Does her belly look alright? Please help, I'm nervous.

[BrianaK]

Took my little lesser out today and noticed some weird looking scales. I think she might shed soon, her eyes aren't blue but her colors look pretty dark (normally don't) and her belly a tad pink. I'm not sure if this is just because she's about to shed but some scales looked a little lifted which worries me. Does this look okay? Only comment if you have advice on what you think it is please, not just hope its okay or take her to a vet. Thanks in advance.

P.S. The cage is monitored by a herpstat so the temps are pretty much perfect.



Right click and open in new window to see picture larger.

[Alexandra V]

It doesn't look too terrible, and the pinkness looks that that of a pre-shed. What are you keeping her in? I know some people that keep theirs in exo-terra terrariums with the doors in the front and the snake tends to run their body up the side of the tank and then slide back down, which lifts the belly scales a bit...

[BrianaK]

It doesn't look too terrible, and the pinkness looks that that of a pre-shed. What are you keeping her in? I know some people that keep theirs in exo-terra terrariums with the doors in the front and the snake tends to run their body up the side of the tank and then slide back down, which lifts the belly scales a bit...

Thanks for your reply. She's temporarily in a 10 gallon aquarium until my rack comes. I've only had her for like 2 weeks and the first week she was keeping her head at the top of the cage with her belly against the glass, sliding down occasionally. I'm just worried about belly rot and want to catch it early if thats the case. Thanks again.

[Alexandra V]

Thanks for your reply. She's temporarily in a 10 gallon aquarium until my rack comes. I've only had her for like 2 weeks and the first week she was keeping her head at the top of the cage with her belly against the glass, sliding down occasionally. I'm just worried about belly rot and want to catch it early if thats the case. Thanks again.

No problem. What kind of substrate are you using? If you're worried about belly rot maybe try moving to paper towels or newspaper and keeping the humidity on the low end (50-55%) until she shows the cloudy eyes, then move up to shedding humidity.

[BrianaK]

No problem. What kind of substrate are you using? If you're worried about belly rot maybe try moving to paper towels or newspaper and keeping the humidity on the low end (50-55%) until she shows the cloudy eyes, then move up to shedding humidity.

I have her on some kind of reptile bark stuff, not sure what its called exactly. I was actually planning on switching both my snakes over to newspaper today anyways, even before I saw the belly marks. So I'll go ahead and try that and see how it goes.

[DC Reptiles]

I ended up switching my albino to newspaper because of scale rot, the person I got her from left the mulch in her cage to wet and she started to develope some. Shes doing great now and the little bit of scale rot she had has cleared up

[BrianaK]

I ended up switching my albino to newspaper because of scale rot, the person I got her from left the mulch in her cage to wet and she started to develope some. Shes doing great now and the little bit of scale rot she had has cleared up

Very good to know, thanks! I just switched them both over, not sure why I didn't do that a while ago. That mulch is nasty, so dusty and horrible to clean up. My little lesser always curls around the bark too which might be whats irritating her belly and my pastel always gets some in his mouth when he eats and freaks so it should be interesting to see how they both adapt to it. Thanks for the help!

[wolfy-hound]

My geuss is the very beginnings of belly rot. If you put her onto the newspaper substrate and she sheds pretty soon(which the pink on the rest of the belly seems to indicate very soon) I'll bet it disappears with the shed.

If it is indeed belly rot, it looks like it's caught extremely early and should be fine, just watch it for after the shed. I would offer a humid hide for the shedding so the rest of the newspaper can be nice and dry.

Good luck.

[BrianaK]

My geuss is the very beginnings of belly rot. If you put her onto the newspaper substrate and she sheds pretty soon(which the pink on the rest of the belly seems to indicate very soon) I'll bet it disappears with the shed.

If it is indeed belly rot, it looks like it's caught extremely early and should be fine, just watch it for after the shed. I would offer a humid hide for the shedding so the rest of the newspaper can be nice and dry.

Good luck.

Thank you very much. What would of caused the belly rot though? I never soaked the substrate down, let alone even spray it. I've only had her for two weeks, the temps are measured by a herpstat, its been a perfect humidity in my room so I haven't had the need to spray the cage...so what is causing this? Do you think the mulch was causing her irritation because its so rough? Because other then that, I don't know what would of caused this...