Something wrong with my snake!

So my ball python went 12 days without eating, and I thought nothing of it, since she refuses to eat once in awhile. Today, I decided I would hold her for a little while, and noticed discoloration on her belly. I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with her, and that's why she's not eating. I would greatly appreciate if someone can tell me if it's a burn, or something else like scale rot, and if there's a treatment.It may be a little hard to see, but it's brownish, with some blackspots Thank you! [IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...psi3alkfkk.jpg[/IMG]

What kind of heat source do you have and how do you regulate it?

Wow! That preliminarily looks like a thermal burn. Sorry to see this. What type of enclosure do you have set up for her and what are the temps and humidity like? What type of substrate are you using? The heating element and how you are regulating it is very important as well.

Looks like a burn to me! Do you regulate your UTH?

I use a heat pad, and use a jumpstart thermostat to keep it regulated.

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Originally Posted by SnakeLover23

I use a heat pad, and use a jumpstart thermostat to keep it regulated.

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Ok. What do you have the temperature setting at? What are your ambient temps like and the warm and cool side temp? Humidity percentage and substrate? 12 days is not that long of a non feeding interval but there is a problem with the snakes ventral region.

I was also using newspaper, and the humdity has been in the 50s

I set the heat pad temp at 91, i'd say the cool side is quite chilly as I'm stuck in cold weather right now. Sorry I can't give exact temperature I took that picture while on my lunch break and I'm doing this while at work

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Originally Posted by SnakeLover23

I was also using newspaper, and the humdity has been in the 50s

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Cool. What are the other husbandry numbers? The jump start temp setting is important and where is the probe located?

I leave a little bit of the heat pad out to put the probe on and tape the probe to it. Sorry for the stupid question, but what do you mean by husbandry numbers? I'm not really familiar with that kind of wording. I've been using this thermometer for awhile now and it's kinda strange how it would just malfunction like this.

How are you reading the temps ( especially the part over the heat mat ) ?

Oh, husbandry means the care and living conditions that you provide. In relation to numbers it refers to the temperatures that you are measurig with your thermometer and hygrometer at both the cool side and the warm side and the hot spot. You told us the setting on the tstat is 91F.

Oh, alright. I asked my roommate to measure the stuff for me and he said one side was 58, and the other is over what it's supposed to be omg. can the probe be placed under the heat pad? I put her into a tub before i left for work so the pressure from the tub shouldn't be enough to break the probe right? I feel so stupid yet it makes sense why this happened. Can I treat the burns myself?

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Originally Posted by SnakeLover23

Oh, alright. I asked my roommate to measure the stuff for me and he said one side was 58, and the other is over what it's supposed to be omg. can the probe be placed under the heat pad? I put her into a tub before i left for work so the pressure from the tub shouldn't be enough to break the probe right? I feel so stupid yet it makes sense why this happened. Can I treat the burns myself?

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So, yes. The probe can be placed under the heat pad but it should be taped securely with foil tape preferably. Once the probe is moved or shifted out of place the thermostat won't read the heat properly and the pad will spike. Unfortunately that sounds like what happened. I can't safely say to treat the burn at home bc a professional exotic vet will need to determine the extent of the burn and prescribe the appropriate therapy, antibiotics (if necessary), and burn cream specific for the degree of burn. Accidents happen but the animal will be better served by getting professional intervention.

Just an FYI, that burn will look much worse after the snake sheds. That looks like a pretty serious burn to me and you should seriously consider a vet trip.

You really need to recheck your heat. It is WAY more than 91F. Our body temp is 98.6F and snakes sit on us fine. If I had to guess, I would say you UTH is pushing 120F+ cause like mentioned, that burn looks pretty bad.

Unplug the whole thing and go down to Lowes or Home Depot and buy an Infrared temperature gun and then come home and reset your heating and check it at the floor of the cage, not on top of the substrate but on the floor after about 2 hours. Then dial in from there. In the mean time, take the snake to a vet. Its a burn and nothing we can do on here is going to help that snake. He needs a vet asap.

Have you double checked your UTH heat with a different probe or temp reader than the one that controls it? Because that looks exactly like UTH burn. You may need to lower it to 85-87 for now anyways to not irritate the burn until it is healed.
Some of those cheap controllers can be not very accurate, which is why I went with a Herpstat, well worth the $100.

Hope everything works out!!!


(Also, my 4ft BP was burned (not that bad at all though) when I got it and I have a vet friend who told me to soak it for 10-15min every other day in 85ish F water with a drop or two of surgical scrub in there, I then used some aloe vera(From a live plant) on it's belly after every time, and it went away completely this shed, after less than 2 weeks.) I think the guy above is right though, you may want to take it to a vet ASAP, they can tell you exactly what to do, and give you the "good stuff" for reptile burns.
Keep us informed! Also, it looks bad IMO, but not as severe as some I have seen, looks to be fluid or air buildup in the scales/skin (They seem loose) , is that correct? Or is it going into shed?


EDIT: Like Sauzo said above, you probably need to unhook everything but your heat lamp and get a no contact temp gun/reader (pet stores sell them for $30ish), because your UTH is probably WAY hotter than 90F.

Thank you for the responses guys, I brought her to the vet, and got it all sorted out. Appreciate the advice!