weird spot.

[Jackk]

I've noticed a weird spot last night on my ball pythons belly. It looked like some kind of a burn or something, i'm not entirely sure what it is because I've never seen a snake burnt before.. I used to keep my heating pad IN the plastic tub because it wouldn't stick from underneath but after seeing that belly, I took it off right away and put it from the outside. Here's a picture of it.. I've also noticed that the belly have turned it's colour to pinkish - beige, i'm not sure if it's about to shed because it shed around 2 months ago.. does this look like a burn or possibly a skin rot? And by the way it's a one year old female BP.

http://i60.tinypic.com/efi6q9.jpg

[Jackk]

I've noticed a weird spot last night on my ball pythons belly. It looked like some kind of a burn or something, i'm not entirely sure what it is because I've never seen a snake burnt before.. I used to keep my heating pad IN the plastic tub because it wouldn't stick from underneath but after seeing that belly, I took it off right away and put it from the outside. Here's a picture of it.. I've also noticed that the belly have turned it's colour to pinkish - beige, i'm not sure if it's about to shed because it shed around 2 months ago.. does this look like a burn or possibly a skin rot? And by the way it's a one year old female BP.

http://i60.tinypic.com/efi6q9.jpg

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It does not look like a burn however I will ask you this, if you believe that it could be a burn does that mean that your heating pas is not regulated by a thermostat?

Also in the future leave the heat pad outside, common sense will tell you that electric devices and large amount of fluid (water dish being tipped, BP urinating) do not go together , also if you have a thermostat any source of liquid would cool down the probe (which should be secured on the heat pad) and make the temps shoot up (that would be best case scenario)

[Jackk]

The heating pad is regulated by a thermostat but I happen to set it to its highest temperature which is 40 degrees Celsius because the warm side temperature in the tub would barely go up to 27 when the heat pad is at its highest. I would say that the probe is secured because the substrate im using is under pads which humans use (mostly for old people) when urinating in bed so it does not leak, it's also taped by an aluminium foil tape..

The reason I thought it was a burn was because I used to keep the heating pad inside the tub so I don't know if it would make any difference. Is there a specific temperature that should be set for the heating pad? Also, how often do 1 year old bps shed?

Regards,
Jack

[Stewart_Reptiles]

You might want to start using a substrate that is specifically made for reptiles, just a reminder scale rot is due to improper environment.

[BiggBaddWolf]

What were the temps of the heat pad? And how were you checking it? Did you have high humidity levels in the enclosure? High humidity is what causes scale rot...

[Jackk]

I have looked for aspen as a substrate but I couldn't find any nearby, I've also considered getting wood chips but I've read alot about them and they've got plenty of disadvantages.. also, the only wood chips I could find were the rodents which I don't think would be suitable for a snake..

[Cyndymei]

You can also use paper towel if you are unable to find different substrate. I use Eco Earth coconut fiber in my glass tank which works beautifully.

Only issue is it may make the humidity high in your tub, but you can either let it dry out completely or add mor3 ventilation holes. My snake loves digging in it as for aspen it is often sold in bulk at reptile shows or at tractor supply stores. For my hatchling I use rodent aspen from petsmart which is a lot cheaper than their snake aspen. Only difference is shape and shaving size.

Sent from my Galaxy S5

[Jackk]

Does anyone know the difference between a mild scale rot and a scale burn? My ball python appears to have a pink belly and it could be one of those because I was new to owning a pet and i really didn't know how to take care of it, I had a heating pad, a thermostat and a hygrometer all together but what I did was try to get the temperature of the air itself in the tub to 30 degrees C using the heating pad only.. I did have a substrate but it could have buried itself under it..I also noticed that the humidity used to get up to 95 percent.. any who, now that I got it all set up, adjusted the temperatures and humidity percentage, i'm still concerned about her red belly.
It has a few black spots on it but im not sure if that's just how it's supposed to look like or not.. and the entire belly is pink and it has one small part which is where the neck is and it's redish, I'm worried because I did take her to the vet and he didn't seem to know anything about it but he still managed to give me a cream to use for 2 weeks. I also noticed that some scaled ontop of head were peeling off, about one or two but that might just be because it didn't shed it's head or eye caps when it shed it's skin although it all came out in one piece :S, I've also noticed that the eyes are kind of dull/grayish in colour but I still don't think it's time for it to shed seeing as the rest of her body is light in colour and not dull.

Any answers would greatly be appreciated ( Oh and I used to have under bed pad's as a substrate but I switched it to wood shavings last night)

[iPanda]

...are you sure it isn't going into shed? they often go pink before they go dull or eyes cloud over.