Thermal Burn?? Please Help!

What did you use to make the moist hide? I use moss in mine and have never had an issue.

What substrate are you using and were you using? The pic looks like paper towels which are not thick enough in most cases to protect from a unregulated uth. Also the snake could very easily get under the paper towels and maybe you never noticed which means the snake was almost in direct contact with the uth. Either way a unregulated uth gets way to hot to be used. They can really cook and get well over 100F.

When set up correctly you should have a quality tstat hooked to the uth with a substrate that no thicker than 1/4 inch.

With everyone's comments and concerns about the color and the UTH I'm starting to question if if it's shed... Because if it is a burn I shouldn't have any water in there, right? But I've been checking on him and there's no blistering. But this one scale is concerning me...

Updated pictures:
http://imgur.com/LymCbZH
http://imgur.com/uWddYxL
http://imgur.com/0iwFqre

Concerning Scale:
http://imgur.com/WRMSWK9

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KMG

What did you use to make the moist hide? I use moss in mine and have never had an issue.

What substrate are you using and were you using? The pic looks like paper towels which are not thick enough in most cases to protect from a unregulated uth. Also the snake could very easily get under the paper towels and maybe you never noticed which means the snake was almost in direct contact with the uth. Either way a unregulated uth gets way to hot to be used. They can really cook and get well over 100F.

When set up correctly you should have a quality tstat hooked to the uth with a substrate that no thicker than 1/4 inch.

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I used really think paper towels my father gets from his job. Right now I'm just using regular ones because I figured if it was a burn I'd have to change it twice a day. In the moist hide I'm just using damp paper towels instead of my usual moss.

I will be sure to get a thermostat for the UTH before I start using it. I really hope this sin't a burn...

I'd keep a really close eye on that... Does your vet specialize in reptiles? Because that doesn't look like a normal shed to me.

Google images of burned snake bellies and see what you think. Your pics look like the start of a burn. Maybe it is in shed as well but the browning and the wrinkled center is not from a shed, not any shed that I have seen.

I know the paper towels you were using and those are really expensive for a snake substrate. But even with the quality and thickness they are not thick enough to protect from an unregulated uth. Plus like I said snakes can get under paper towels and newspaper with ease. Plenty of noobs will argue that they can not but I assure you they can.

Your snake still needs water. If your snake is truly in shed your still going to need the humidity or you are going to have even a larger problem. Hopefully it is in a shed and will shed much of the problem off well to start the healing. I would still change the paper towels daily until we know for sure what this is.

Do you have any other signs of shed? Foggy eyes, blue foggy skin, etc.

I've been looking at the images off and on for hours but it's so hard to tell. I'm just going to keep doing the iodine solution and keep the moist hide in. The water dish is still in there too.

Yeah, they're thicker than reptile carpet but I definitely understand that heating pad gets hot and will wait to use it until I get a proper gauge for it. His ambient temperature should keep him happy for now.

There were definite signs of shed on his head this afternoon when I took him to the vet. He had flakes of skin and eye caps which he has successfully gotten off since I put in the moist hide. I imagine the rest of him should shed too after that, right?

Ideally a shed comes off in one nice piece. Flakes coming off the head is a sign things have been way to dry and you need to address humidity. But yes, after the head sheds the body should follow.

After you get this back to good you may want to look at a different substrate like cypress mulch or coco fibers.

Is it possible the colour comes from the iodine bath?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zecon44

I don't have a thermostat for the UTH (which is still unplugged) but I plan on turning it on and getting a temperature reading from it later.

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http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h1...ps3928d384.jpg
Here is 5 minutes of unregulated run time.


http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psne0gktek.jpg
This is a couple YEARS after I took her in.

DVirginiana, everyone told me he was trusted and that he specialized in reptiles.

dr del, I found the brownness before the iodine bath which is what I was freaked out about it.

KMG, I was planning on coco fibers when I move him into his bigger tank (a 30 gallon long I acquired form a friend) I just don't have the money to properly furnish it yet. I'm hoping next month I will.

PitOnTheProwl, I did the same reading and I definitely understand he could have been burnt and WOULD be burnt if I kept it on. A thermostat is at the very top of my list.

But today surprisingly all the brown has gone away with the full shed he had last night... There are still some small spots of brownish tint I can see and his belly has that very light pinkish hue from shedding but other than that he looks very clear. Could it be that he DID get burnt but was beginning to shed and it mostly got the dead skin? Or was it just an abnormal shed? The concerning scale I can't find anymore either... Should I continue treating him like it's a burn because there is still small areas with a light brown tint?

Shed:
http://imgur.com/v8gjAoJ

Belly Pictures:
http://imgur.com/zei2yKv
http://imgur.com/s6AhhQF
http://imgur.com/yuVuD36