Beginning of scale rot?? Please help!

[reptyles]

i'm not sure if this picture will show up or not. but on the underside of my baby ball python's belly there are some brown scales. they don't feel any different than the other scales, they are just a different color. it's really starting to worry me . I feel like i'm taking care of him wrong... he's due to shed pretty soon so maybe it's from that? or maybe it will go away after shed. i just don't know... there's also a cut on his belly which i'm thinking could be his belly button since he is still very young. he's probably 2-3 months. if the picture doesn't work i'll try to post another.
this is the picture url because the picture won't show.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/101670602@N02/9733338550/

[decensored]

has he always had those scales on his belly? A lot of normals have speckled bellies - the picture is kinda blurry so it's hard to tell..

[satomi325]

The slit on his belly is indeed his belly button.

It does look like your snake has really minor scale rot on a few scales. (Hope I'm looking at the picture right, it's kind of small). The rest looks just like natural markings.
It's so minor that it should go away with the next shed. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If you really want to do something, you can dab some diluted Betadine on it. Betadine is an antiseptic you can get from your local drug store.

[reptyles]

he is a yellow belly. i was actually taking a picture of the belly button not the scales which is why the picture is bad, i'm going to take another.

[reptyles]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/101670602@N02/9730261671/
this picture still isn't too great, it's hard to get him in the right position.

what caused the scale rot? how do i prevent it from happening again?

[satomi325]

Sometimes sitting in urine or damp substrate for a little bit can cause it.

I hate to say it, but I'm not sure that is a yellowbelly. The belly pattern seems wrong to me.

[reptyles]

well i was leaving him alone for a little while because it seems like he's going to start the shedding process so i didn't want to stress him out.. i should have checked his substrate more.
i'm not totally sure he's yellow belly, that's just what the breeder that i got him from told me. but he could have been wrong. this is a picture of him when i first got him so you can see his coloring.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1016706...n/photostream/

[loonunit]

You know, I really don't see any scale rot. I see some black splotches, but that's just that particular baby's belly pattern.

(And I agree: I see weak het pied markers, but no yellowbelly. But I don't work with yellowbellies, so unless you give me a really obvious one, I won't recognize it.)

Anyway, if there is scale rot, there's so little of it, it'll almost certainly clear up with the next shed. That's generally when I see it: right before a shed, especially if it's been a long time between sheds. Sometimes I'll see a little brown edge to the belly scales, and some flaking and breaking. But it always clears up with the shed.

I think he's fine. Just try to keep the belly dry until he goes blue, then start misting or providing a damp hide. And then check again after he's shed.

[reptyles]

thanks! i usually overreact to everything and assume the worst possibility. and as for the yellow belly, it doesn't really bother me that he's not, it's just that i got him from bhb reptiles & you think they'd know the difference, right?!

[loonunit]

They probably know the difference at BHB. He's not a "classic" yellowbelly, that's so obvious even I can see it... but I think most yellowbellies aren't. And they still make ivories.