Hello. I have been treating with scale rot my all snake. It looked like it stopped. Used betadine bath, neosporine and Lamizil. And today noticed that. She does like lately to get under dry pods to be warm. But heating pad has thermostat. I don’t know what is that? Help me please
How bad was the scale rot and where? Was it this spot?
There does seem to be some damage to the scales there, but some of it also looks like there’s some normal pattern under it too.
Also, that temperature is the surface above the heat pad? Is the thermostat between the pad and the bottom? If the surface is over 90F then it can burn your snake. Even if you have a thick layer of substrate, your snake can burrow down and burn if the surface over the pad is too hot.
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The pod placed under the glass. So it’s outside of terrarium. We have thermostat and right now it’s 88 degree. But since scale rot was little I started to use blue potty pads and that snake was getting under it. Under pads and warming herself on heating pod. There is no substrate right now. Could she get burn since her skin touching the glass even though we have thermostate?
We understand that you have a thermostat, which is good. You don’t say where the probe for the thermostat is located.
Are you checking the temperature of the area where the snake can be with a separate thermometer? Temps can vary by a few degrees even when the thermostat functions correctly. Some devices consistently run slightly high or low, though they maintain temps well. And of course, thermostats fail.
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I will say just to be safe that you do need to double check the temp of the heating pad and the probe position even though it is on a thermometer just in case its overheating or the thermometer is failing.
Do you know the cause of the scale rot? Scale rot can be caused by excessive moisture, prolonged exposure to bacteria, or its some other kind of skin infection all together. So there is a possibility that whatever is the cause is not being 100% treated even with the measures you’re taking…
And you never specified that the BP has been to a vet. Which in this case might be necessary since you’ve attempted treatment and the issue still hasn’t resolved…
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I have the probe secured against the glass bottom with tale so that it doesn’t move and will give as accurate of a reading as possible.
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That is the correct placement for the thermostat probe, which is good. Even so, you need to double check the temperature with another, reliable thermometer.
Valid point.
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@cmsreptiles @armiyana @caryl If the snake is actually laying on the glass could this explain some of the spots?
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I believe only if the glass is getting hot enough from the heating pad to cause burns… that would have to be proven by @marinas27 by double checking the temps with a second thermometer…
I’ve kept various species of snakes in glass enclosures including BPs and they’ve never developed any issues with their scales with coming into direct contact with the glass, granted I had them on temp regulated heating mats. So no I wouldn’t think this is a glass issue just by itself.
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I don’t think so, providing temps are ok. It certainly wouldn’t/doesn’t affect my corns. I have kept a lot of them in glad tanks and they regularly burrow down onto the glass. I don’t keep BPs so I can’t answer for them specifically.
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If this is inside the enclosure and not underneath, tape can be very dangerous to a snake as well. The snake can get stuck to it. If the tape is underneath and between the pad and the glass that is fine.
As @caryl said, the glass surface temperature should still be checked with a second thermometer. Preferably by the handheld ‘gun’ type.
@caron if the glass is getting too hot it can cause a burn for sure. Otherwise if the temperature is normal then laying on the glass wouldn’t be an issue.
Now if tape is on the inside, an adhesive and the scales sticking can cause damage too.
It’s still tough to say if these are the healing spots or new damage since we don’t know what the snake looked like before. Sometimes with a burn the extent of the damage won’t show until the snake sheds it’s skin also.
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Absolutely right! Thanks for pointing this out, Christina. Dang, I zipped straight to picturing the probe taped to the bottom of the glass. That’s where I put them.
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If you don’t have something to check the temperature on the inside glass surface where your snake is, hold your hand flat on top of the area. Most people’s hands temp at ~90F. If the area feels warm or hot to your hand, then it’s likely too hot for your snake and you should turn the thermostat down a touch. Getting an infrared temp gun is an extremely good idea for monitoring temps.
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