Tail Infection?

[oobernoob]

Noticed for a couple of days now that our Hogg Island Boa's tail has been looking slightly wierd, scales raised, and ever so slight at first, has lead to this tonight.
Vet appointment is going to be booked in the morning.
She's currently soaking in the bath (yes supervised) with some vanodine solution mixed in, just to help kill any infection setting in.
Her enclosure is extremely clean, simply wood, with newspaper as flooring, and a slab of marble over the heat mat (statted) and a 60W bulb above that (also statted). Temps are 90 fahrenheit warm end, 75/8 cool, everything else normal, appetite normal, behaviour normal, and no sudden reaction when the tail is touched.

Wondering if those of you that have first hand experience with relative things such as scale rot, scale infections, scale blistering, etc, have any idea what's going on here?

The only thing that we have noticed as a possible cause is a tendancy that she has, to put her tail under the slab, then her body on top of the slab, yet the slab is not excessively thick and the temps on top of the slab are very similar to those beneath it (current reading from IR temp reader - 87F on top, 87.3F underneath) so i cannot see why this would cause the bother...unless she has sort of squashed her own tail with her weight?
She weighs in at just under 6 kilo's at the minute.

I'm thinking that the vet is going to administer a course of baytrill to fend off any infection, and then tell me to keep her as clean as possible, only she is already as clean as could be, not a claim, truth!

Opinions welcome and thank you for reading. Pictures below:

The overall picture, notice the raised scales



Notice the sores appearing, around 4 here



A close up of one of the more drastic looking sores



Even closer

[bladeblaster]

hard to say from a pic but there are a couple of pinkish looking patches, is this just her normal colouration?

[oobernoob]

Originally Posted by bladeblaster

hard to say from a pic but there are a couple of pinkish looking patches, is this just her normal colouration?

Not that i am aware no, then again, it's the missus's snake more than mine, it doesn't get along with me very well at all! The missus seems to think that it is not meant to be there, so i'm going with that as like i say, i have little contact with the Hogg.

[bladeblaster]

well certainly looks like some sort of blister/infection then, a trip to the vets is in order I would say. What sort of humidity is it kept at?

[oobernoob]

Originally Posted by bladeblaster

well certainly looks like some sort of blister/infection then, a trip to the vets is in order I would say. What sort of humidity is it kept at?

40 - 50% humidity as a norm, sprayed once every day when in slough.

[cabrera]

has she shed recently?

[wildlifewarrior]

Thats the begining of scale rot in my opinion.
personally i think your snakes been craping and getting it stuck in its scale just past its cloaca, causing them to get infected with bacteria.

if untreated it will get worse and can of course also cause septisema.

Personally if you havent dealt with it before then i would have your vet take a look and follow there advice,,,,until then try get some povodine iodine and mix it with 1:2 water to creat a weaker solution and then coat the scales in it to stop the infection from spreading

[kelboy]

People may as well just PM Wildlife Warrior with their snake problems!!! He's seen about all there is to see by the look of it!

I'm joking really, a vet's always your best bet, but it's good to take from people's personal experience. And get advice.

[bladeblaster]

Originally Posted by wildlifewarrior

Thats the begining of scale rot in my opinion.
personally i think your snakes been craping and getting it stuck in its scale just past its cloaca, causing them to get infected with bacteria.

if untreated it will get worse and can of course also cause septisema.

Personally if you havent dealt with it before then i would have your vet take a look and follow there advice,,,,until then try get some povodine iodine and mix it with 1:2 water to creat a weaker solution and then coat the scales in it to stop the infection from spreading

exactly what I thought mate, hence the question about humidity. For some reason I have seen people think boas need 80-90% humidity and sprayign every day.

[oobernoob]

Originally Posted by cabrera

has she shed recently?

About 3 - 4 hours ago yes.

Originally Posted by wildlifewarrior

Thats the begining of scale rot in my opinion.
personally i think your snakes been craping and getting it stuck in its scale just past its cloaca, causing them to get infected with bacteria.

if untreated it will get worse and can of course also cause septisema.

Personally if you havent dealt with it before then i would have your vet take a look and follow there advice,,,,until then try get some povodine iodine and mix it with 1:2 water to creat a weaker solution and then coat the scales in it to stop the infection from spreading

Ok, just managed to find a nearby veterinary so she'll be heading there tomorrow morning.
Septiceamia is a big concern as one of the sores has blood coming from it, very slight, but blood all the same.
We have no povodine at the minute, but have Vanodine V18 and have sprayed a 1:200 mix of that onto the area (bottle recommends 1:500).
She doesn't show any discomfort when it's sprayed on, so hopefully that is a good sign.
I am just very curious as to when the shish has gotten under the scales...hmm.
She's usually cleaned out straight away when she goes, someone is usually here to spot it, and the longest she's ever been left with shish in the viv would be around 4 hours tops. *scratching the noggin*
Still, i realise that that doesn't exclude ALL possibility of some getting in and causing the problem we have now.

Thanks for the help by the way