Belly Peeling - Not in Shed ??

[gatorball]

My son's ball python is peeling ever so slightly on her underside. She isn't in shed at the moment but when he took her out to handle her he noticed that some skin on her belly was looking dry and some of it peeled off. The problem (?) is very slight and the skin is very, very thin and clear - like a cellophane wrapper. There is no sign of discoloration or infection...just the peeling.

What is this from?

She does a fair amount of climbing through artificial plants at night and spends all day in her cardboard hide on Aspen bedding. There is a UTH stuck to the glass aquarium under her hide, with a piece of Naugahyde vinyl over the glass to prevent her from being burned. It's on a rheostat and he keeps it at about 90-93 (according to the thermometer) but when I feel the Aspen bedding with my hand it doesn't feel too warm.

Could this indicate that she might be shedding soon? She last shed about 2 months ago. No idea how old she is since she was a rescue.

Any ideas?

[AndrewGeibel]

Sounds like the snake is going into shed but maybe the humidity is a bit low to me. What is the humidity at?

[gatorball]

I'm not sure about the humidity. She has a large water bowl in her tank and a wet towel on top of the screen (partially) to raise the humidity.

Could it be low humidity?

We had a cold snap here in FL a week or so back and had the heater up day and night keeping her at a constant temp.

[AndrewGeibel]

Well that should have taken care of the humidity problem but without actually measuring it with a hygrometer it's impossible to say.

[gatorball]

We will have to get a hygrometer then.

I just want to be sure that it isn't something like scale rot - it doesn't appear to be after looking at photos but I want to be certain so we can catch it before it becomes a problem.

My son said she was getting caught in the fake plants (vines) he has in her tank. Maybe the dry skin is coming off because of that. ?

[AndrewGeibel]

If the snake is close to shedding then some rough rubbing on anything in the enclosure could have done that. A hygrometer/thermometer combo can be had at most larger stores for 15 bucks or so.