Missing top layer of scales of my mexican king

So I've seen a couple threads on this but no real answers. I wanted to post up pics of my mexican king snake who has had this going on for at LEAST a year now. I was once told it was calcium build up from our hard water, so we started using bottled water for all of our snakes. NONE of my other snakes has this problem! It isn't painful, or open woundlike at all. But it never gets better with shedding. Its also not scars because we have had her since a hatchling and know thats not what it is. So here I am posting and hoping that maybe SOMEONE might have an answer?

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ngs8/onyx2.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ngs8/onyx1.jpg

What is your cage setup like?

He is in aspen with a water bowl. We took out all hides because we had mites a couple months back. He likes to burrow anyway and never used the hides. He has a uth on one side with the high temp of about 85

Oh and a red light above on the warm side

Do you feed him live or F/T?

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Originally Posted by thedarkwolf25

Do you feed him live or F/T?

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We have currently been doing live, but this started when we were feeding frozen, so I know its not from that. Plus he eats large fuzzies or hoppers, nothing that could do that much damage. And we watch, so I know thats not it

Only thing that comes to mind are burns... but there's no telling for sure...

Snakes are susceptible to fungal and bacterial skin problems, including ringworm - just like dogs, cats and people.

If you have not observed him rubbing on anything, it would behoove you to take him to a vet to see if it is a fungal or bacterial skin issue.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

Snakes are susceptible to fungal and bacterial skin problems, including ringworm - just like dogs, cats and people.

If you have not observed him rubbing on anything, it would behoove you to take him to a vet to see if it is a fungal or bacterial skin issue.

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Yeah I think thats what we're gonna have to do. It has taken a very LONG time for it to get to this point which is just weird. But I don't really have any other options

i know what it is my albino king has the same problem what style of water bowl are you using?
also what style of lid is it does it slide into place or does it sit overtop the edges?

Smooth plastic dish and sliding lid. He doesn't ever get anywhere near the lid though. He's a hider, not active AT ALL

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Originally Posted by Courtney281

Smooth plastic dish and sliding lid. He doesn't ever get anywhere near the lid though. He's a hider, not active AT ALL

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ok but you said he likes burrowing,... what i was told is that this comes from burrowing under things with rough edges,... i also noticed that he has some minor lines on his scales which is usually a sign of spending too much time coiled in one position,... how aggressive is he? can you take him out daily and spend time with him? because the second king i got i started handling more than the first cuz she was really mellow and she doesn't have this problem at all,...as i stated this is what i was told and have researched but i may be wrong if your that concerned about it then take him into the vet but from my experience it is not harmfull to thier health, i wish you the best of luck and if you have any questions please ask

we hold him all the time actually. He is not aggressive AT ALL. Such a sweet heat. We're taking him into a snake person this weekend to get looked at again. No one seems to know what it is so far, so we'll see how it goes

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Originally Posted by Courtney281

we hold him all the time actually. He is not aggressive AT ALL. Such a sweet heat. We're taking him into a snake person this weekend to get looked at again. No one seems to know what it is so far, so we'll see how it goes

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ok plz let me know what they say can cause this so i know for future incase i run into it again i hope all goes well

Thanks! Hopefully I'll get him in this weekend, but I'm having to move this weekend too, so I may have to put it off a week or so :( I'll keep you posted though

Greetings Courtney281.

You posted some pictures of your Mexican Black King Snake many, many moons ago and after you said you were going to be taking it to the vet to diagnose what the white "scarring" was, the post went dead without explanation or follow up.

I have been searching for information on exactly the same issue you had, and the snake I have with the same problem is ALSO a Mexican Black King Snake.

I got it about 6 months ago, Oct 2016 and it was beautiful, shiny black. No flaws....It would NOT eat for about 2 months, although I did not leave the juvenile/hopper mouse in with it for more than a couple of hours. I never saw any confrontation or attack by the mice I attempted to feed it during those months. I never left the mouse in overnight. It shed just before having it two months and then finally ate about a week after shedding. It still looked beautiful.....it has been very finicky in regards to eating, but has eaten live several times now. I had a mouse die one night and decided I would see if my Mexican Black would eat a dead mouse, and to my surprise....it saddled right up to the dead mouse and consumed it, like it was trained to do so. Shortly, after this, a week or so later the pre-shed, milky eyes and dull skin color appeared. Then it shed, but not a full shed. It shed was left in several pieces. This snake seems to like to bath in its water bowl daily. The environment is regulated with day and night lighting and heat at about 80 degrees (24" above the bottom). The cage is based with Eco Earth Coconut fiber expandable substrate. I go through a week of drying this substrate before I introduce it into my snakes environment, so that it is completely dry. I have several cork hides and a natural driftwood piece that I've had for years. After that last shed, I've noticed little white remnants of dry scales in several areas of my, once, flawlessly black, beautiful snake. Over the last couple of weeks it seems more area's are appearing and they look just like the ones in your photos. What was the diagnosis? Did you ever find out what it was? Were you able to correct it? Please advise?

Thanks,
Eric68

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Originally Posted by Eric68

Greetings Courtney281.

You posted some pictures of your Mexican Black King Snake many, many moons ago and after you said you were going to be taking it to the vet to diagnose what the white "scarring" was, the post went dead without explanation or follow up.

I have been searching for information on exactly the same issue you had, and the snake I have with the same problem is ALSO a Mexican Black King Snake.

I got it about 6 months ago, Oct 2016 and it was beautiful, shiny black. No flaws....It would NOT eat for about 2 months, although I did not leave the juvenile/hopper mouse in with it for more than a couple of hours. I never saw any confrontation or attack by the mice I attempted to feed it during those months. I never left the mouse in overnight. It shed just before having it two months and then finally ate about a week after shedding. It still looked beautiful.....it has been very finicky in regards to eating, but has eaten live several times now. I had a mouse die one night and decided I would see if my Mexican Black would eat a dead mouse, and to my surprise....it saddled right up to the dead mouse and consumed it, like it was trained to do so. Shortly, after this, a week or so later the pre-shed, milky eyes and dull skin color appeared. Then it shed, but not a full shed. It shed was left in several pieces. This snake seems to like to bath in its water bowl daily. The environment is regulated with day and night lighting and heat at about 80 degrees (24" above the bottom). The cage is based with Eco Earth Coconut fiber expandable substrate. I go through a week of drying this substrate before I introduce it into my snakes environment, so that it is completely dry. I have several cork hides and a natural driftwood piece that I've had for years. After that last shed, I've noticed little white remnants of dry scales in several areas of my, once, flawlessly black, beautiful snake. Over the last couple of weeks it seems more area's are appearing and they look just like the ones in your photos. What was the diagnosis? Did you ever find out what it was? Were you able to correct it? Please advise?

Thanks,
Eric68

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I don't forsee you getting an answer as the OP last logged in in 2012 lol.

Yes, I was aware of that, thanks. I wasn't sure and was hoping that this system sent an email to her and she might get it that way, or at the very least, one of you......keepers of the legless serpents might have knowledge or have experienced it as well and could shine some light this way.

Experiencing the fact that I didn't receive notice that you posted, I will now assume that this system does not automatically notify posters on the thread that an inquiry or post was submitted, unless my newbie ignorance of this site and user profile options (which I shun the time to research) has the best of me.

My hope now, is that I have left enough info that someone else may be able to advise, outside of the obvious recommendation to "see a vet".

My MBK is dulling and eyes have become smokey again, so a shed is in the forecast. I hope for a cleaner shed this time as it has been eating more regular than when I first obtained it.