weird spot.

I've noticed a weird spot last night on my ball pythons belly. It looked like some kind of a burn or something, i'm not entirely sure what it is because I've never seen a snake burnt before.. I used to keep my heating pad IN the plastic tub because it wouldn't stick from underneath but after seeing that belly, I took it off right away and put it from the outside. Here's a picture of it.. I've also noticed that the belly have turned it's colour to pinkish - beige, i'm not sure if it's about to shed because it shed around 2 months ago.. does this look like a burn or possibly a skin rot? And by the way it's a one year old female BP.

http://i60.tinypic.com/efi6q9.jpg

I've noticed a weird spot last night on my ball pythons belly. It looked like some kind of a burn or something, i'm not entirely sure what it is because I've never seen a snake burnt before.. I used to keep my heating pad IN the plastic tub because it wouldn't stick from underneath but after seeing that belly, I took it off right away and put it from the outside. Here's a picture of it.. I've also noticed that the belly have turned it's colour to pinkish - beige, i'm not sure if it's about to shed because it shed around 2 months ago.. does this look like a burn or possibly a skin rot? And by the way it's a one year old female BP.

http://i60.tinypic.com/efi6q9.jpg

It does not look like a burn however I will ask you this, if you believe that it could be a burn does that mean that your heating pas is not regulated by a thermostat?

Also in the future leave the heat pad outside, common sense will tell you that electric devices and large amount of fluid (water dish being tipped, BP urinating) do not go together :rolleyes:, also if you have a thermostat any source of liquid would cool down the probe (which should be secured on the heat pad) and make the temps shoot up (that would be best case scenario)

The heating pad is regulated by a thermostat but I happen to set it to its highest temperature which is 40 degrees Celsius because the warm side temperature in the tub would barely go up to 27 when the heat pad is at its highest. I would say that the probe is secured because the substrate im using is under pads which humans use (mostly for old people) when urinating in bed so it does not leak, it's also taped by an aluminium foil tape..

The reason I thought it was a burn was because I used to keep the heating pad inside the tub so I don't know if it would make any difference. Is there a specific temperature that should be set for the heating pad? Also, how often do 1 year old bps shed?

Regards,
Jack

You might want to start using a substrate that is specifically made for reptiles, just a reminder scale rot is due to improper environment.

What were the temps of the heat pad? And how were you checking it? Did you have high humidity levels in the enclosure? High humidity is what causes scale rot...

I have looked for aspen as a substrate but I couldn't find any nearby, I've also considered getting wood chips but I've read alot about them and they've got plenty of disadvantages.. also, the only wood chips I could find were the rodents which I don't think would be suitable for a snake..

You can also use paper towel if you are unable to find different substrate. I use Eco Earth coconut fiber in my glass tank which works beautifully.

Only issue is it may make the humidity high in your tub, but you can either let it dry out completely or add mor3 ventilation holes. My snake loves digging in it as for aspen it is often sold in bulk at reptile shows or at tractor supply stores. For my hatchling I use rodent aspen from petsmart which is a lot cheaper than their snake aspen. Only difference is shape and shaving size.

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Does anyone know the difference between a mild scale rot and a scale burn? My ball python appears to have a pink belly and it could be one of those because I was new to owning a pet and i really didn't know how to take care of it, I had a heating pad, a thermostat and a hygrometer all together but what I did was try to get the temperature of the air itself in the tub to 30 degrees C using the heating pad only.. I did have a substrate but it could have buried itself under it..I also noticed that the humidity used to get up to 95 percent.. any who, now that I got it all set up, adjusted the temperatures and humidity percentage, i'm still concerned about her red belly.
It has a few black spots on it but im not sure if that's just how it's supposed to look like or not.. and the entire belly is pink and it has one small part which is where the neck is and it's redish, I'm worried because I did take her to the vet and he didn't seem to know anything about it but he still managed to give me a cream to use for 2 weeks. I also noticed that some scaled ontop of head were peeling off, about one or two but that might just be because it didn't shed it's head or eye caps when it shed it's skin although it all came out in one piece :S, I've also noticed that the eyes are kind of dull/grayish in colour but I still don't think it's time for it to shed seeing as the rest of her body is light in colour and not dull.

