Red scales turning brown

[Zoe]

What is going on here??? My young IJ's stomach scales are turning brown (for about 3 inches her stomach scales are turning brown)... She has nothing but the best of care, so I don't understand what is going on? She had a pretty bad shed the other day (most of it is gone, daily soakings help but I don't want to force it off) but her scales (already shed) seem shiny (not a glimmer like usual, but almost oily!) and the brown is really concerning me...
They don't stink (as I presume they would with scale rot?) and there is no way she could have scale rot. She wasn't interested in food tonight.

Please help, I am very very worried

Zoe

[Zoe]

Here's the pic:



It's not great, but you get the idea.

Zoe

[Piers]

from the pic I'd say scale rot.Scale rot dose'nt smell(I never smelt anything),the pic looks like there is water beeds on the snake.
You said that the snake has the best of care but you did'nt mention what substrait, how damp,temp and so on.
If it is scale rot it can be cleared up by keeping the snake dry,no spraying the snake or cage and swabing the scales with hydrogen paroxide to help dry them out and to steralize them too.
keep the water bowl in the cage unless the snake is always soaking in it. Sometimes snakes will seem to "live" in the water bowl, some animals can handle this fine some can't. If this is the case take the water bowl out and offer it only everyother day or get a smaller one that it can only put its head in.
Thats all I can think of right now,
Piers

[Zoe]

Hi,
The water beads are from soaking her (she had some shed still left on, but it's all gone now).
I've moved her to a rubbermaid with papertowel bedding and such, and applied some polysporin to the affected areas.

In her original cage, she has indoor/outdoor green carpetting which is dry, the air humid (but no where near the danger point!) and the temps are good (82-89). None of my 2 other IJs who get the same care have scale rot.

How serious is it?

Thanks!
Zoe

[Mardy]

I would through out that in/out carpet. As they can start to harbour bacteria and such as they age. Piers had it right keep her dry, but if you don't change the cage it could come back. My ETB got a bit from some branches that had a urine build up on them.

MArdy

[Edwin]

Hi Zoe,

Scale rot is usually caused by substrate that is too moist, low temps or dirty substrate resulting in bacteria/mold buildup.

Originally posted by Zoe
I've moved her to a rubbermaid with papertowel bedding and such, and applied some polysporin to the affected areas.

Yup, you are on the right track. Do check to see if there are any blisters on your snake, it may require draining. I dont think your snake has this, as leaky blisters give out a smell. Also, prevent your snake from soaking in the water dish, as it will worsen its condition.

I hope your snake recovers soon!!!

Cheers,
Edwin

[Dom]

I find a daily soaking in a light betadine bath to work well as well .. dry her off after wards..

[Darren Hamill]

Originally posted by Dom
I find a daily soaking in a light betadine bath to work well as well .. dry her off after wards..

Soaking in a 1 oz Betadine (liquid) to 1 gal of tepid water each day for one week as well as appliying Betadine ointment every day or two works best for me. Keeping her on a dry substrate and warm is best...

Good luck Zoe... She should be just fine..

[AnthonyC]

Zoe,

It sounds like everyone has covered it. I would definitely get away from that indoor/outdoor carpet stuff. Disposable substrates are really the only way to go. Cypress Mulch, Aspen, newpaper, or those disposable cage liners are all good substrates.

[LdyDrgn]

I myself had used indoor/outdoor carpet as substrate with NO problems for 2.5 yrs. It is all in how you treat it. I kept 2 or 3 pieces cut for every enclosure. Whenever the snake would urinate or defecate, I would remove the soiled piece, wipe out the interior of the enclosure then lay down a clean piece. The soiled piece would then get put into a tub I kept outside with bleach solution in it. With rubber gloves on I would scrub the dirty areas with the tips of my fingers in the solution, make sure the rest of the carpet got a good dunking, hose it off VERY well with it draped over the back of a plastic patio chair (flipped it over a few times while rinsing) then let is bake in the sun for the rest of the day. It worked quite well for the snakes that didn't require real high humidity. Only reason I don't use it anymore is because I didn't have room in the car to bring my enclosures AND my snakes when I moved from CA to KY.

For the arboreals I use cypress mulch to help maintain humidity. This is what I keep my IJ on and she loves it!

Good luck, Zoe. She'll be as good as new in no time with the advice you've gotten here.

[JKUROSKI]

Well obviously if your snake had a bad shed, your "best of care" husbandry is off. I would seriously think about the way you keep them. All these pretty naturalistic setups can be more troublesome that they are beneficial to the snake. Plain old newspaper, Rubbermaid, and a heat pad provides all the needed elements. Sealed wooden dowels if you want to offer climbing areas instead of natural branches. High relative humidity but no condensation, which you aren't going to get in any aquarium. I don't mean to bash you, as I don't know exactly how you keep yours, but just making general statements.

How are those eggs coming... :-)

[Zoe]

No prob JK, I totally see what you are saying.
By "best of care" I basically meant that she wasnt' swimming in her own feces or anything. I do follow caresheets as best I can, but none stressed the importance of disinfecting carpetting as much as LdyDrgn did, and I believe that to be the root of the problem. I replaced it with paper towel in all my enclosures, and checked all my other snakes (none of which had it, go figure! [thank god!]).

I'm just happy I noticed the problem basically the first day it was noticeable. Hopefully the damage will be reversed and not apparent after her next shed :]

Thanks everyone for the help!

Zoe

[Zoe]

Oh! The eggs are doing good! The days are getting lloonngg tho... I can't believe they still have something like 2 weeks to go!


Zoe