Pink belly. Scale rot or burn?

[Natt]

I've had my ball python for almost a month and she shed the day before I got her. I changed all the bedding in the tank when I got her too. She came with an under tank heating pad that didn't work very well, she was always cold, I've experimented with different heating bulbs and currently got rid of them because it was drying her tank out too much.

I got a new under tank heating pad about 2 weeks ago which works very well and keeps her tank humid. I have a thermometer that measures the humidity between 70 & 90 and the temperature at 70 although I assume its warmer in her hide than what it is above the mulch.

I've kept the mulch wet cause the previous owner and other people experienced with snakes have told me to, however now I don't know if its causing scale rot.

I noticed yesterday her under belly was pinkish red from the tip of her tail to about half way up her 4ft body. There's no red spots but her scales there almost look wrinkly like when you soak your hands for too long but not quite that extreme, you have to look really close to see it and her scales arn't seperating at all.

If it is a burn is there anything I can do to treat it? I originally thought it was and I removed one of her hides and left the one that sits on the cool side of the tank but if it's a burn how long will it take to notice the pink colour fading? If it's not a burn, am I risking her health if I wait long enough to find out for sure or should I treat her with betidine solution and ointment sooner rather than later?

Either way I'm putting dry mulch in her tank today just incase.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated, thanks.

[Montypython696]

Well first off, a 70-90% humidity is way to much. A ball python isn't from the rainforests and would be perfect with a 50-60% humidity. The temperature being at 70 is way to cold. It needs to be a good 15 or so degrees higher. One side should be the hot side in the high 80's and the cool side should be in the mid to lower 80's. Without proper ways to keep your snake, it probably wont last long. The pink belly could be scale rot due sitting to the wet mulch for a month and the 70-90% humidity. I would invest in taking him to the vet sooner rather than later. As well as a good set of lights, and thermometers and hydrometers to accurately maintain temperatures.

[Luciferskeeper]

If your keeoing wet mulch and your temps are only about 70 then its definitely scale rot. Get her off the mulch all together get her on dry paper or paper towels. Got to get your temps up right away but first and foremost id be seeing a vet for further instruction. Probably working on an RI as wekk as scake rot. Vet asap.

[Archimedes]

Take the snake to a vet to treat the scale rot and probable burgeoning respiratory infection, and correct your husbandry.

Hot spot at surface level: 90-92F.
Cool side: 80-84F.
Humidity: 35-50%, bumped up to no more than 70% during sheds.
UTH regulated by a thermostat and a temp gun.
A hide on both cool and warm side, with plenty of cover.

A little research would have saved you a vet bill.

[sharkrocket]

By the way, if it's been a month since the last shed, it could just be a pink belly because he/she is going into shed.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...edding-Process

[RoseyReps]

Let us not all jump on the "sky is falling and it's your fault" wagon so easily. Op came here because he/she cares about the well-being of their snake. They noted they spoke with experienced keepers (or at least those whos opinion they valued) and was going off of recommendations. Yes, our caresheet is awesome. But it is not the end-all be-all for ball python keeping. Telling them after the fact that they should have read something does zero good. It just makes them feel worse. We all make mistakes.

That being said, OP:
Pictures of the pink area would help tremendously. It could be any of the suggestions thus far. It could be scale rot, it could be a burn, or it could be an oncoming shed.

We can only do so much with pictures, and even less with just description.

An unregulated heat mat can easily reach temperatures exceeding 105°…Causing a burn.

Wet substrate can cause scale rot.

My personal suggestion would be this:
Remove the mulch, put down papertowels.
If you don't already have one, get an infared thermometer so you can accurately check your surface temps. You will want tto know exactly what the snake is feeling temp wise.
Get a thermostat for the UTH, there is a cheaper version available from amazon for roughly $25. It's called a hydrofarm and gets the job done alright. Until you can get a thermostat, grab a lamp dimmer from your local home depot/Lowes to tweek the power on your uth until you get optimal temps.

Are you using a digital or analog thermometer / hygrometer currently? If analog, get a digital. The stick to the wall ones are about useless. And could be the reasoning behind the wonky temps/humidity.

But most importantly, keep asking questions and researching. Don't take any one persons (even mine ) as the golden rule. Even if it is scale rot or a burn, it isn't the end of the world. Get him treated and back to health and learn from it. We've all been there, been new, made a mistake or 12.

Good luck and I hope it's nothing more than an oncoming shed

[Tannerrrtx]

rosy, youre always so helpful oh! my little boy that got hurt is doing all better, hes starting to grow his scales back and get an attitude again!

[Natt]

Thanks to all of you, especially RpseyReps, harsh replies or not.

Turns out I was paranoid and she was just about shed, however I changed her to papertowel and put the heat lamp back on instead of the heating pad and now I can't get the humidity over 25%, hopefully it will go higher when I put her on new mulch tomorrow. If it doesn't though, is there anything I can do to make it more humid without emptying my bank account and without it getting too humid besides spraying it every other day?

Thanks for the thermo gun tip aswell, I will have to invest in one of those.

[Capray]

Glad she's okay. Are you that person from Yahoo answers? Lol

[Natt]

Haha yeah. Good thing I did come here, no one else answered on there besides you.