shedding not sure

[ratly]

hey every one
i have had my snake for four weeks now .she is eating fine.i have notice scales on her belly and redness mainly around the tail end. is the redness normally ?? is it time to shed ??

from Bec

[serpenttongue]

The redness isnt a normal part of skin shedding. Any redness on a snakes underside is usually a very early sign of scale rot. If it's not scale rot then i would say it may POSSIBLY be a burn or the skin is drying during the opaque stage of shedding. Or a fungal thing if it's sitting on a damp substrate.

In any case, the cause is the snakes set-up. This redness can occur when heating is provided soley from above, with the snake spending alot of time laying on a cold cage floor. If not fixed(by heating the floor) the redness turns to open sores, dying scales, scabs that drop off and exposed flesh.

If the floor is heated (by heat mat or other)then perhaps it's too warm and is causing burns.

Also, when a snake is preparing to shed and is constantly sitting on surfaces that are a bit too warm it can dry the skin out and cause the old layer off skin(which is about to come off)to stick to the new layer, sometimes causing redness.

A pic and a bit more info would help.

[ratly]

Thank,s serpenttongue she has a floor mat only but has plenty of room to move away.Got told when eyes go cloudy she is ready to shed which she has now.see how she go,s tomorrow if not better will get breeder in local. hav,nt looked at her yet everyone sleeping still thank,s again rob PS what about melbourne