I need some clear answers about thermal burns/belly rot

It seems his temps are actually a little low. Or they are fluctuating a lot. I would invest in a thermostat, or a rheostat. 77-70 is a big fluctuation, and if that's only the ambient, there could be more on the floor of the tank. Also, they really don't need a day/night temp change, and I think anything below 75 is dangerous, but someone correct me if I'm wrong. Do you have the correct size UTH for the size tank? Good luck at the vet, and you could also put some neosporin in him for now (without pain reliever). It might sooth any soreness he has.

:confused:

Lenny is doing much better. He stopped flaking after another bath and a round of Polysporin. I was able to get a hold of a herp vet and they think that topical treatment (Polysporin) is fine unless he didn't start looking better. They seem to think it was a very very very mild burn. We'll get him antibiotics if any problems arise, but she didn't expect any.

However, I'm a little confused. When he was exhibiting symptoms (flaking belly), he wasn't pink at all. Now he definitely has a pinkish tone to his whole belly. It looks a lot like the pink he gets when he sheds, but maybe a little bit more pink than last time.

So, my question is, is it normal for a snake to shed after having a scale issue? Is this the snake's natural reaction to get rid of the damaged scales? This is the only reason I can think of that he'd be shedding again so quickly.

If so, have any of you dealt with a shed after a snake has had a medical problem? Is there anything special I should do to make it easy on him?:confused:

OH, and special thanks to everyone who gave me advice on heating/caging stuff! I'll post pics when his new cage is 100% done!

Shedding can occur more frequently when a snake is healing from an injury. Sometimes a larger than normal meal can also cause a shed to occur. I have no experience dealing with an injured animal but I think the only thing you need to do is keep up with the ointment, I would also bump his up humidity now to 65-70% until he goes from the blue stage to the looking like normal again stage right before they finally shed.

Could just be old skin ready to be shed. sometimes in a dryer environment, they get flakey. If you just noticed the belly turning kind of pink, it could be a shed coming on.

Check that all your husbandry is correct (hot end, cool end, humidity, how the enclosure is heated *and the heat regulated*), and that your bedding is dry, and clean.

Pictures would really help

If anything else, see a vet for a professional opinion.

Another thing to make sure is that the floor of your pet's tank is dry. It is very easy for our pets to get infected from constantly being on a wet floor, especialy with temps going down to the levels you have yours at.
Personally, I would bump the temps up a bit to a more constant level. I don't let my night time temps drop much more than 4 or 5 degrees and that seems to work great for my pets.
Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by schmup

Thanks for the advice, I've changed the substrate and he's using a lamp (not a UTH) and removed the branches so he can't climb up too close to the lamp and burn himself on the mesh top (why I wasn't using it 100% before)

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So is there no UTH at all? Ball pythons should have belly heat. (Someone more knowledgable please correct me if I'm wrong)

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Originally Posted by Buttons

So is there no UTH at all? Ball pythons should have belly heat. (Someone more knowledgable please correct me if I'm wrong)

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They don't need Belly for sure, they can survive with Back heat. It's a matter of preference, really.