BP rubbed belly too hard, scale rot?! naw...

[logan77]

hi,

Logan, my 8 month old, 50% mojave BP(sister, of a mojave, she's got a nice yellow tint) rubbed her belly too hard during shedding and is missing two belly scales. The area is white with very slight reddish coloring.
I bathe her 2x daily in warm water, and apply Neosporin(NOT extra strength because that can harm her). When she's touched, she's not in any discomfort. Temps. are fine.

I changed substrate from aspen to paper towels. She was always on aspen since she was hatched, so she likes it but wanted something smoother for her belly for a while. Should I be worried about her?

My old BP sadly passed from scale rot; part of it my fault I don't wish to see this again. Logan has never been exposed to any fabric etc. that could spread parasites. Cage is always clean.
She's kind of a slow eater; for a young one she seems to wanna eat every 20 days! my old BP ate every 2 weeks. hmmm. Logan's behavior is still normal

Should I be worried? please e-mail me at jseconds77@hotmail.com if any one knows something of use.

[demonicchild]

I'd wait and see how it heals to go getting upset. Patience, grasshopper.

[dizzy]

I'm no expert by any means, but I think that a young ball that doesn't want to eat more frequently than every 20 days sounds like a problem to me.

Not eating is usually a sign of a problem, either with husbandry and temps or a health problem with the snake such as parasites.

Hopefully somebody more experienced can help but they will want to know:

Do you have 2 identical hides, one on the warm side and one on the cool side?
What are your temps on each side and how are you monitoring and controlling them?
What is your humidity?
What size/type enclosure?

What size/type prey are you offering? Do you pre-scent the room?

...Besides that I have never heard of a BP getting a raw belly from rubbing on aspen... But just because I know nothing about it doesn't mean anything...

My first thought though would be that it's something else like a burn or scale rot or maybe just pink because it's about to shed? Though again, I'm no expert.

Good luck

[dizzy]

Oh an bathing 2x a day sounds stressful to me. It sounds too frequent. Perhaps get some iodine and put a small amount in the water (till it looks like weak tea) and bathe him in that every other day.

Somebody else agree or disagree with this?

I'm not confident in my advice-giving yet I suppose... But 2x a day sounds intense to me.

[frankykeno]

hi,

Logan, my 8 month old, 50% mojave BP(sister, of a mojave, she's got a nice yellow tint) rubbed her belly too hard during shedding and is missing two belly scales. The area is white with very slight reddish coloring.
I bathe her 2x daily in warm water, and apply Neosporin(NOT extra strength because that can harm her). When she's touched, she's not in any discomfort. Temps. are fine.

She's a normal, there is no such thing as a "50% mojave". It's either you is or you isn't sort of thing. She would be called a normal or at most a mojave sib but not 50% mojave.

I'm not sure about this rubbed too hard thing. What could she have rubbed on so hard in her enclosure since aspen would not remove scales. Did you help her during that shed at all?

I would stop the twice daily baths. There's no reason for that that I can think of and it is a stressful experience for a snake like a ball python. I would just keep her on the paper towel and apply the neosporin very sparingly every day to the affected area. Watch for any signs of infection and speak to a vet is there is a concern about that.

She's kind of a slow eater; for a young one she seems to wanna eat every 20 days! my old BP ate every 2 weeks. hmmm. Logan's behavior is still normal

Should I be worried? please e-mail me at jseconds77@hotmail.com if any one knows something of use.

Every 20 days? That's a long span for a such a young snake to go between meals. What are you feeding her as far as type of prey? What size is this prey? What type of feeding method are you using? Do you feed in the enclosure or in a seperate feeding container?

You said "temps are okay" but what is okay to you? What temps? How are you measuring them? What is the ambient humidity of her enclosure?

[logan77]

hi,

thanks for the replies!
Logan must've rubbed on her log too hard.

In a 10 gallon tall tank:

temps: day time cold side- 70
under basking lamp- 93
inside hide box 98.6(hide box is black plastic so it radiates heat)
middle of cage temp is 66

night time cold side 63
inside hide box 86
basking log n/a

when I got her back in Nov. I offered her food every 2 weeks. She was immediately only interested in bigger mice. So that's what I offer.
bear in mind, she just shed mid month, but I figured after shedding and going potty she'd be hungry by now.
I feed her the brown bagger method: staple it shut, supervise and go for it!

I could try dark colored mice. or frozen/thawed. I won't go crazy and import african short hair mice...that's nuts...
Unlike Fermina, Logan acts normal and sits and waits during the day, roams around at night. Logan, since I got her always seems to sleep on the cold side or at least right in the middle of the cage.

She DOES NOT have any burns. UTH is not stuck directly on the glass, the tank is raised on furniture sliders to prevent this. There's no way Logan has access directly to the glass. Basking lamp is safely secured above the screen top.

she always asks dis-interested in food; breeder said she was a strong eater but not a strong striker at prey. she's always eaten up til now.
I'll try again tonight.

[MiniJ83]

Just off the top of my head:

99 degrees on the hot side is RIDICULOUSLY high.

63 degrees is too cold at night, and 66 ambient is WAY too low.

Putting your snake into a bag with a live mouse is a terrible idea.


Like I said, that's just off the top of my head. Someone else chime in.

Also, someone asked how you are measuring your temps? Stick on gauges? Accurite?

[logan77]

99 is under the basking lamp during the day. she can move away from the basking area any time. she cannot get thermal burn because it's just a light source. sometimes she stretches out.
70 degrees cold side is fine. I can jack it up to 75.
she's always roaming around the cold side, sleeps there during the day.
night time she's in the hide box at 88.
she knows what temps are best.

the brown bag method is quite a proven idea for feeding BP's.
I can also feed her in an opaque sweater box. she's most responsive to the bag method, since as a younger snake she's grown accustomed to it from her days before I owned her.

thanks! I'll keep ya updated

[logan77]

oh, temps are measured with reliable, digital thermom. with a probe.
humidity is 55%

[Sloanreptiles]

As far as importing food to feed her, never heard of anyone having to do that as many people breed these rats. Try rats that are the right size, and if not that try to get African Soft Furs.

The temps are off drastically.
Get the hot side to stay at 88-92 24/7, the coldest area needs to be no lower than 75 24/7. Ball Pythons temps should be constant unless breeding them. I would by a UTH and Thermostat to control temps.

The scales missing seems strange, keep it clean and watch it if anymore go missing take her to a vet.