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  • 02-12-2017, 06:56 PM
    NJ Balls
    Not sure if this is a problem, need your opinion
    I'm going to try my best to explain my situation and hopefully it will make sense. About three weeks ago my BP had some trouble with her shed and required a little assistance. I normally keep her on newspaper and paper towels so I added some moist cypress mulch in her hide to increase the humidity and in a day or two the remainder of the shed was complete, so I thought. About a week later I noticed see wasn't letting a section of her belly touch the ground and I discovered what looked like a huge scab with chunks of mulch stuck in it, luckily it wasn't a scab. At first I thought it was a burn but after checking everything and finding everything in order I ruled that out. I'm not a big fan of soaking but I needed to get the mulch and what ever else was stuck to her belly off. After a 30 minute soak I began gently removing the mulch which was not an easy task it was really stuck on there good but once I got a section of it off and got my finger nail underneath the rest of it came off. the section of her belly that was covered was very pink and sunken in.


    What I think happened but I'm not sure is a piece of shed was wet and mushy picked up mulch and then dried rock hard to her belly. I also thought it may have been sap from the mulch because of how hard it was to remove but it wasn't sticky and I got the mulch from reptile basics so I ruled that out too. I've been putting antibiotic cream on the spot to keep it moist and have been keeping her on paper towels to keep it clean.

    It's been a little over a week now and she is still keeping that section of her body off the ground. The area of her belly is still a little sunken and I can still pick some crumbly skin which has been stained brown from the mulch.

    Let me know what you think any input would be greatly appreciated.

    https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../8/belly_1.jpg

    https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../8/belly_2.jpg

    https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../8/belly_3.jpg
  • 02-12-2017, 07:36 PM
    vix0105
    Re: Not sure if this is a problem, need your opinion
    I'm sure some1 will reply soon but this looks a bit like scale rot,c wat every1 else thinks!


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
  • 02-12-2017, 07:50 PM
    PitOnTheProwl
    What is your heat source, how are you regulating it and what is the actual temperature under the substrate?

    It does look like it could be scale rot but I'm leaning more on burn...
  • 02-12-2017, 08:02 PM
    cletus
    It really does look like a burn. I know you said your temps were spot on but maybe there was a temp spike or something like that?
  • 02-12-2017, 08:08 PM
    NJ Balls
    Re: Not sure if this is a problem, need your opinion
    She's in a 10 gallon tank with an UTH with an on/off thermostat set 95 degrees. the probe is taped to the heater under the tank and the inside temp is 90 degrees. I'm pretty sure the brown coloration is stain from the mulch. When I put the antibiotic cream on her belly the brown in the picture gets soft and comes off in little balls when I scratch with my fingernail. I wish I had taken pictures before I removed it but it was about 4 inches in length and solid across the area in the picture. It was rigid, hard, and had pieces of the mulch stuck throughout. It was like my snake stepped in a piece of gum and then crawled through the mulch.

    If it was a burn wouldn't it be like an open wound or a blister? I've always been extremely careful with my temp and have never had a burn before but I've seen pictures. There was no blood or open skin,
  • 02-12-2017, 09:35 PM
    CALM Pythons
    No a slight burn from Heat Rocks/Mats can look like a stain, my Burm got one.. But with you saying Ointment takes the stain off like that it changes things...Ive never dealt with Scale Rot so I cant comment on that part..
  • 02-13-2017, 12:22 AM
    vix0105
    Re: Not sure if this is a problem, need your opinion
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NJ Balls View Post
    She's in a 10 gallon tank with an UTH with an on/off thermostat set 95 degrees. the probe is taped to the heater under the tank and the inside temp is 90 degrees. I'm pretty sure the brown coloration is stain from the mulch. When I put the antibiotic cream on her belly the brown in the picture gets soft and comes off in little balls when I scratch with my fingernail. I wish I had taken pictures before I removed it but it was about 4 inches in length and solid across the area in the picture. It was rigid, hard, and had pieces of the mulch stuck throughout. It was like my snake stepped in a piece of gum and then crawled through the mulch.

    If it was a burn wouldn't it be like an open wound or a blister? I've always been extremely careful with my temp and have never had a burn before but I've seen pictures. There was no blood or open skin,

    If it's scale rot,keep her really dry,she was probably too wet,for a while could have been the mulch if it was soaked,really dry her out,still leave water dish in tho,the scale rot(if it is that)is just the start u may b able to sort this urself!if in a week it's no better or worse she will need a vet visit!


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