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[nickamon]

Hi everyone,

I was handling Cassie tonight, and found something odd on her underbelly. Extending from her cloaca towards her head, there's a 4cm long patch of flaky, dry skin. It looks like a bad shed, when the old, dry skin is still stuck to the body. Cassie's last shed was clean, so I know it's not part of a stuck shed. She's due for her next shed in one week, and I've never seen dry skin patches like this around shed time.

I checked my books, and it doesn't sound like any of the skin ailments they describe. I'm worried that it might be scale rot, but they're not open sores. I'm also worried that it might be a burn from the heat mat (which is under 2cm of substrate in the tank, linked to a thermostat with a max of 32 degrees), but it doesn't look like a burn, and Cassie doesn't burrow.

(On the heater front, I have ordered a ceramic and reflector dome which will be suspended over my tank's wire top, so the mat won't be in service much longer.)

Do I have something to worry about, or am I just being paranoid?

Thanks everyone.