Hi all -
Tonight I saw a reddish area of what I assumed was leftover rat blood on my female's neck. I dampened a paper towel and tried to rub it off to no avail, but noticed she was helping by rubbing herself against the towels, which seems to suggest the area is bugging her. On very (very) close examination the skin under her scales looks a little reddish in this area, and the tips of each scale almost seem to be missing, exposing these tiny areas. She recently shed, and I noticed at her last feeding it took longer than usual for her to realign her jaw - when things like stuck shed or jaw happen she tends to overreact and she may have injured herself by scraping against things in her tank, or I'm worried there might be a local area of irritation or infection. I know it's probably very hard to see in these pics but I tried to circle the area - she has no red pigment on her at all normally so this is just from her skin. The only info I can find online about reddened skin is due to sepsis so this has me really nervous.
editing to add: I recently cleaned and disinfected her tank / decorations so I wonder if maybe I didn't fully rinse something and some disinfectant has irritated her skin or something
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