pythons underbelly help

[grif]

Hi everyone,
im brand new to this forum and fairly new to the concept of owning some snakes. Im pretty confident I know a decent amount about snakes but theres always room for more.
my girlfriend was handling our python and was looking at his underbelly and noticed it was turning red, from what ive read that meams theyre abput to shed, but he shed about 2 weeks ago. His scales also look kind of wrinkly and when you go the opposite way almost "flakey" and we also noticed that it kind of looks like there is a cut on his underbelly. If you could help me idideifty what these problems may be from I would be so grateful, hes about 7 years old, I keep his humidity at around 68-74% and he has an undertank heater with the ambient being about 68° im going to bw buying a uth thermostat as soon as possible
[IMG][/IMG]

This was his underbelly 3 days ago

[JackTar]

ambient should be about 80 degrees. If you don't have a thermostat, you're UTH could be too hot. If your snake is in a glass aquarium with a screen lid, it's not holding the heat from your UTH

[PitOnTheProwl]

An UTH need to be REGULATED and IS NOT FOR AMBIENT TEMPERATURES.

[Jwkempo]

UTH might be running too hot. Go to Walmart and get a cheap light dimmer(if you can't afford a thermostat) plug the UTH into the light dimmer. Then go to home depot and get an infra thermometer about $25. Check the UTH temp with the heat gun on a regular basis. Hard to see from your pic but when a snake goes into shed it turns dull and milky blue...check his eyes if they are cloudy blue it's shed.

[Skiploder]

Identified problems:

Your ambient is too low.

You are running a heating device without knowing what basking temp it is providing.

Your snake needs to see a vet...it could have a burn, it could have rot, it could have something else.

You are running an unregulated heating device.

You are running a heating device that is probably incapable of meeting the thermoregulation requirements for a ball python.

Your ambient is low and your humidity is fairly high...more on that later.

The fact that a couple of key husbandry issues are screwed up probably means that there are a few more that need attention. However, you have provided little information in your post. What is the hot spot temp? What type of enclosure is he in? How are you providing humidity?

Now a couple of people are going to chime in here - many opining on what they ASSume is the problem. I am not a vet. They are not vets. With the humidity as high as you describe, the ambient as low as you describe and the fact that you are running an unregulated heat source means that you need to not only see a vet, but dial all of your husbandry parameters in.

Ball pythons use a heat pad/UTH to thermoregulate and raise their overall body temperature. When you keep the enclosure too cold, you are forcing that poor animal to spend more time on the heat source...a heat source that is unregulated. You are therefore providing him with a prime opportunity to injure himself - possibly with a burn.

On top of this, the humidity you describe is fairly hard to achieve with such a low ambient temp, which would lead me to believe that your humidity delivery system may add to the unhealthy environment you have already described. When you combine high humidity via misting, spritzing, etc, with a burn or damp and cool ambient conditions, you are providing that snake an opportunity with a chance to pick up rot or a bacterial infection.

While you are making your vet appointment and ignoring all of the people who will give you armchair guesses as to whether there is an issue or not, or what the issue is, you need to check the care sheet on this Forum and provide as close to the prescribed parameters as possible. This will involve spending money on thermostats, secondary heating sources, hides, etc.

[grif]

An UTH need to be REGULATED and IS NOT FOR AMBIENT TEMPERATURES.

I am well aware, as I said im we are new snake owners and we just want what is best for our snakes. Im not sure if I menitioned it but my UTH regulator will be here in a day or two I was just waiting for it in the mail,

[grif]

Identified problems:

Your ambient is too low.

You are running a heating device without knowing what basking temp it is providing.

Your snake needs to see a vet...it could have a burn, it could have rot, it could have something else.

You are running an unregulated heating device.

You are running a heating device that is probably incapable of meeting the thermoregulation requirements for a ball python.

Your ambient is low and your humidity is fairly high...more on that later.

The fact that a couple of key husbandry issues are screwed up probably means that there are a few more that need attention. However, you have provided little information in your post. What is the hot spot temp? What type of enclosure is he in? How are you providing humidity?

Now a couple of people are going to chime in here - many opining on what they ASSume is the problem. I am not a vet. They are not vets. With the humidity as high as you describe, the ambient as low as you describe and the fact that you are running an unregulated heat source means that you need to not only see a vet, but dial all of your husbandry parameters in.

Ball pythons use a heat pad/UTH to thermoregulate and raise their overall body temperature. When you keep the enclosure too cold, you are forcing that poor animal to spend more time on the heat source...a heat source that is unregulated. You are therefore providing him with a prime opportunity to injure himself - possibly with a burn.

On top of this, the humidity you describe is fairly hard to achieve with such a low ambient temp, which would lead me to believe that your humidity delivery system may add to the unhealthy environment you have already described. When you combine high humidity via misting, spritzing, etc, with a burn or damp and cool ambient conditions, you are providing that snake an opportunity with a chance to pick up rot or a bacterial infection.

While you are making your vet appointment and ignoring all of the people who will give you armchair guesses as to whether there is an issue or not, or what the issue is, you need to check the care sheet on this Forum and provide as close to the prescribed parameters as possible. This will involve spending money on thermostats, secondary heating sources, hides, etc.

Thank you so much for your help, this is what I was looking for its a helpful criticism that I definitely apprecaite. Ill be making the appointment tonight.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I am well aware, as I said im we are new snake owners and we just want what is best for our snakes. Im not sure if I menitioned it but my UTH regulator will be here in a day or two I was just waiting for it in the mail,

Untill you get some type of regulation unplug your pad.
A little research ahead of time can go a long way.

[grif]

Untill you get some type of regulation unplug your pad.
A little research ahead of time can go a long way.

I did do research and I am thankful for everyone pointing out that thats bad, I just had no idea that the pads would get that hot. Im going to go pick up a thermostat tonight until the one I ordered gets in. What temperature should the area above the pad be at? Im going to read through the bp care sheet, seems like a few websites have completely different numbers, its odd. Thats the only reason why my humidity was above 60. Ill make sure to keep it in the 50-60 range.

[bcr229]

What temperature should the area above the pad be at?

The surface temperature of the glass or plastic over the pad should be anywhere from 88-92*F. I try to keep mine at 90*F.