Red Marks/Scabs on Belly

[Valentina]

I just discovered this on my Ball Python's belly. I'm a little freaked out. She's about to shed. I've seen her belly get red before a shed before but nothing like this. This is raised and kind of scabby. Please look at the pictures and let me know if you know what's going on. Thank you!

[satomi325]

Minor burn or scale rot. I'm leaning towards a burn. Do you have a thermostat hooked up to your heating pad?

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[mbuehler]

Looks to me like a burn. Are you running a uth without regulation?

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[Valentina]

No but it's the same heating pad she's had the whole time I've had her (for a few years). I just looked up how to treat scale rot. Soak in 1% Betadine Solution once a day and apply antibiotic cream. Should I do that? Or if it's a burn. How should I treat it? Thank you for your help.

[FireStorm]

Your best bet is a trip to the vet. Silver Sulfadiazine will work much better than OTC antibiotic cream, especially for a burn, but you will need a RX. And get a thermostat ASAP. No UTH is safe without one, no matter what the packaging may say. Here's a link to one thats pretty affordable:
http://firestormreptiles.com/weblog/...hermostat.html

[Neal]

You can easily adjust the temps with a dimmer/rheostat.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_70717-539-TT...mer&facetInfo=

That plugs into the outlet, and you plug your UTH into the back of that and you can go up for full power, or lower it down to get it partial power, and just find the temperature that's safe. What I used to do is start off with it at full power and give it about 30 minutes to reach peak temp, then check the temperature with a temp gun or with the back of your hand(back of your hand is way more sensitive, and most people don't know that by the time you feel heat from using the bottom of your hand you're already burned, but because the back of your hand is more sensitive it won't burn you). I recommend getting a temp gun though to shoot the temps because it's useful to see the temp of the snakes, plus if you feed F/T you can see the temp that you're at and just in general it's really useful.

[Coopers Constrictors]

This looks to be a prime example of what happens when a UTH is not controlled by a thermostat.