Belly Scales?

[snakegirl4life]

My baby ball python Maxwell has some very strange feeling scales on his belly, but only when you start down at his tail and softly run your fingers up his belly towards his head, it feels like my fingers catch a few scales along the way and pulls them up slightly, also if he is slithering on a surface and you pick him up or scoot him backwards you can hear the scales catching on the surface and coming up a little bit, its kind of hard to explain, its kinf of like a hangnail. but with scales. there are a few of them. im new to snakes, Maxwell is my first one, so i dont really know if this is just something thats normal, or if hes got something wrong with the scales on his belly. thanks in advance.

[JeffJ]

your not supposed to run your hands back to front. it catches and pulls on there scales. the natural flow of there scale pattern is front to rear. always run your hands in that direction. your probably dislodging the scales and causing damage to them your self this why they are beginning to feel funny.

post some pictures. also it could be a burn if your running your heat source un regulated. and or scale rot. but my first guess since you have mentioned the way you're handling him and its wrong is that your causing the scale damage your self.

[nixer]

My baby ball python Maxwell has some very strange feeling scales on his belly, but only when you start down at his tail and softly run your fingers up his belly towards his head, it feels like my fingers catch a few scales along the way and pulls them up slightly, also if he is slithering on a surface and you pick him up or scoot him backwards you can hear the scales catching on the surface and coming up a little bit, its kind of hard to explain, its kinf of like a hangnail. but with scales. there are a few of them. im new to snakes, Maxwell is my first one, so i dont really know if this is just something thats normal, or if hes got something wrong with the scales on his belly. thanks in advance.

the belly scales are supposed to be rough if you feel from the tail to the head. the purpose of this is from traction while slithering. certain ways they flex their muscles and use them to help them in their forward motion.

as long as the scales are not wrinkled looking or discolored its probally fine. too much humidity could also cause scales to feel rough if you run your fingers from head to tail. if you could take pics of the belly we could tell you for sure if there is something of concern or its just normal.

[snakegirl4life]

your not supposed to run your hands back to front. it catches and pulls on there scales. the natural flow of there scale pattern is front to rear. always run your hands in that direction. your probably dislodging the scales and causing damage to them your self this why they are beginning to feel funny.

post some pictures. also it could be a burn if your running your heat source un regulated. and or scale rot. but my first guess since you have mentioned the way you're handling him and its wrong is that your causing the scale damage your self.

ok thank you for telling me, i only did it once when i noticed a little rough patch, and i did it very lightly, so i dont think i caused any damage. I will defenitly take some pictures of his belly and post them. thanks again

[snakegirl4life]

the belly scales are supposed to be rough if you feel from the tail to the head. the purpose of this is from traction while slithering. certain ways they flex their muscles and use them to help them in their forward motion.

as long as the scales are not wrinkled looking or discolored its probally fine. too much humidity could also cause scales to feel rough if you run your fingers from head to tail. if you could take pics of the belly we could tell you for sure if there is something of concern or its just normal.

ok thank you, this is what i was looking for, so the scales on their belly are supposed to feel that way. ok. i will still take some pictures anyway just to make sure there isnt more to it. should i post the pics on this thread or start a new one? im not very good at this forum stuff.

[Kaorte]

you can just post them in this thread.

[joshn6805]

I was wonderin this also, two of my girls have some scales that seem rough
To the touch.

P.s I love this blackberry I can have acces to these forums anytime I want

[frankykeno]

A few interesting links about snakes and their scales:

http://www.ballpython.com/page.php?topic=scalation

http://whozoo.org/ZooPax/ZPScales.htm

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/...ake/index.html

[nixer]

A few interesting links about snakes and their scales:

http://www.ballpython.com/page.php?topic=scalation

http://whozoo.org/ZooPax/ZPScales.htm

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/...ake/index.html

all great links i learned that on the discovery channel. it was a good show about retics before they became "evil" and tried to take over the united states lol

[joshn6805]

all great links i learned that on the discovery channel. it was a good show about retics before they became "evil" and tried to take over the united states lol

i hate shows like that, they love to overexagerate
.