop back down may alleviate the soaking issue.

Just my thoughts on the subject, if your sure it's not a burn, I would start making some adjustments to your general cage parameters.

Scale Rot:
Usually caused by excessive Humidity, and unclean caging resulting in a bacterial infection of the skin.
Solution: Drop humidity, clean cage more often.

Hope this helps and get him squared away, looks to have good weight so I wouldn't worry to much about him not eating....it is that time of year when males are hunting for more than food I.E Female Boas...LOL

~B~

[LuiBoohead]

90s is his hot spot......the rest of the cage stays cooler than that. Thanks for the info !!

Could you tell me a bit more about blister disease? Is it treatable? What could cause it? Is it something I'm doing wrong or it just one of those things that happens?

Thanks, Sabrina

[The Snake Guru]

The entire previous post was about Blister Disease. It comes from either soaking to much in water bowl or excessive high humidity. Above listed in 1 2 3 and 4 were common possibilities why a boa would soak excessively and possible solutions to the situation. Once the problem is rectified the sores will heal on thier own after a couple of sheds.


~B~

[Mike Greathouse]

Well then my second inclination would be blister disease.

You say he soaks quite a bit, which isn't a normal thing for a boa to do. There are a couple reasons why excessive soaking takes place:

1. He's hiding in the water bowl:
If there is no available hide spot, some boas will hide in the water dish.
Solution: Add hide hut

2. Mites:
In an effort to ease the irritation from the little buggers they will soak to kill them off.
Solution: I use Reptile Relief, remove everything from the cage, spray the snake and cage down, repeat process as directed on the bottle, usually takes 3 to 5 weeks to completely cure them.

3. Excessive Heat:
Not quite sure but you said your cage temperature ranges into the 90s during the day, wasn't sure if that was ambient cage temperature or hot spot only. Should be the hotspot only.....if the whole cage is reaching 90 during the day, he is soaking in an effort to cool himself down.
Solution: Regulate Temperatures better daytime temps in the overall cage should range around 85 degrees with a hotspot of 90F (provided by your UTH)

4.Low Humidity:
You said your cage humidity is running around 65%, that shouldn't be an issue.
However a light misting every once in awhile to get it up around 70% and then letting it drop back down may alleviate the soaking issue.

Just my thoughts on the subject, if your sure it's not a burn, I would start making some adjustments to your general cage parameters.

Scale Rot:
Usually caused by excessive Humidity, and unclean caging resulting in a bacterial infection of the skin.
Solution: Drop humidity, clean cage more often.

Hope this helps and get him squared away, looks to have good weight so I wouldn't worry to much about him not eating....it is that time of year when males are hunting for more than food I.E Female Boas...LOL

~B~

Very nice post Brad, there is only one more thing I would add.
It could be a case of simple contact dermatitis.

Has anything new been added to the enclosure recently (just before these symptoms appeared)? Something that he could be rubbing against that is irritating him.

or

Have you made any changes in the cleaner or disinfectant that you use on the enclosure? By the way, what do you use?

Have you treated him for anything recently (either internally or externally)?

[The Snake Guru]

Thanks Mike....and good call! Seem to have forgotten about that one. Guess after I saw the "My boa soaks a lot" part I was kind of focussing on that issue....But hey that's why were all here and posting keeps the ideas flowing! LOL

~B~

[danthony428]

poor boa, i hope you figure out whats wrong

[TailsWithScales]

I am going to say it's either a contact dermititis or scale rot from over soaking. Cleaners cause chemical burns on snakes too so that's also another thing to think of.

Get some Silvadene Cream (1%) and put it on the spots. With something like this use caution in allowing the snake to be in to much humidity and /or do any soaking. I'm sure it hurts and soaking in cold water probably helps to relive the pain. Remove EVERYTHING from the cage but a small no tip water bowl and paper towels. In order to combat this you need a very clean /sterilized environment.

Hope this to helps.