Cornsnake belly scales turning reddish-orange

Hi! My corn, who's an Okeetee, had his belly scales turn from black and white checker to the whites being a reddish-orange color. I assumed he had a shed coming on. A week later and he did shed. But only 1/4 of his scales have gone back to the white and black. The rest of the 3/4 are still reddish-orangeand black, getting darker towards the tail. They almost look like they are irritated. What is going on with him? Thanks for any advice!

Erin

Just gonna throw these out as possibilites, maybe thermal burn, or scale rot, but I am not sure if corns are susceptible to scale rot like the royal pythons are if their enclosure is too damp:confused:

Hi,

I agree with BiggBaddWolf that those are the most likely causes if the scales have an abnormal look to them as well as the colour change.

Can you get us a nice clear pictire of the areas?


dr del

I'll try and get a pic of him when I get home from work today. His temps are around 85 on the warm side and humidity is about 30-40%. Would this cause either the burns or scale rot? I thought of this before but wasn't sure if the conditions would cause such problems. He does sometimes lie right on the glass above the heat mat though.

A lot of cornsnakes bellies do turn orange normally as they age. It usually starts from the back and works its way forward.

Here's the pics of his belly and two of just him. He's whiter towards the head.

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...n/100_2516.jpg
<br><br>
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...n/100_2515.jpg
<br><br>
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...100_2469-1.jpg
<br><br>
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/a...100_2465-1.jpg

What do ya think?

I think (but could be wrong) that you have a lovely Abbott's Okeetee. The orange hue from his lower half down is actually normal for them. My female A. Okee is exactly like that. Here are some pictures to show you what I mean, and you'll see it looks very similar to yours. :)

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5663/p1010666q.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2258/p1010667d.jpg

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/3861/p1010668a.jpg

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/883/p1010669n.jpg

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/3585/p1010670.jpg

Mine looks just like yours. Ok, I feel better now :) I just got him a few weeks ago. I let him settle a bit and then he started the shed. I guess I hadn't noticed the difference in the coloration yet lol. I was wondering if he was an Abbott's also since the black lines are thicker. And let me tell you he's a handful! He wasn't handle much before I got him and he's 3 now. He's quite skittish and is extremely aggressive at feeding him. If he even sees me he has his mouth open, hissing, striking, tail rattling. Such a little monster :rolleyes: Yours is gorgeous by the way.

Yup. Just as I suspected. Belly turning orange from the back and working its way forward. Completely normal.