Scale Rot??? !!!

I have just realized that I have kept my Ball pythons substrate to damp in his hide, I was trying to give him a moist hide but now I am worried he has scale rot, there are no specific discolored areas on his body, but there are some rough lookin areas that just have a weird texture on his side, I can only assume this is caused because he is in the middle of his shed cycle, his eyes are greyed, his belly is a very very pink color, but it is completely even across his entire stomach, this wouldnt be scale rot right? This is just because he is in the middle of shed right?

What humidity should I keep the tank? Should I only mist in general and not moisten a specific part of his tank?

if he has scale rot it will look like ROT. usually the humidity in the room should be fine, like 50-60%. if his eyes are grey, then yeah it sounds like his skin is getting ready to shed.

I would moisten his tank evenly. If you have a screen top on his enclosure its going to be hard to maintain good levels of humidity, but if you can achieve this try for about 60% this has worked well for my snakes to shed properly. Doesnt sound like belly rot but keep a very close eye on him and check his beely regulary. A good indication that something else might be going on is if he all the sudden seems a little lethargic and rundown. Hope this helps ease the stress of you and your little buddy:)

Thanks for the advice, the general pinkness must be his shedding then, I dont see any splotchy areas... So if I can keep it 55-60% humidity in the cage then I dont need to keep one of his caves damp?

If I remember correctly, scale rot should only show up on his belly, not the sides. I think you should be ok, but definitely check on his belly after he sheds.

Speaking from experience, scale rot does not look pink it looks brown and red (like an infection). Snakes will get pink on the underside when they are going into a shed cycle my male spider for example gets really pink on his underside and about 3 days later he is in blue and his eyes start to cloud up. While a wet substrate can cause scale rot, if you catch is soon enough it will clear up when he/she sheds. Keep us posted.

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Originally Posted by Elise.m

If I remember correctly, scale rot should only show up on his belly, not the sides. I think you should be ok, but definitely check on his belly after he sheds.

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From what I have read scale rot spreads if not treated and can have large areas on the snake's body to have scale rot. The snake can die from it as well:(

U dont wanna make his substrate too wet, that can definitely cause scale rot, from your description it sounds like he's just shedding, but u should post a pic,

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Originally Posted by CoolioTiffany

From what I have read scale rot spreads if not treated and can have large areas on the snake's body to have scale rot. The snake can die from it as well:(

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It can and will spread if it goes untreated, and eventually will destroy the snake. But if it does spread, I believe it spreads along the belly and not the sides. Hence the name, belly rot. I tried looking up in "The Complete Ball Python" book by Kevin McCurley to see if he mentions anything about it spreading to the sides, but he doesn't mention anything.

Hi,

One point worth considering.

We tend to use these terms like "mouth rot", "R.I." and "scale rot" as though they are specific conditions always caused by the same bacteria/ fungus/ virus etc.

But, in reality, they are just umbrella terms for multiple conditions with multiple specific causes and behaviours. That is why taking that extra step in getting a culture done before treatment starts can make such a difference to the medication ultimately used and thus (hopefully ) the speed of recovery etc.


dr del

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

One point worth considering.

We tend to use these terms like "mouth rot", "R.I." and "scale rot" as though they are specific conditions always caused by the same bacteria/ fungus/ virus etc.

But, in reality, they are just umbrella terms for multiple conditions with multiple specific causes and behaviours. That is why taking that extra step in getting a culture done before treatment starts can make such a difference to the medication ultimately used and thus (hopefully ) the speed of recovery etc.


dr del

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I agree. In the book it says that it's caused by thermal burns and/or unsanitary conditions. So if it really is scale rot, I would get a culture.

My new technique is to make sure that there are no wet spots of substrate, especially in his hides, he has a dish where he can submerge but he only rarely gets in all the way, now instead of dampening one area of substrate to raise humidity, I just mist evenly across the whole tank, doing this once a day I can keep the humidity at 55% - 60%, this should be more than enough for his health and shed correct? I will try to post some pics soon, however he does not look like he has any real problem areas, there is one tiny scale that may be slight off color into a brownish hue, but he is in the middle of a shed cycle, so I will see what its like when he is done. Thanks for all the info, I just want to make sure I dont cause him any discomfort or accidentally cause some terrible affliction...

PS I have totally cleaned out his aspen and replaced it, as well as scrubbed the tank down along with all his hides and sticks...

Misting once a day should be fine. I mist once every other day.