Any answers would greatly be appreciated ( Oh and I used to have under bed pad's as a substrate but I switched it to wood shavings last night)

...are you sure it isn't going into shed? they often go pink before they go dull or eyes cloud over.

I'm not entirely sure but I don't think it is because I've seen pictures of skin rot and as far as I know the steps in order for the snake to shed are
1) pink belly
2) dull skin all over
3) lastly, cloudy eyes
but it appears to already have cloudy eyes with a pink belly so I was just wondering it's either 1) im blind or 2) dull eyes and pink belly only occur to those with the skin rot.. but I wouldn't know which is why I need help figuring out

Guessing your snakes going into shed. Pics should clear things up.

I would assume it is going into shed. My ball python doesn't get too dull before shed (although it is noticeable) but the pink belly and cloudy eyes are pretty good signs that its shedding time. Also, how old is he, and how long has it been since his last shed?

This is your third thread on this. In your previous thread you posted.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jackk

And yes, it got burnt and i had to take it to the vet earlier which made me concerned about how high/low the heating pad's temperature should be, I got an ointment (ilium neocort) for it and I was advised to rub it against her scales once daily for two weeks until it atleast sheds

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So now in this thread your asking the same question that I understood you already made a vet visit for. Did you not actually go to the vet?

If you would stop abandoning your threads and answer the questions asked and post the pics you have been asked for you would already have your answer and your snake could be getting treatment if needed instead of only getting worse because of all this wasted time.

You have made 5 threads that are all related. Instead of making new threads answer the previous one or bump it by making a new post on it. You are making it very difficult to help you because each thread has info that we need to help you but if your not following all of the threads we spin our wheels asking the same questions and dealing with the same issues without ever getting to the actual problem.

Help us help you.

But it had shed before and the dull skin was really noticeable and the guy I bought the snake from said it was a one year old female and im going to say that it's been almost 1 month and 20 days since its last shed..

I'm going to have to take a picture tomorrow because it just ate a big rat xD

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Originally Posted by KMG

This is your third thread on this. In your previous thread you posted.



So now in this thread your asking the same question that I understood you already made a vet visit for. Did you not actually go to the vet?

If you would stop abandoning your threads and answer the questions asked and post the pics you have been asked for you would already have your answer and your snake could be getting treatment if needed instead of only getting worse because of all this wasted time.

You have made 5 threads that are all related. Instead of making new threads answer the previous one or bump it by making a new post on it. You are making it very difficult to help you because each thread has info that we need to help you but if your not following all of the threads we spin our wheels asking the same questions and dealing with the same issues without ever getting to the actual problem.

Help us help you.

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As I already mentioned I have made a vet visit but he didn't appear to know what was going on. And all I was clearly asking about was the difference between a scale rot and a burn which I have not asked about in my previous threads. What I was first concerned about was my Bps general environment and what could've possibly caused it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jackk

As I already mentioned I have made a vet visit but he didn't appear to know what was going on. And all I was clearly asking about was the difference between a scale rot and a burn which I have not asked about in my previous threads. What I was first concerned about was my Bps general environment and what could've possibly caused it.

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Yea and I bet none of the users here knew that because it had been scattered all about. You will get better help if all the facts were on the table and not scattered about.

I guess I missed where you said you didn't trust the vet. Unless you are referring to the post of yours that I quoted which left that fact out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KMG

Yea and I bet none of the users here knew that because it had been scattered all about. You will get better help if all the facts were on the table and not scattered about.

I guess I missed where you said you didn't trust the vet. Unless you are referring to the post of yours that I quoted which left that fact out.

