Sore looking belly, please help. (pics)

Ok so my BP has been acting funny lately, he hasnt deficated in about 2 weeks, he has left urates but no rats have left the building. hes starting a shed so i wasnt too worried. he also stopped eating which is unusual for him, he did this last month as well. He ussually has a very good feeding responce but hes stopped eating for 2 weeks now. But what has me worried is that i pulled him out today and his belly is pinkish red. it has never been like this before. his substrate is paper towels changed about every few days, he is kept clean, temps are good we have an under tank repti pad for heating. hasnt been too moist, if been keeping him sprayed down about once or twice a day for his shed like i normally do but now im not sure what i should do. Could this be belly rot? or a burn? or am i just overreacting. here are some pics... they were taken with a very cheap camera so they arnt very clear im sorry.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...e/photo003.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...e/photo002.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...e/photo001.jpg

Do you have a thermostat to keep steady temps? It looks like a burn to me. Turn off the UTH until you get a thermostat. What are you using to measure the temps?

im using a digital themometer i got at wall mart in the outdoors area. it has a wire that goes in with a sensor and you can place one end at the hot side and one at cool side.
his hot side temp is 95 right now and cool side is 82. i turned off his UTH for now.
I have 2 layers of paper towls down over the UTH .. its possible he could have moved them, im not sure... the towels were in place when i got him out.

and no i dont have a thermostat

so should i just go get thermostat and regulate and thigs should be ok? should i put any kind of cream on his belly? should i go to the vet ASAP? im sorry if im a pain with questions im just a concerned daddy.

Your no pain. I dont think it is too bad yet that you need to get to the vet, but if it gets any worse take him right away. Im not saying you cant take him to the vet, if you want to go right ahead. It wont hurt anything. You can put some neosporn on, maybe someone more experienced can help with that. Yes you do need a thermostat. You actually want your hot side temps to be about 93 is perfect. Im not quite sure how 95 could burn him like that if it even is a burn. Or maybe your thermometer is off by a couple of degrees. You never know. But first thing is first get a thermostat. If you dont have a large budget I would recommend a Ranco or Johnson Control for Matt at www.mgreptiles.com. You coulkd get a zoomed one but those are as cheap as they cost. It isnt digital, and you have to set it with a dial thingy. Any more questions just ask.

Mine get "pink belly" about a week befor they shed and have it a little after. My vet told me it was normal but I would still have a vet look at yours.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../6/baby9pb.JPG

SethsDad, is he going into shed or did he already shed? If he is going into shed then it is probably not a burn. I thought you meant he already shed, did you?

Either way you should still get a thermostat. And if you order it from matt you might as well pay another $5 for a foot of flexwatt.

You said hes starting a shed. Thats part of the shed process. Several snakes turn almost a sun burn red before shedding.

The other part of it is the humidity.... By your description, you're using the AccuRite thermometer/hydrometer combo. Is your humidity 65% or higher? If it reads "HI" then it's too high (for normal day-to-day). It could be the start of belly rot because the home & bedding stayed too wet for too long.

I actually had to take the aspen out of Hera's tub, add MORE bigger holes and put her on paper towels. She was always spilling her water and soaking the aspen, so the humidity was "hi" for days at a time. Once I changed her style bowl, did p towels and added holes, her humidity is now a consistant 48%. But her belly was looking like it was headed towards a problem, for a while there. She's since shed but I'm keeping an eye on her & the humidity.

Good luck, and let us know what you've decided to do.

RuLyn

Do you have a "dimmer" style rheostat connected to your UTH? If not, just go out and get one. I have used ZooMed UTHs for awhile before and they never gave me a problem, when hooked up to the r-stat.
However, like they said above; it could just be a pre-shed pink belly. Mine all get that. :)
You may want to switch to a sub like aspen, that forms a thicker "cushion" between the snake and the tank floor. If the snake is on the bare floor after he has moved the towels from over the UTH, that could make a burn occur; esp. if humidity is high and the area over the UTh is wet. But please make sure to use a rheostat!

Sorry if im a little late, but that is just pink belly from the shedding process.


It goes pink belly, blue eyes, clear, shed. It takes about 2 days to go from pink to blue, and maybe 5 days for blue to shed, although every snake is different.

You probably never noticed the pink belly thing before because its a pretty quick thing, although it is majorly scary the first time you see it, b/c It gets SOOOOOO pink! You'll notice that you can push the pink stuff around under the skin and see clear belly underneath it. Dont do it too much though: shedding has GOT to be an uncomfortable thing!!
Hope this helps you calm your nerves :)

ok well i went and got a thermastat and unfortunatly it wasnt just pink belly shed. He finished shedding last night and it was inded a burn. some of his scales are alittle red and not completly formed and in the lower part of his tail he has no scales at all just flesh. when i woke up to find his shed i also found some blood on the paper towels and looked and sure enough his lower parts have no scale just red flesh. Im going to take him to a vet and im out of my mind worried and ashamed that this happened. I have to wait for this weekend for the vet, does anyone know any temp fixes untill then? some kind of cream or i dont know im just worried about him. Anything to help calm me and soothe him, the poor little guy is crawling on exposed flesh and it has to hurt badly.

Put him on newspaper and turn off the UTH. Just make sure the room he is in is at least 84 degree's or so. Get him to the vet ASAP. Good Luck.

Good luck with the burn the vet will take good care of it.It looked real pink to me my Bp's don't get that pink when they shed.