Scale Rot? Rescued Axanthic

Hey all,

A tiny Axanthic male just came into my possession from a friend who didn't have the best husbandry practices. I plan on taking him to the vet ASAP but I am quite worried about him. She got him about a year ago, and at that time he was a hatchling so I assume he is about a year and a half old now. However, he is not even the width of my girlfriends thumb as you can see in the pictures. I don't have his weight since I don't want to stress him any more. She said that she was feeding him almost every week but I'm at a loss how he could still be so small. He has "dry" patches of scales that look deflated. He also has a few scales that are brown around the edges on his belly. I just wanted some opinions on what to do/what this might be.

Thanks all



http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...9/img_7433.jpghttp://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...9/img_7461.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...9/img_7454.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...9/img_7458.jpg



http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...9/img_7432.jpg

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Hi,

The only ones of any concern are the slightly brown edged ones - and even that should clear with his next shed assuming your husbandry is ok. :)

The others are caused by the top layer of new skin sticking to the old skin during a shed and is nothing to worry about.

In the second to last pic there seems to be a tiny bit of stuck shed as well.

Just make sure the humidity is ok for his next shed and he should be back to looking good. :)

This snake needs some lovin'!
And food.
He's perhaps also dehydrated. I'd make sure the husbandry is tip-top; even above and beyond (if you have the time to put that kind of effort in, anyway). Plenty of hides, a mixture of substrates maybe? (I'm thinking some aspen and some Cyprus mulch - it's odd, that he's got both dried skin and scale rot.) A nice, big water bowl. And when he's all settled in... a good lunch :) not too big, but an appropriate size for his body. I'd even do a soak in a week or two. Maybe after a meal or two and he's not stressed.

All the best!