Cuts on his belly? Or mite bites?

[Loki1108]

I noticed last night that my ball had some marks on his belly that looked like cuts, so today I took pics of the ones that looked the worst to try and figure out what it could be. I'm not sure if they're from mites, or him getting cut on something (what I have no clue). They aren't bleeding at all, and I've placed a paper towel under one of his hides to see if there is any blood, just in case. He has them randomly down his belly, but near his tail he appears to have older ones, and as they approach his neck, they seem to be more recent.

The second farthest from my finger in this one appears to be the worst one to me
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/show...mageuser=22287

These are around his mid belly

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/show...mageuser=22287


http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/show...mageuser=22287

[Skittles1101]

Looks more like the beginning of scale rot, or could just be old scales...is he getting ready to shed soon?

[llovelace]

Not cuts, just keep an eye on it, should clear with a couple sheds, some may say it looks like a little scale rot. Just watch it for spreading. Make sure enclosure is dry & clean.

[EAllen84]

Do you wet your substrate frequently?

[Loki1108]

I *think* he's about to shed.

I've had him since the 3rd and didn't get any previous shed history, I mist the hot side of his cage just 2 times a day, once in morn, and once at night.

Was just about to clean his cage, I'll put him on dry paper towels until it clears up instead of his substrate since he dosen't seem put off by the paper towel in his hide.

If it hasn't cleared up by the time I take him to the vet (was planning after he sheds and eats -well I try to feed him- to make appt), I'll def ask if it's scale rot.

[Skittles1101]

I'd definitely wait until he sheds. Sometimes their scales can look dry and dirty on their tummy right before a shed, especially if you have one that hasn't shed in a while.

[Loki1108]

Ok. I'll keep him on paper towels for the next bit until he sheds, and see if it clears up. And watch close to make sure it dosen't get worse.

If it does get worse before he sheds, is there anything besides keepin his enclosure clean and dry that I need to do?

[llovelace]

If it does turn out to be scale rot (which I highly doubt), and it does get worse, you can soak him in a diluted betadine solution daily.

[Loki1108]

Checked Loki's belly today to see how it was doing on the paper towels to keep his tank dry. Seems he has a few new marks on the upper part, near the worst scale. I'm really hoping he just has weird scales before shed, and not scale rot...

So should I just wait to see if it gets worse until the weekend or put him in a diluted betadine solution?

If I should, what's an appropriate betadine solution? everything I've found says 10% betadine solution. Is that correct?

Also, I'm taking out his water bowl and putting a smaller one in it, I haven't seen him soaking, but that dosen't mean he dosen't at all.

[llovelace]

It won't hurt to go ahead and soak him, fill a storage container of appropriate size with tepid water, add enough betadine to turn water tea colored about 1/2 -3/4 capful, let soak for about 15 minutes. make sure that when you place snake in the container, the water only covers 1/2 of the snakes body.