scab from poor shed or could this turn to scale rot?

[Leesh_91]

Hi guys,

My coastal carpet had a few problems when he last shed about 2 weeks ago - i have attached a photo of when he started, it seemed like from about 3/4 down to the end the skin started lifting first.
He basically shed into pieces and the part that lifted first from 3/4 down stuck on, so i put him in warm water to soak. This helped and the remaining skin came off - but in that area he was a little red and sore. Next few days it looked like he developed a scab - i have recently been putting some silvazine cream on the area as i found it on a few searches on the net. Just starting to get a lil worried now - I really dont want him to develop scale rot if it is possible. I have attached a photo I took tonight of what it is like at the moment.

Im only really new to this and I need some advice please.

[Leeloofluff]

hey mate that looks like a burn, but to be sure i would take him to a vet asap. the cream may help but he probably needs antibiotics to stop any infection. also i would take him off the substate and put him in a sterilearea with newspaper just to stop further irritation

[Albino93]

i agree that its a burn and after reading the post below, it seems like thats what has happened, well possibly.

[serpenttongue]

It looks to me like your snake was sitting on a warm/hot (hot rock??) surface during the milky stage of shedding. When this happens, the heat tends to dry the shedding oils prematurely, causing the old to become adhered to the new skin. When the snake then sheds, it pulls some of the new skin off with the old. This will often happen along the last 3rd of the snakes ventral scales because this is the area of the snakes body which is in direct contain with substrate surfaces.

The area will scab, as it seems to be doing now, and with each successive shed it will heal and become cleaner, but, depending on how badly damaged the snake is, there will always be a scar. Your snake doesn't look too bad, so there should be too much of a scar once it's shed a few more times.

Snakes are good healers when kept at optimal temps, and I doubt there's any need for medical intervention or antibiotic ointments.

[Leesh_91]

I have got him on newspaper now - i took to substrate out when i first noticed it scabbing up. No heat rock - but lately he does seem to be going under the paper and sitting directly on the heat mat (which is under the tank) I had him in luke warm water, just to soften the skin - he wasnt soaking in there for a long time.

So should i still use the silvazine or would it be ok to heal naturally?

Could this of happened becase i didnt have enough humidty? my other snakes have shed ok - but i was thinking maybe it could be a possibility that the humidty levels wasnt enough - as he is in a glass tank.

Thanks for the help i appreciate it heaps!

[veenarm]

Like they said mostly due to being directly on the heat mat...

Is your thermostat a on/off one or a dimming one?

My young stimmie got burnt because he did the same (under the flooring) and sat on the mat directly, and unfortunately i thought i had an on/off heatmat but it was dimming so still 'some heat' and he managed to burn himself, but it healed over time after I stopped using heat mats...

[Leesh_91]

i have one of those reptile one heat mats with the built in thermostat? well i thought that would work ok - I've had him about 8 months and havent had an issue before.. maybe it would hurt running it with my own thermostat then? im currently building an tv unit enclosure for all three and im looking at using the heat lamps.

But in this case would i take him away from the heat mat?

oh i do check the temps - and on his high temp side it always fine. If anything it hasnt been getting quite there lately due to the colder weather - but i guess direct heat on him is going to burn him if its hot enough

[Albino93]

i have the exact same heatmat and i had to use a thermostat with it cause it was getting to hot when i was using newspaper (this was during summer tho) i wouldnt take away the heatmat just make sure he cant get under the newspaper and yeh i would assume direct heat on him may burn. it may be better to use a heat lamp for a basking spot during the day and heatmat during the night but idk someone more experienced can help more then i can.

[Tsubakai]

Have you put your hand on the mat to feel its direct temperature? Even better, have you measured the temperature of the mat? Many of them can malfunction and overheat, Reptile One branded mats included.

[Leesh_91]

well I recently put a towel over the heat mat because I noticed it seemed to be too hot for him sitting on top of it all the time, which now seems to have made it a bit direct temp to be laying on. He still seems to love going under the paper lately. He never used to do it..
I haven't measured to hear mat its self so I will do that. And tomorrow I'll go in and buy thermostat's for the 3 heat mats I have.

[serpenttongue]

The heat mat may not be getting so hot that it burns the snake, but it more than likely is getting hot enough to dry the shedding oils, and this leads to the new skin being pulled off with the old skin. I believe this is what has happened with your snake.

The other possibility is that the snake spends too much time laying on the substrate and bacteria from soiled substrates can get under the ventral scales and caused scale rot.

[Albino93]

when i used newspaper i had to sticky tape it to the glass just to stop mine from goin under it but i use reptibark now so i dont have any problems with that anymore.

[Twitch_80]

I find my males will often 'pace' around in winter, no prizes for guessing what they are looking for I thinks serpent is spot on. Oh I wouldn't be using sticky tape in the enclosure.

[Leesh_91]

Well I hope that is what's happened! I really don't want him to have scale rot. I must be what u are saying because it happened exactly how u say. 3rd way down it dried first and was difficult shedding that part and then the scab appeared. I might tape down the newspaper to the glass so he can't get under it for now.

He usually sits up in the plants I have in his enclosure lol so hopefully he just goes back to that..

Ohh ok scrap the sticky tape then! Lol

[Twitch_80]

You can try different substrates if you want, marine carpet, fake grass (there is a nice good quality one at bunnings), aspen bedding (its quite soft and very absorbent so easy to spot clean) etc etc