Scale rot....HELP PLEASE!

[Wobbilly5]

I sold a female normal from one of my clutches this past summer to a friend of mine. A few weeks ago I was visiting him to see how she was doing/growing and I noticed a lower portion of her belly was a bit pink. To prevent what I thought might be oncoming scale rot, I advised him to keep her dry.

Tonight he sends me this......



It's definitely getting worse.

She lives in a 10 gallon terrarium with a heating pad set to 88 degrees F. Her substrate is bark mulch/woodchips and she appears to be taken good care of. She eats like a machine and has just recently missed her first meal.

What do you think is going on and what should I advise him to do?

Thanks for your help!

[Wobbilly5]

My guess is that it's a burn from the heating pad. I told him to clean out the substrate and keep her on paper towels and not in direct contact with the glass until it begins to heal.

Sound advice?

[liv]

I've never dealt with scale rot but my first instinct would be to get her off wood chips and on to paper towels. I'm sure others will chime in with better/more advice.

EDIT: Just saw your second post.

[Flikky]

If it is a burn (I dunno) Paper towels are thin and won't really save her from a hot heating pad.. Maybe turn the temp down a few degrees. You might be getting a reading that's off.