Scale rot? Mites? Or staining from hide?

[threadgoode]

Hello all,

I'm a new bp owner. I've had my albino girl for about 3 weeks now. She has shed once (a very successful shed, except for a stubborn patch on the side of her head that I've decided to let her take care of on her own. I don't want to stress her out too much by attempting to remove it.) and eaten twice (two f/t rat fuzzies-- she was eating live mice hoppers before I got her but switched over without a hitch!) I was very pleasantly surprised as she has never balled up or shown aggression or exhibited much sign of stress. She's a really good girl and I already love her more than anything. However, checking on her today (I give her a quick once-over everyday except two days after feeding, ofc), I was alarmed to see these black marks along her body and under her head. They don't look brown or soft/blistery as I've seen on pictures of scale rot. It looks more like someone marked her up with charcoal? Some streaks do look dark brown, though. The smudge under her head is what I'm most concerned about as it's the closest resembling scale rot. Another thing I noticed is her underbelly is COMPLETELY UNAFFECTED. Perfectly clear. I doubt it's mites, either, but at this point, any thing is a possibility. Here are a few pics:



The marks on her body are perplexing, but under her head I really think could be scale rot. How common is that, for the underside of her head to get scale rot, but not her underbelly? This is a new development. Three days ago when I fed her, none of these marks were there, and neither was that brown smudge under her head.

Husbandry info:
- 20 gal glass tank
- CHE + UTH (I need the CHE to maintain ambient temps because my room gets pretty cold) BOTH ARE STAT CONTROLLED AND MONITORED BY 2 THERMOMETERS, TOO
- Humidity rarely ever reads below 55% (53% has been the lowest it has ever been, I use 2 digital hygrometers) but will sometimes spike for an hour or two when I mist the tank
- Coco husk substrate, is never wet/soaking in her hide, but gets damp with misting. Certainly not soaked.
- Hot side stays around 88F-91F (checked with a temp gun multiple times a day, and the glass never gets hotter than 91 MAX), cool dips to 75-73, but she has a good gradient with a third "middle hide" where temps are low 80s/high70s
- water dish large enough for her to soak in, though I have never observed her do that, so mites is once again not really what I think she has?

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT HER HIDES: I bought a "tree stump" plastic hide from the pet store that she likes. It has a single entrance, is dark, albeit a big big for her, but she has never seemed to mind. The reason I question "staining" from it is because as I tried looking for whatever could have caused her marks, I rubbed my hand on her "tree stump" hide and noticed a few tiny black flakes come onto my skin. I have since replaced it with her old half log that I know isn't ideal, but she has done well in it in the past.

Thank you so much to anyone who has taken the time to read my post. I'm just very anxious I'm doing everything all wrong. I just want to take care of her as best I can, so any help/advice/things I should change is always always appreciated. My biggest concern right now is not causing any health problems due to neglect...

[Sunnieskys]

The marks on her body could be from the log hide you took out. No idea about her chin. Could it be substrate stick in her chin vent?

[Craiga 01453]

Those look like marks she picked up from something, most likely the hide.

Do they come off if you try to wipe them off??

[Sgt7212]

Like Sunnie and Craig said, I agree that to me they just look like marks from rubbing against something also. The ones on her back are probably from the hide you removed. The one under her chin looks like substrate staining to me. Although, I’ve usually seen it with those who use cypress mulch. I know you mention you use coconut husk. I haven’t really seen staining from that before, but I would imagine it’s possible.

Have you tried wiping it gently off, like Craig mentioned?

[NJ Balls]

They're stains from the substrate. I have three albinos and they get stains like that all the time especially when I use newspaper for substrate. Not sure whats going on under the chin the picture is not clear enough to tell if it's a stain or a scrape.

[threadgoode]

Thank you all for your replies. I didn't even know substrate staining was possible from anything other than newspaper, so that was interesting to learn! I checked on her again this morning and tried gently wiping off the black marks as advised. They were pretty stubborn, but a flake of the black stuff (not her scale) stuck to my finger. The marks also look very superficial, so I'd agree with you all that it was most likely staining from her hide or something else in the enclosure. As for her chin smudge, I compared how it looks now to the photo I posted earlier and some of it looks like it came off on its own, but there's still a visible brown stripe there.

If it is substrate staining and such, then I think my best bet is to wait for her next shed.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out!