I have a few friends who are into ball python and some of them aren't too bright. In this case, I was visiting a friend who owns a 700g-ish male that suffered a VERY bad case of blister disease in January. He didn't seek veterinary care, even when the blistered and peeled scales reached over 1/2 of the snake's length. Watching this poor animal suffer was horrifying. The snake survived with a combination of paper towel bedding, daily betadine baths, and lots of TLC. Said friend can no longer keep the snake and I am going to take it in as a pet only, since the disease reached the vent area and scarred the entire region. No sense taking risk with breeding, right? I inspected him for mites/infections earlier this week and noticed something distressing.

All along the disease area, the snake's wide belly scutes are completely gone. The smaller scute-like scales immediately to either side of the belly (where track markers would be) have come together and healed over the affected area. Snake doesn't appear to be in any pain and is eating/defecating normally. My question is will the missing scutes grow back, or is this a permanently scarred area? Is there anything I can do to encourage scale regrowth? I would say the injury is 98% healed. Sorry, didn't think to take pics.

I feel so bad for this boy. I have a nice QT tank ready for him and after that a lovely display cage.