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They probably did though which was reason why I had to type it all again in this new thread and yeah I agree, I should have had all the information in one thread instead of repeating what happened all over again in every thread, as you can see (or not) that I've never been part of any forum before which made me a bit confused on whether I should still post in the same thread or start a new one all over again ;)

Any who, like I said, the vet didn't seem to have enough experience with reptiles or snakes specifically because he had to take a book out and read what was written. All he did was that he gave me an ointment which costed $60 dollars that (as far as I read on it) is not specifically made for reptiles. It said that it could be used on dogs,cats and sheep..

I figured. I'm just trying to help you be more efficient here so you will get the help you need. I'm not trying to be rude or mean, just help.

Get those pics tomorrow and post then here so we can see what is going on.

I upload pics to photobucket and then paste the img code into my post. I find this the easiest for me.

She finally let me take a picture :)

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps36ebd537.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps9bf4e495.jpg

FIRST....... how are you regulating your heat source? I know what you posted in your first post on this thread and I am on my phone so I am not going to try and find the others this second.
That photo sure looks like you have a burn going on. Clean the tank, remove all the substrate, regulate your heat source and use paper towels.


When I get to my PC I will merge all the multiple threads together.
For future reference, it doesn't help you or anyone else to keep making a new thread on the same subject.
I just realized way back I had already tried to tell you that you would need a thermostat.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

FIRST....... how are you regulating your heat source? I know what you posted in your first post on this thread and I am on my phone so I am not going to try and find the others this second.
That photo sure looks like you have a burn going on. Clean the tank, remove all the substrate, regulate your heat source and use paper towels.


When I get to my PC I will merge all the multiple threads together.
For future reference, it doesn't help you or anyone else to keep making a new thread on the same subject.
I just realized way back I had already tried to tell you that you would need a thermostat.

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It's been two weeks since I've had the thermostat plugged into the heating pad. And yeah I've realised that too and I've explained why I kept posting new threads before although ive only had TWO threads on the same subject regarding the weird belly.

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Originally Posted by BiggBaddWolf

What were the temps of the heat pad? And how were you checking it? Did you have high humidity levels in the enclosure? High humidity is what causes scale rot...

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Un-Cleanlyness is what causes Scale rot... Dirty substrate... Not humidty

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Un-Cleanlyness is what causes Scale rot... Dirty substrate... Not humidty

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Humidity levels were around 95%..It was so dumb of me to think that they actually required that amount of humidity in their enclosure..After all i was a beginner :) I now keep my humidity levels between 50 -70 percent max and my heating pad's temperature is 29 degrees Celsius.

I still stand by my first answer, not a burn scale rot due to the previous substrate used which created a damp unsanitary environment.

It is minor it will go aways on it's own in a shed or two.

Stop using the cream if it is oil based it will lead to even more issues and find another vet for next time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

I still stand by my first answer, not a burn scale rot due to the previous substrate used which created a damp unsanitary environment.

It is minor it will go aways on it's own in a shed or two.

Stop using the cream if it is oil based it will lead to even more issues and find another vet for next time.

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Is there a specific way for me to tell if the cream is oil based or not? And are you sure it's a scale rot? :/ im just confused seeing as I've gotten way too many answers by people with different opinions..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jackk

Is there a specific way for me to tell if the cream is oil based or not? And are you sure it's a scale rot? :/ im just confused seeing as I've gotten way too many answers by people with different opinions..

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Based on the substrate that you were using and the fact that it's a few scale here and there and not a concentration of them in a specific location yes I do believe it is scale rot, now if you want to know for sure take you BP to a herp vet.

As for the cream look up the ingredient and do a little research.


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EEKS Im all new to BP but when I setup a tank if my heat pad is set at 40 c its hard to hold my hand on the glass bottom and thats how I judge if it burns me it will burn a snake belly, and I use Aspen shaving as my Substrate it works great but it must be kept up and cleaned when needed. Go look up a Vet that knows exotic animal's.

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