Does my ball python have scale rot or is it shedding

My roughly a little over a year old ball python, I believe has gone into shed. His eyes have become blue and cloudy and he’s developed a pinkish underbelly and he won’t eat. I took him out early today because he became a lot more active and I noticed this on his belly, could be the shed process but also looks like scale rot.




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Thats definitely mild but widespread scale rot.
Scale rot is caused by excess sitting moisture that irritates and harms the scales, I highly suggest looking through your BP’s enclosure to root out the source of excessive moisture and fix the issue.

Areas of risk are near/under water bowls, inside humid hides that are too damp and areas where the snake has passed waste. If the last in that list is the culprit you need to clean your snake immediately with fresh water and dry them thoroughly to avoid a potential bacterial infection. The shed cycle the BP is going through is likely because of the scale rot, they will often shed when their skin feels irritated by something.

Keep a close eye on the snake, if the scale rot persists after cleaning the enclosure and the shed is done you will need to schedule a vet appointment. If you start noticing spreading redness, an increase in the amount of rot, an off odor, or wounds forming, you will need to schedule a vet appointment.

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I’m a little iffy on saying it’s scale rot yet. Potentially yes. But this could be a bit of the opposite husbandry issue and this is a hard time to figure it out

What are the temps and humidity in the enclosure? Is there anything rough or sharp in the enclosure they climb on?

To me since the snake is in shed, it looks a bit more dry, flakey and damaged. Basically like the humidity is low and the dry skin getting ready to shed is scratched on something and picking up substrate.

It can still be mild case of scale rot, but that will be a bit difficult to really see until the shed is done. The belly can turn some scary shades of pink when they’re ‘in blue’. But if the stomach is still pink or red and the skin looks worse AFTER the shed, then you will definitely treat it for scale rot.

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To me, this looks like he crawled through something sharp like a vent. Was he stuck in something and you pulled him out? Then, after scratching, was on substrate like coco. Looks like you need to check his cage furniture for sharp stuff. I can’t think how scale rot would cause each belly scute to be cut in the same place.

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Even the paraventrals look scratched. Definitely need to check the enclosure.

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Thats a good point. When I first saw this I immediately thought of what early onset scalerot looks like but since you pointed it out I looked a lot closer and I definitely see how these could be scratches.

Even still I’d treat this as if it were scale rot because it could develop into the condition, or both conditions can be present already. As well as any other bacterial infection. Please look around the BPs enclosure for any sharp objects that can potentially harm the snake as well as any unnecessarily wet areas of the enclosure.

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