What makes a BP lose their scales?

[shelliebear]

2 of my ball pythons have lost just a few scales (10-15) most around their neck or head. It's often in groups of scales too.
Is this common? What causes it?
They still have skin and everything, it's not bleeding, just one of the scales popped off, like if you glued a bead to a piece of paper, and it later fell off.
Thanks,
Shellie

[BPsRule]

That's not a normal thing. How's your humidity? Maybe it could be related to scale rot if things are too wet in their enclosures? Although scales just falling off seems unusual even for that. I would have a vet take a look at them to make sure there's nothing seriously wrong. Better to be safe than sorry.

[shelliebear]

My humidity is sucking. I spray the cage to raise the humidity (it's a glass tank actually), but then the temps drop to 75 or lower except for under their rock, where the UTH is. So I turn on a lamp to warm it up, and that dries up all the humidity. >.<
I'm scared to put the water bowl over the UTH because then my BP's will have nothing for warmth. It's getting cold here too. IDK what to do.
My humidity is usually 30% or so when I wake up in the morning after spraying their tank at night, and covering it with a damp towel. I can sometimes get it up to 55% or so if I don't turn on the light, but like I said, then the temps fall.
I have no idea what to do.
Could it be the low humidity? Low temps?
And what in the world should I do to raise the humidity without lowering the temp?
Could I set up a humidifier in the room, outside of their tank?
Shellie

[JLC]

Are you sure the scales are actually falling off? What you describe sounds really weird. However, sometimes they will develop small patches of discolored scales that look kind of grayish/bland....no color to them. That is a normal phenomena akin to patches of dry skin that we sometimes get. It's harmless and will shed out, but you may see a different patch pop up after a shed. It might be an indicator that you need to focus on humidity a little more.

You could, indeed, set up a humidifier in the room...just monitor it closely to make sure you're not getting TOO much moisture in the cages.

Another option is moistened sphagnum moss placed in the hides.

And when I had a brief period of extremely dry conditions, I wet a wad of paper towels (wrung them out just enough so they weren't dripping) and placed them in the enclosure. Be sure to change daily, although they will probably dry out before bacteria gets a chance to germinate.

[shelliebear]

It looks totally gray, the little patches, and each one is bead shaped like their scales; however it is also completely flat. It feels smooth. I can see the pattern of the scale, like the lines that run around the scale where it SHOULD be but there is no raised scale I can feel. :/
I could post pictures if that would help.

[JLC]

It looks totally gray, the little patches, and each one is bead shaped like their scales; however it is also completely flat. It feels smooth. I can see the pattern of the scale, like the lines that run around the scale where it SHOULD be but there is no raised scale I can feel. :/
I could post pictures if that would help.

If you can get a really clear macro shot, that might help.

[David802]

I was under the impression that bps only had scales on there bellys and that the rest of there body was a scale like skin... I'm guessing thats incorrect or somebody more knowledgable then myself would have said something.

As for humidity if you have a glass tank you could always try covering 3/4s of the cage lid. Or you could switch to a plastic tub. I maintain 65% humidity with just having my water bowl partially over the UTH, and thats in utah where the humidity over the last few days has been in the 10 to 20% range.

GL

[shelliebear]

Here's a photo I took of him just now. I hope the lighting is better, and I used my boyfriend's phone, which has a much better camera than my phone. I think it auto-adjusts the macro settings, too.
Here is the unedited photo:

The red circle below shows where the odd scales in question are. The arrow points to normal scales.

[shelliebear]

Also he is going into ANOTHER shed cycle...he has being shedding every 3-4 weeks since I got him from Petco. I think he had his last shed 3 weeks or so ago, and now he has a very pink belly. :/ don't know if that changes anything.

[don15681]

since you're having problems with your humidity, you didn't put any type of oil on him, like mineral oil?