Pink Belly

[Brandy]

Ok folks... I'm worried. Eden thinks its best to push her reptibark off the floor of the tank and lay straight on the glass floor (over the heating). She is getting ready to go into a shed and I noticed that her belly is slightly pink. The temp in her hide is around 93.7 to 95 and the thermometer probe is right on the floor too. Could this be a burn??? Are these temps hot enough to burn her? or is it something strange with her shed coming up? If it is a burn, what do I do? Should I wait for her shed to be over? Help!

[PrincessErica]

Just to be safe, you might want to consider putting like a section of newspaper under the substrate so she can't get in direct contact with the hot glass...

Without pix, it's hard to say if it's normal pre-shed pink belly or burns though.

[Brandy]

I never noticed pink at pre-shed before. Maybe I just didnt look. So some pink is normal?

[NocturnalBC]

The pink belly is totally normal if you know 100% that the snake is going into shed, all the snakes I've owned in my life have done it and every one I talk to says the same so that is cool and you shouldn't worry. As far as the snake being on the bare glass I totally agree with PrincessErica, you should put some newspaper under so that it won't be on the glass because this will lead to serious burns.
You may also want to look at why your snake is doing this, it may not like laying on it for some reason( I know it doesn't look very comfy..lol ). I know when I got my 1st snake a few years back that I tried it and didn't like it for a few reasons like Price, Not very absorbent and my snake would sometimes do the same as yours. I moved to newspaper and it workes great, it's very easy to clean and cheap. If image is something your going for then try aspen, it's not very expensive and is totally easy to spot clean, plus your snake will have a harder time moving it all out of the way to get to the glass and it looks nicer then paper.

[daniel1983]

If I were you I would get a small piece of peg board..or other board with holes in it...and place it on the bottom of the enclosure over the heating. This will allow the heat to get through but will keep your snake from coming into direct contact with the glass....Just an option.

[clizardb]

I had the same problem with my snakes moving the substrate (Repti-Bark) and lying directly on the glass above the UTH, but I switched to aspen and now there is no problem.

[PrincessErica]

Good call, Daniel!! I never thought of that, but that's a freaking awesome idea! The heat still gets through, but the snake is protected from the hot glass. Someone get this boy a gold star!

[daniel1983]

Good call, Daniel!! I never thought of that, but that's a freaking awesome idea! The heat still gets through, but the snake is protected from the hot glass. Someone get this boy a gold star!

Thanks I used that in my old aquarium setup and it seemed to work just fine....ha...and it kept me from worrying about the bottom burning my bp...I will do anything to make myself worry less..ha