pink underbelly?

just so you guys know, this is my first snake. bought him from petsmart and im assuming hes about four months old. anyways. he has a ten gallon tank and i use aspen stuff for his bedding. he has a heat lamp that is only on during the day, a heat pad under his tank to keep his hide at a comfortable warmth(not enough to ever burn him) and a humidifier that i have on about three times a day for 20-30 minutes at a time. his bedding is NOT damp at all, temp is usually between 70-80 and humidity is between 0-55 (cause when the fogger is off it drops down quickly). ANYWAYS. i took him out tonight and noticed his tummy was pink and its never been like that before. i have no idea why and from all the stuff online that ive read, i have a fear its scale rot or something but i dont know how or why): also hes NOT going into shed because he just finished shedding like a week or so ago.. but yeah any help would be greatly appreciated! ill attach a photo of Ludo so you guys can see what it looks like.http://i40.tinypic.com/jgib9d.jpg

Do you have a thermostat on your heat pad and how are you reading your temps on your hot side?

i have a temp gauge in the middle of his tank but i sometimes move it from side to side to test temps.its usually close to 80 on the warm side(mostly cause heat lamp on that side) and closer to 75ish on the cool side. but no thermostat on his heat pad.. but i know its not hot enough to burn him

I've had white snakes turn a little pink between sheds once in a while...not sure what causes it. Never experienced any problems and it goes away in a day or two. Never noticed it on normals or darker snakes.

Happened to me with a baby pastel but it went away

First things first - Welcome to the site, OP! As for your heat mat, there is no way it isn't getting hot enough to burn your baby. If you aren't checking the surface temp over the mat with an IR gun or probed thermometer, I'm not even sure how you can make the statement that it isn't. Even the small Petstupid heat mats can easily exceed 120deg F. Hopefully, your BP's belly is pink because he's headed for a shed, but he could also be burned. Please check the temp of your mat and then get a thermostat for it (not necessarily in that order). Hydrofarms on Amazon are only $25-30 or so. In the meantime, unplug the heat mat and hold off feeding for the couple of days it take the stat to get to you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BreBallard

but i know its not hot enough to burn him

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I'll bet it is;)
What is the temp of the glass right where the mat is??

Not the best picture but I hope it is a shed coming again.

ball python gain the pink color on the belly when they're about to shed! no worries man you're doing just fine

I know he's not going into she'd though cause he just finished shedding. And what temp should his mat be? Also I have a little green carpet thing under all the shavings to break up the contact more.. It just barely feels warm so I don't see how it could burn him):

Your body is 98.6 degrees, the palm of your hand is probably in the low 90's if it feels warm to your hand then the temperature is higher then the low 90's, which is too warm for your snake (the hot spot should be between 88-90 degrees F). High temperatures are far more harmful to snakes then low temperatures. Temperature is one thing that you never want to guess at when keeping reptiles. Two of the most essential things to have when keeping reptiles is an accurate thermostat and an accurate way to measure the temperature. I personally would recommend these two items.

One of these.

VE thermostats or Hydrofarm thermostat

And one of these.

pe-2 Tempgun or Amazon Tempgun

If your snake just shed, I would say that looks like a burn.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BreBallard

I know he's not going into she'd though cause he just finished shedding. And what temp should his mat be? Also I have a little green carpet thing under all the shavings to break up the contact more.. It just barely feels warm so I don't see how it could burn him):

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Even though you have repticarpet, they can still burrow to get to the warmth. I second everyone elses opinion to get a thermostat ASAP and get a temp gun or a thermometer with a probe to put on the heat mat.

I also agree with what Mark said. if it feels warm to you, it's too hot for your BP.

Like everyone else, I hope he's pinking up before another shed however, I feel like it might be the start of a burn. Unplug the heat mat until you can get a thermostat and keep an eye on the pink belly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkS

Your body is 98.6 degrees, the palm of your hand is probably in the low 90's if it feels warm to your hand then the temperature is higher then the low 90's, which is too warm for your snake (the hot spot should be between 88-90 degrees F). High temperatures are far more harmful to snakes then low temperatures. Temperature is one thing that you never want to guess at when keeping reptiles. Two of the most essential things to have when keeping reptiles is an accurate thermostat and an accurate way to measure the temperature. I personally would recommend these two items.

One of these.

VE thermostats or Hydrofarm thermostat

And one of these.

pe-2 Tempgun or Amazon Tempgun

If your snake just shed, I would say that looks like a burn.

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this this this
you are warm blooded and your REPTILE is cold blooded, what burns them wont burn you.;)

You need a thermostat.

That said the newer low density heating devices often do not get hot enough to cause burns. They do however get hot enough to cause issues hence the thermostat.

I would encourage anyone still using old heat sources that exceed 100 degrees to get rid of them ! Switch to a low density unit that stays very close to the 100 degree mark. There is very few cases where more than this is needed.


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Thank you guys for. Helping out. I just went an checked on him and the pinkness is almost gone now. I will order those thermometers though, thank you very much. Until I order it though I just put a thicker layer of bedding in his house over the heat pad just to be safe

I would turn the heat pad off till you get the thermoSTAT.
:)
1.0 Ball Pythons(Twizzler)
1.0 Cat (Loki)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BreBallard

Thank you guys for. Helping out. I just went an checked on him and the pinkness is almost gone now. I will order those thermometers though, thank you very much. Until I order it though I just put a thicker layer of bedding in his house over the heat pad just to be safe

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Turn the heatpad off until you get a thermostat, as porcelain doll says. Seriously. I hope im not breaking any rules posting this, but it will give you an idea of exactly just how much you NEED a thermostat

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forum...hermostat.html