Brown spots on belly?

I noticed some light brown spots on my BPs belly today. I haven't held her in about a week and a half or two because she started shedding, then I finally got her to eat her first meal (three, actually! :)). Her belly was completely white last I held her, then she stayed under a hide for a long time during shedding and while feeding. Only today has she come out to explore finally, and she's been all over the branch in her tank, and to guzzle down some water.

Anyways, as I was watching her I noticed like brown spots on her belly that was white previously. Should I be concerned, or is that just part of her pattern that maybe stretched out some (because she was very thin and skinny, and now she's rather plump)?

Brown spots aren't normal. It sounds like it could be the beginning of scale rot by the description, but we would need to see good pictures to give a better opinion. You mentioned that your snake just shed. Were you misting the tank more than normal? What are your humidity levels like? What kind of substrate are you using and is it dry or is it damp?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Inknsteel

Brown spots aren't normal. It sounds like it could be the beginning of scale rot by the description, but we would need to see good pictures to give a better opinion. You mentioned that your snake just shed. Were you misting the tank more than normal? What are your humidity levels like? What kind of substrate are you using and is it dry or is it damp?

---

Oh God, that sounds terrible! :tears:

Um, well, she had an incomplete/poor shed. So some of it is still on her back, but all from her belly and lower half is gone. I'm soaking her tomorrow (because it won't be 48 hours after feeding until late tonight, and I'll be at work). I've misted the tank daily, sometimes twice a day, getting the humidity to 70-80%, but then it falls back to around 60%.

The substrate is dry, and I actually thought it was Reptibark, but I just grabbed the bag and it's "Zilla Bark Blend - Premium reptile bedding and litter for chameleons, frogs, snakes, skinks, rainforest geckos". The back of the bag says it'a 100% organic, and "contains premium ground bark of fir trees. Because the bark holds moisture, it is an ideal ground cover for tropical and forest habitats."

My BP is in her hide now, but I'll go get her out and take a photo of her belly and upload it here asap.

These are the best photos I could get. She was being uncooperative, too, heh.

http://i.imgur.com/JkxxQ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/miCB0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/cLZ1H.jpg

And then here is one of her in my hand.

http://i.imgur.com/sLV2W.jpg

So see, there sort of light brown, but they also seem kind of a faded black... her neck part isn't like that, it's just white, and in the photos from her plumper part you can still sort of see a thing white stripe in the middle of it all. So I didn't know if it was just her pattern stretched and faded from eating so much after being super skinny and not having eaten for awhile, or something more dire. :(

Hi,

Once the 48 hours have passed after eating I would try and get all that stuck shed off her.


dr del

Isnt that normal belly pattern?

I could be extremely wrong, tho




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe I'm just overreacting to regular growth. It just looked different than it did before she ate.

The belly spots look pretty normal to me but I am not an expert be any means.
As for the stuck shed might I sugest another aproach to soaking I hate soaking snakes it can do more harm than good sometimes. The method I prefer is to take a damp (not wet) hand towel wetted with 80 degree or so water. Place the hand towel and the snake in a pillow case. Tie the pillow case shut and place it back in the enclosure. Allow the snake to crawl around in it for about an hour or so this will usually get all the stuck shed off as the snake crawls around in the pillow case and towel :) One note if you are using heat lamp be sure not to place the pillow case directly under the heat lamp it may over heat the snake or dry our the damp towel. Hope this helps:)

That looks like regular belly pattern to me. Both my BP's have that on their bellies.

Ok, good! What a relief! :) I just thought their underside was supposed to be a solid white in the middle. :oops:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by theJuju

Ok, good! What a relief! :) I just thought their underside was supposed to be a solid white in the middle. :oops:

---

Your pictures are too blurry to really see anything other than the belly pattern. If you are seeing anything like: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=1#post1471703, then that is cause for concern. Pattern doesn't really change as snakes grow but they do change color, usually getting darker. You do want to try to get that suck shed off of her soon. I tend to prefer what RestlessRobie suggested, but I just put the snake in a damp snake bag instead of using a pillow case and towel. Good luck! :)