Fluid Filled Blisters?

[yrcomplacency]

HI all... long time member of albinoburmese.com forums, but new here. Blah blah blah I has a big snake ok.

Anyways, Julius, my 9 year old monster albino, is the picture of health... until recently. I noticed some blisters on her, like nothing I've ever seen on a python, or any snake for that matter, and I've worked with quite a few, not all in the greatest condition either. Quite literally, fluid filled blisters that take up the whole scale. Not discoloured, not inflammed in any other way aside from the fluid, and seemingly not painful to the touch. The weird thing is that the blisters are localized to one or a few scales, not an area of skin, and the surrounding scales are perfect.

Everything I've found online says blisters are caused by humidity or poor hygine, but she is housed on newsprint, in a near sterile envoirnment of a PPE cage. [I admit - I'm kinda nuts about things being clean lol]. Her heat is an UTH on one third of the cage floor, set for 85F, so not too hot, and besides, the blisters are on the side, not the bottom. Her humidity is relatively low, yay Germany!, I'd say no more than 2o% MAX. Far as I know she hasn't stabbed, burned or scraped herself any time recently. She has no external parasites, and is fed f/k, so it's not an injury from another living thing.

I've attatched the links to the pics... any idea what it could be from? I may end up carting her giant ass to a vet here, but man o man I'd like to avoid taking her down 14 flights of stairs if possible. :)

Thanks!

Jenner

http://lickmy.vg/img/lj/08/blisters1.JPG
http://lickmy.vg/img/lj/08/blisters2.JPG
http://lickmy.vg/img/lj/08/blisters3.JPG
http://lickmy.vg/img/lj/08/blisters4.JPG
http://lickmy.vg/img/lj/08/blisters5.JPG

[The Snake Guru]

In all my years of snake keeping....I've never seen anything like that. LOL That is just weird....I mean if it were a burn or something it would be like an entire area not just one scale here and there.

That is really odd. Not sure how feasable it is given your current location, but in my personal opinion I would take her to a vet and have one of the blisters lanced and biopsed to makes sure there isn't some weird bacterial/fungal infection going on.

That one definitely has me scratching my head, perhaps some of the "burm folks" will have an idea.

~B~

[Osep Judoka]

I had a juvenile blood that had something similar but not exactly like. Vet told me excessive humidity. Dropped it down a bit and they casually went away. I too didn't think it was excessive. Humidity that is. She was kept on newspaper with a sphagnum moss hide. But who am I to disagree with the vet. Wish I could help more.

[lorenmps]

That's too strange!!!! Like everyone else.... I have no clue what that is, but being that it's so weird I would definately have it looked at.
Good luck



and ya... She is MONSTER huge

[bebo]

Jenner have they re-occured or just a one time thing so far? I've seen this when one did encounter alot of moisture around the time it shed. It was almost like water was trapped between the soon to be shed layer and the new layer of scales and skin. :confused:

[Lorelei]

When we got in a lot of WC ball pythons, they spent a lot of time in their water dishes hiding where we got them from, and they had little blisters that looked just like that. They just popped when you touched them and were localized like that - a few scales here and there. Once we got them settled in, we gave them water dishes they could not soak in and they all cleared up.

[yrcomplacency]

That's the thing. Her humidity is on the low end of what it should be - DAMN dry, and she has no sphagnum shed box or the like. WHen she wants moisture other than a drink from her bowl, she puts herself in the shower and knocks the bottles over til I fill the tub for her. I will say with near absolute certainty it's not a humidity issue.

*stumped*

I had a juvenile blood that had something similar but not exactly like. Vet told me excessive humidity. Dropped it down a bit and they casually went away. I too didn't think it was excessive. Humidity that is. She was kept on newspaper with a sphagnum moss hide. But who am I to disagree with the vet. Wish I could help more.

[yrcomplacency]

Well her last shed was about a month ago, and it was completely intact. No missing scales that could have stuck to her and collected water. She's not due for another shed for at least another 3 months.

This is the first time something like this has ever happened to her.

Jenner have they re-occured or just a one time thing so far? I've seen this when one did encounter alot of moisture around the time it shed. It was almost like water was trapped between the soon to be shed layer and the new layer of scales and skin. :confused:

[yrcomplacency]

She doesn't spend too much time soaking, as her water bowl is simply too small for it [maybe a foot across and 8" deep.] I fear giving her an appropriate sized soaking tub as her sheer bulk would cause some serious displacement flooding - my poor floors! [She's about 16'4" and somewhere near 130# now.] When she wants to soak, she's figured out to put herself in the shower. lol

When we got in a lot of WC ball pythons, they spent a lot of time in their water dishes hiding where we got them from, and they had little blisters that looked just like that. They just popped when you touched them and were localized like that - a few scales here and there. Once we got them settled in, we gave them water dishes they could not soak in and they all cleared up.

[yrcomplacency]

Hey lorenmps... here's a fun pic for scale of monster-ness!

<img src="http://lickmy.vg/img/lj/08/8ejuliushead.jpg">

She's totally gonna eat my head one of these days. :P

[TailsWithScales]

To me that looks like a form of contact dermatitis. Is it possible that her skin may have come in contact with whatever cleaner you use to disinfect while it was still wet?
Cleaners can be harsh on a snakes skin especially if it gets under the scales.

[JordanM]

The previous post sounds like it makes the most sense. However I have seen similar blisters happen from too little humidity as well as too much. Usually you will see the scales get a little wrinkly before this happens, but it's something to look into. As you said though it's kinda hard to soak a 130# Burm! You might try temporarily adding a humidifier to the room and monitoring the snake.

[yrcomplacency]

To me that looks like a form of contact dermatitis. Is it possible that her skin may have come in contact with whatever cleaner you use to disinfect while it was still wet?
Cleaners can be harsh on a snakes skin especially if it gets under the scales.

Her cage and whatnot are cleaned with Nature's Miracle, non chemical super safe enzyme jazz for pets. Great for getting rid of post-rabbit stink. :)

[hex a holik]

does she wander the house when you're around?? if so maybe she got into something chemical wise, even just a mild cleaner like the last 2 said. i know in the summer we let our big snakes roam around the house a little and i have to make sure i didnt clean w/any thing to recently, and i had to pick up anything i valued.lol. but it is mind boggling. ive never seen anything like that.

good luck. i hope you dont have to carry her down all those stairs.

-kristin-