Belly scale oddness

Kitty's belly scales are getting kind of rusty looking around the edges of some of them. Before last shed a few (3) were very flakey, but they cleared up a lot after the shed, now more are dry seeming and are getting that color to them, only around the edges though. The color is the same as the sudstrate. What is going on? I know what scale rot is supposed to be caused by too much humidity, but what is going on, becuase I have been having problems with low humidity, not high humidity. I am worried.

What kind of substrate are you using? How are your temps?

High 80's -low 90's on the warm side and low 80's to high 70's on the cool side. The substrate is Repti bark

Whats your humidity?

ahh, my friend, it has sucked lately, sucked much, but he has been soaking and I am getting it up. He shed really well last shed, but the humidity has been low and it is finally recovering, iwas about 53% when I got home tonight

Most likely you are at the leading edge of scale rot. At this point it can be easily treated with three steps 1) switch to paper substrate temporarily, 2) apply plain Neosporin to affected scales daily, and 3) wait out 1-2 sheds for scale rot to disappear before quitting 1 and 2. You've probably either over-misted the substrate or he's been soaking and then getting it wet and staying in it.

I know the substrate has not been wet, I would even go so far as to say, it has been too dry, and he only started soaking this week. I will try that though, starting tomorrow, just in case. Can you think of anything else it could be?

Sorry, that's the only thing I've seen personally that started with a brownish tinge around the edge of the scales, but I know that treatment worked for me and a couple of others. Someone else may know of a different cause for it, though.

I thought the same thing, scale rot, but what I thought caused scale rot is the opposite of the condistions in my tank. It is all very strange.

It is strange, but I'd go ahead and treat it as scale rot or take it to a vet, one or the other.

A trip to the vet might not be a bad idea. I have heard a couple of differnent places that Repti Bark sometimes leeches out a bit of its wood color when moist. I've never used it and have no idea to the authenticity of this or not, but it could be.

It does indeed - as does Forest Bark but I have only seen this in wet conditions or when the chips make it into the waterbowl - vader tipped and spilled his bowl so often he convinced me to get him on newsprint.

hmm, well, I will start with the scale rot treament and see how that goes next shed, the thing is I have to up the humidity, because i know it is not high enough and hasn't been for a while. In light of this, should I still change to paper towels? If it hasn't cleared up by next shed I suppose I will take him to the vet. He shed a few weeks ago, when do you think he will shed again?

My ball had that when she was a baby, right when I first got her. I just kept her on paper towels and when she shed it was completely gone... I'm not sure what kind of substrate she was kept on before though... I really don't know what it is, but I've seen it before and it went away with no effort on my part. I think paper towels would be a good idea.

I'd still switch to paper, either towels or newspaper, whichever you prefer.

oh, the last time I had paper in the bottom it didn't stay put. Somehow he bunched it all up and the bottom was left bare with nothing to soak up urates or anything. What should I do?

Weight it down. With newspaper, you can generally just do this by adding more layers, and with any kind of paper you can add hides and/or baked stones or similar to make sure the bottom layers stay put. If he wants a layer or two to hide under, that won't hurt anything.

ok, so a few layers and the things I keep on top should do ok. this is good to know. How often do they generally shed?

That depends on age, food intake, and health, but little guys are generally going to shed about monthly.

He's not so little anymore. I have had him for a year and he is pushing 3.5 feet. He usually eats weekly, I say usually because we are in transition now and figureing out eating scheduals, and other than this belly thing, is all healthy as far as the last check up shows

Well, Kitty shed and the belly scales look healthy now. He took a rat yesterday, though i had to lock them together in a box first. We will see how it goes. thanks :)

Glad he's doing better for you. It's a good thing these guys' systems aren't any more complicated than they are.

Good to hear he's doing good for you :)