Meet Ishimura.... and then please tell me what's wrong with her and what to do!

[Absinthekitty]

I've had her about four years, but I'm not sure of her actual age. She was given to me by someone who didn't want to take care of her anymore, and I had a snake before her who was at a rather 'intermediate' care level (I raised a Brazilian rainbow from a hatchling), so I took her in. I have never had a single issue with her, and even though I know ball pythons can have a stigma about being fussy eaters sometimes, she doesn't even do that. She's never bitten anyone (ever), has always been healthy, no problem.

So today I take her out of her cage and see this.. and I'm scared! I clean her cage out about once every two weeks. The bottom of the cage is little glass stones, and she has her tree to climb in which doubles as a hide, another hide, plus two water dishes (big and small) and a non-toxic plastic vine. Her cage is a tall open-air one, and I have the light up against one side of the screen, thus making two different temperature areas in the cage (despite it only having screens for walls).

The only other thing I guess I can tell you is that she's due for a shed soon.. her eyes are cloudy. But that's all. Nothing abnormal... except her poor scales =(

Can someone shed some light on this for me?

[Mr. Misha]

I feel like you're missing a picture in this post...

You can download the Tapatalk app and post photos straight from your phone.

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[Absinthekitty]

Indeed I am.. still working on that.. /embarrassed

[Absinthekitty]

[Mr. Misha]

Are you just heating the enclosure with only a heating lamp or do you have a heat mat? Also what substrate are you using and what's the temps and humidity in the tank?

Whether or not you get an answer on this forum, you should look for an exotic vet near you.

I'm guessing here just from seeing different threads on this forum, but it's either a burn or scale rott and im leaning more towards scale rott.

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[Absinthekitty]

I use glass stones as a 'substrate', and I have just the lamp at the side of the cage. It's aimed sort of sideways across a corner of the cage so that she has that whole area for warmth. I also have two water dishes in there and a big tree she climbs on. Initially I thought maybe she got stuck inside the tree and hurt herself getting out (I've seen her in there before) but I still freaked! I'll definitely find a vet.. But will she be okay over the weekend until one is open?

[Pythonfriend]

umm, rounded glass stones are highly unusual, never heared about it.

i would switch to paper towels for now.

[ROACH]

I useglass stones as a 'substrate', and I have just the lamp at the side of the cage. It's aimed sort of sideways across a corner of the cage so that she has that whole area for warmth. I also have two water dishes in there and a big tree she climbs on. Initially I thought maybe she got stuck inside the tree and hurt herself getting out (I've seen her in there before) but I still freaked! I'll definitely find a vet.. But will she be okay over the weekend until one is open?

Glass Stones? WOW thats a first that I have heard for a BP! Why 2 waters dishes, she can only drink out of one at a time. What type and size bulb are you using in the heat light? Im wandering if the light might be heating up the glass stones and getting too hot. Can you post a pic of her setup for us? Ive heard of snakes getting substrate in their mouth while eating...I wander if she could get one of those stones in there. I would switch to paper towels also.

[Mr. Misha]

So question, (and dont take this offensively. Im just tryin to understand) why glass stones? Proper substrate for BPs is cypress, coco husk or some other varition of this. Also, take a couple photos of your enclosure and post it up. It will help see whats going on in the enclosure as well.

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[Absinthekitty]

Oookay.. So.. I can't post a picture at the moment because I'm currently away from my computer. But. After reading you guys' responses and googling a bit, I've come to realize that I've been doing a lot of things wrong. Let me say in my defense that I was specifically told by a petsmart employee that the cage I bought (it was bigger than her glass one, I thought I was doing Ish a favor) that it would be fine for a ball python. It's an open-air cage - all screen - and apparently inappropriate for snakes.
I was using glass stones because I thought they'd be cleaner and hold heat better.
Also let me say in my defense that I'm the only person I know with a snake, so no one could really warn me otherwise.
I have two water dishes because she likes to lie in the bigger one.

So, consensus is I feel like a horrible person (and probably am one) because I'm taking care of her wrong. Set me straight, folks, what do I need to do? I can't believe I haven't seen a problem earlier, she's been in this setup for at least a year now, and I haven't even seen obvious signs of stress. She eats like clockwork, has never had a bad shed, nothing. I didn't have a clue anything was wrong.

also, I did find a vet, and will call them the minute they open.