BP still has scratches on belly why?

[CakeLike]

I had this problem before. Removed the decor I determined to be the culprit and it has gotten better over time. But now I notice my snake has scratches again. And they are of a reddish color. Very similar to a cat scratch on your arm but on a smaller scale.
I have no idea how he does this. The only things I have in my cage now are coconut halfs and cork wood.
And nobody I know sands their cork wood so I am very frustrated I can't keep my snake scratch free.
How am I supposed to find out where the problem is?

I don't want to put him in a sterile tub for life since I am pro natural keeping and it seems other keepers don't have any problems with that.

[Armiyana]

Hard to say without photos to peek at...

Do the marks fade away by a later point in the day?
Are you feeding live or frozen?

My guesses if there's no real way to injure themself is that live food is doing it, or it's just the little skin indents and creases they sometimes get from being balled up in a hide, but because it's white belly scales the color is noticable.

The only other thing I could think of, is I've seen "red scratches" on a snake that was self harming. He would panic and bite at himself. In that case, when the snake stressed from handling and even a bedding change sometimes, it would bite at itself.

[Bogertophis]

Unfortunately, you're the only one who can see & fully investigate his enclosure. You obviously didn't find the cause the first time, so I suggest you keep looking. Could there be a chip on his water bowl?

[CakeLike]

Hard to say without photos to peek at...

Do the marks fade away by a later point in the day?
Are you feeding live or frozen?

My guesses if there's no real way to injure themself is that live food is doing it, or it's just the little skin indents and creases they sometimes get from being balled up in a hide, but because it's white belly scales the color is noticable.

The only other thing I could think of, is I've seen "red scratches" on a snake that was self harming. He would panic and bite at himself. In that case, when the snake stressed from handling and even a bedding change sometimes, it would bite at itself.

He's not getting live food.
The scratches really look like a cat scratch. They are straight and very thin but you can clearly see that the scales are cut into. It's deep enough to turn red/pink but not deep enough to be considered a wound.
I have a plant with sturdy leaves inside the cage but I highly doubt the leaves are sharp enough to make paper cut like scratches.
And the cork wood is obviously rough but everyone uses these and why would my snake be that much more hurt by that.
I also use cypress mulch which has peaces of wood in it but again that's commonly used so why would it be a problem here.
I can't seem to find the cause.
I test the surfaces with my own hand and if I don't get cut I assume that my ball will be safe as well. I figured scales would be more sturdy than skin but I don't know.

[CakeLike]

Unfortunately, you're the only one who can see & fully investigate his enclosure. You obviously didn't find the cause the first time, so I suggest you keep looking. Could there be a chip on his water bowl?

No his water bowl is very smooth.
I just can't get my head around how other keepers keep their snakes inside natural habitats with many rough surfaces, woods and stones and I really try to keep sharp edges out but I can't get it right.

[Bogertophis]

Is this a REAL plant or a fake one? Fake plants are made with wires inside the stems, & when leaves fall off, even just one, your snake can get injured when they crawl thru & climb on it. That's why I don't ever put fake plants in my snake's homes. Branches & driftwood, yes, but not fake plants. (They're also often contaminated with lead- found by a study warning parents not to let their kids touch or handle fake flower arrangements/plants.) Fake plants look great, they're just not usually safe.

And scratches that are pink/red sound like they're deep enough to risk infection- if that was my snake, I'd be applying a thin layer of Vetericyn ointment on the scratches while they heal up, just saying.

[Bogertophis]

...I figured scales would be more sturdy than skin but I don't know.

Scales are covered by skin- snakes shed their skin, remember? Either one can be easily injured. And remember that when snakes turn their body, the spaces between & under their scales are exposed as their scales stretch apart- that is all very soft tissue too. Scales can only protect so much...they're not that hard either.

[Malum Argenteum]

fake plants. (They're also often contaminated with lead- found by a study warning parents not to let their kids touch or handle fake flower arrangements/plants.) Fake plants look great, they're just not usually safe.

Do you happen to have a link to or title of that study? I'd like details on this.

A DDG (DuckDuckGo, my go-to search engine) search for 'artificial plants lead' found only one remotely relevant link on the first two pages of hits (https://rtkenvironmental.com/healthy...ristmas-trees/) but it is a commercial site and the links it contains are of questionable quality. Google found this (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15628192) which only talks about PVC Xmas trees.

A DDG search for 'plastic plants lead' found only one relevant page (https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/preven...r-products.htm) that calls into question all plastic products, not just plants. Google found that same NIH study I linked above.

A Google scholar search for those two phrases came up empty on the first couple pages of results.

A little poking around suggests that while some fake plants are made of PVC, others are made of polyethylene or polyester (https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/r...t-fake-plants/). Apparently lead might be used to soften PVC; happily, it seems not to be used in PVC foam sheets (https://www.acmeplastics.com/expanded-pvc-foam).

[Bogertophis]

Do you happen to have a link to or title of that study? I'd like details on this.

A DDG (DuckDuckGo, my go-to search engine) search for 'artificial plants lead' found only one remotely relevant link on the first two pages of hits (https://rtkenvironmental.com/healthy...ristmas-trees/) but it is a commercial site and the links it contains are of questionable quality. Google found this (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15628192) which only talks about PVC Xmas trees.

A DDG search for 'plastic plants lead' found only one relevant page (https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/preven...r-products.htm) that calls into question all plastic products, not just plants. Google found that same NIH study I linked above.

A Google scholar search for those two phrases came up empty on the first couple pages of results.

A little poking around suggests that while some fake plants are made of PVC, others are made of polyethylene or polyester (https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/r...t-fake-plants/). Apparently lead might be used to soften PVC; happily, it seems not to be used in PVC foam sheets (https://www.acmeplastics.com/expanded-pvc-foam).

Not off-hand- & when I first came across that, I shared it here on this site. It's been quite a while- anyway, the lead was mostly manufacturing dust from the pliable wires used inside the plastic leaves- & the fact that little kids like to touch things & then stick their fingers in their mouths (or eat with their fingers, hands unwashed), so thoroughly washing the fake plants would help that.

My more immediate concern would be when leaves come off & the sharp wires get exposed, & snakes can can injured on those. That's what I suspect occurred with the OP's snake, from the description given. Without even seeing the snake in question, this was just my "brain-storming" & trying to solve the mystery.

[jmcrook]

OP has a white snake. It’s going to show marks/abrasions more easily than literally just about any other snake. This is being severely and dramatically over analyzed


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