Hello,
Can someone please tell me if this is scale rot? He seems to be going into shed, his eyes are starting to turn blue, but I am worried about these spots. I just added more corse reptichip to his tank, he was on the very fine coco fir bedding. I took most of it out and saved a small amount to mix with his reptichip. He has been pink, and looked to have some substrate stuck in his scales. But now he has a spot and I’m getting concerned. His temps are 86 on the warm side, 77 cool side, and right now his humidity is 99%. However I just added new substrate that was damp. I wrang it out as best as I could before adding. I added a uth to help dry the substrate out. But now I’m concerned. He isn’t in his tank currently, he’s cuddled up to me, but will these levels harm him? Before I took the mix out, he was at 77% humidity. How do I lower humidity and is this scale rot?
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86 on the warm side is fine, but what is the hot spot temp?
It looks like some of his rougher old skin is picking up dirt from his substrate. Depending on the snake, sometimes the belly can turn a pretty wild shade of pink when they start going into blue. I have one boy who now gets salmon pink spots on a light pink belly. Freaked me out when he first started doing that.
Depending on the type of hydrometer you have, it may actually be reading the humidity as higher than it really is. Especially if it’s a probe type that sits in the bedding.
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This does appear to be mild scale rot over a wide area of the belly, I’d remove the bedding and put the BP on something like paper towels until they shed to see if the rot improves (a lot of the time it will recover with a shed). 99% humidity is waaay too high, you need to aim for the 60%-80% but going a little over or under for a short period wont hurt anything as long as it doesn’t stay like that. I’d also check and see if theres any really damp spots or standing water in the substrate that has caused the rot (under hides or near the water bowl are big culprits).
On the point of the belly being pink @armiyana is on point. I have 2 BPs (Banana Pastel Mystic and a Blue Eyed Lucy) that turn a very striking pinkish/salmon color over their whole body when they are in blue so I dont think this is cause for alarm unless the pink color remains after the shed. If it does I’d try contacting a vet who specializes with reptiles to see if its something else like septicemia (I hope I spelled that right lol) which is an infection that can occur from a variety of injuries or poor husbandry and can cause a red-ish color and swelling to the affected area.
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The humidity was at 99 because of the bedding change I just did. It’s went down substantially since. Right now it sits at 72. I am hoping it comes off with his shed.
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Thank you. I do think it’s a mild scale rot and I’m hoping with his shed it clears it up. I plan to completely remove all the thinner coco fir with the more course stuff, this was a trial run with the humidity. The top of his hide varies between 95 and 98. He hasn’t been very active since he’s turned blue, he mainly just stays under his hide. I have taken him out, but I also don’t want to stress him out. I removed some of the hvac tape from the top to let some air out and dry up his bedding. The substrate was so compacted and thick, I don’t think it was getting enough flow and it never dried out. But now that it’s substantially thinner I am hoping it dries quickly and I’ll just go back to pouring water in the corners as needed. Thank you. Should I just let him shed and see if that clears up his scale rot, or should I do iodine baths in the mean time?
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