Bad shed and possible scale rot?

I had noticed after my ball's previous shed that he had some missing/discolored scales on his head. After searching online for help and possible reasons I had come to the conclusion that he must of had a bad shed.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...l/100_6891.jpg

And then I noticed that around his tail he had these dark discolored scales. Possibly scale rot? I've thoroughly checked over him everyday to see if he had a mite problem and I still can't find anything.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...l/100_6904.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...l/100_6906.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...l/100_6899.jpg


Can somebody please help me out, I would take him to the vet a.s.a.p. but there isn't one in my area. I figure that I could take him to the place where I get my feeders "Ron's Reptiles" and see if they can help. I would assume that they probably have antibiotics considering they have a thousand plus snakes in their collection. I know what your all going to ask and the question is do I keep his cage clean?, Is the humidity relatively high?, etc. Yes his cage is cleaned regularly and kept dry. His humidity stays around 50-55%.
So what is this? and what should I do? Please help my snake.

the first is retained shed.


The others look like to me that he's gotten into some tape and pulled the scales off, or maybe got oiled down and lost his scales.

They don't look like scale rot to me, but I've only seen the ulcerated pics online and the bubbling, fluid filled scales from when my snake Snoopy got a P. infection. Both of those events looked different from what you've posted.

Good luck!

R.

Maybe the pictures don't show the coloration correctly. They are actually darker and duller then the rest of the scales in that area. Also, the scales don't seem to be missing, they actually seem bigger and inflamed. I can't seem to find any pictures online for scale rot, so I have no reference. But if he did lose some scales will they ever come back? and if it is scale rot will they heal with the proper care?

Let me do some hunting. I had a request for VISUALS (that's how I learn) and someone posted a thread w/(albeit) extreme damage pics.


Have U searched the threads for belly rot/ scale rot? If they're cared for, they'll heal and there shouldn't be any problems after the next shed. :)

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...731#post311731

Here's the other thread. Now, this was a VERY bad case, but maybe? it will help.

I'm sure Adam and some of the others w/more extensive collections will pipe up in the morning.

:)

Yeah, I have searched throught the threads here and on other forums. I appreciate the help and if you could find some links for me, that would be great.

See my prev. message above. :)

Thanks, I really appreciate it. Those photos are extremly sad. After seeing those, I'm not so sure what my ball "pontius" could have. Is it a possibility that he may have mites that are under his scales causing an infection?

Hi,


For what it's worth I agree the first one is a retained shed but to me ,and don't hit me if I'm wrong, the others look like nothing worse than "rubbed" scales.

When I worked in the shop (many moons ago) we had a large burmese who would always burrow and jam herself into every space and log in her tank - mainly when she was hungry and looking for food. When she did this she quite often had patches of "damaged" and even bent upwards scales.

I'm quite curious to see what some of the more experienced guys say on this as well - and I hope it's nothing serious whatever it is. :)


dr del

I think to he might be fine...I have a few BP's with scales that are turned from rubbing against stiff etc. They usually return to normal or atleast are not as noticable after to long.

Hard to say from the pics but I think it's the same thing that affects one of my girls- I have always thought that it is part of a bad shed, it looks like part of the scale was shed leaving the pigmentation (or bottom layer) behind....if you look at the shed it is complete, but certain scales (in the shed) are lighter....kind of the opposite of what you see on the snake.

Anyways, if that made no sense: it is nothing to worry about, it will be gone next shed. The scales affected may get rough and dry looking in my experience. It is not scale rot like I have ever seen, one of my snakes had a mild case of scale rot and it looks nothing like that.

Good luck.
Leah