Our boa is going to the vets today :(

She is a rescued boa. she came in as her owners said they was moving to a smaller house. Apparently she had a growth on her nose and had an op. I was told that this was due to her constant rubbing in her old viv. So when she came here i checked her for mite... no sign. Her skin was in a poor state, she hadn't shed properly. Not surprising as for the past 10 years she only had a very small water bowl and couldn't bathe, so little humidity. Still doesn't know how to bath FFS. Anyway after several sheds i thought she was doing ok so i put some climbing furnishings in her viv, so she could be aboreal. But sadly she has rubbed herself daft again and hurt her mouth and caused a few scratches on her neck. They are all clean ( and treated with Betadine) but i am worried about her mouth. It looks like an abcess has formed. So not good. Have taken all the stuff out of her viv apart from her large bath to stop her from doing more damage to herself.
But looking at her scratches it looks like in places there are several layers of unshed skin still. All this is despite me regulary bathing her and spraying her. The old wound now is all white scar tissue because finally the old skin has come off. Her old owners said it was several months ago (like 9 mths) that she had the op, so i am left thinking OMG that poor snake. She is still rubbing her mouth at the sides of the viv so maybe she has some old skin in and around her pits. Our old burm was like this when we first got her too.
Anyway will keep you all updated after i come back from pennine Vets.

Oh no poor girl,

Good luck at the vets, I'll keep my fingers crossed !!!

Thanks hunni

Thats a poor state of things when anyone lets any animal get to that state.

Good luck at the vets, sounds like she's a fighter to have got this far, so fingers crossed for a good outcome, looking forward to some good news soon.

Well we took her to the vets and it was confirmed that it is indeed an abcess. If the infection doesn't clear up we may need to have xrays done. The vet seems to think because she has had an abcess before that the orginal infection wasn't dealt with properly. It maybe that she is just proned to them, but time will tell. She has been prescribed Baytril 2.5% oral and we have to go back in two weeks. she was ever so brave and never once turned aggressive. I am so proud of her. During the examination the plug of pus fell out, which must of given her some slight relief once the examination was completed.

Aww poor girl, thanks for keeping us up to date, keeping my fingers crossed though

Yeah me too, I wouldn't like her to end up going under the knife again the poor girl.

Hope she is well soon . :cry:

Thanks Tilly

Everything of the best to you! an animal in pain is not a nice experience!

Thanks Bogga.

The swelling has gone down in her mouth so thats a good sign. Oh I do hope this works for her sake. I got the feeling she knew the type of place she was at when at the vets and being helped. How she didn't strike out after the struggle to open her mouth etc during the examination is beyond me because if I was the snake I'D of been pretty peed off.

Hi there, I.m new to the site. I.m sorry to hear your girl has been poorly, I've had lots of sucess with Baytril in the past with abscesses in water dragons and corn snakes so hopefully it will do the trick for her!
Sarah

Thanks Sarah. Trying to get the Baytril into her a struggle, but I am confident she will be ok.

Glad you are doing everything you can for her, and glad she knows she is been helped! She is in the best place with you though! So many people wouldn't take a snake to a vets, either because of the price or accessability (Not all people, I hasten to add because I don't want to offend!). I know neither of these would be a factor for you!

Thank you Rob