Something wrong with coastal scales

[pharskie]

Ok so I have noticed my coastals scales are a bit out of wack, he should be due for a shed as his last was in July and I did not cool or stop feeding him every 14 days. I will attach some pics but they have been like this for a few weeks and I presumed he was going to shed but still hasn't. It's not getting any worse but more is it going away. What the hell is it? Please help as I'm worried sick because now I have near convinced myself it's the worst case scenario. Worst of all the herp vet has been on annual leave and gets back Friday week away so I can't even get him seen to till then

as you can see its not all over him, just in one section of his body. It dosent bother him to be handled or bother him to touch but I'm pretty uneasy about it

 

[Jarrod_H]

Bump this up for ya. Seems a bit more important/interesting then the other posts floating around.

 

[buffcoat]

It looks like a bit of retained shed. My one royal looked exactly like that. Nothing.g to really worry about...yet. If it doesn't get better after the next shed then Id start to worry

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[Coppersimon]

I have a diamond that has retained a full shed who had some areas that looked like that. I spent around 4 hours yesterday helping her out of her old skin and all of those areas were very hard to get of but when they did come off the underlying skin and scales was fine.

 

[dannydee]

I've seen this on my coastal as well. I know for a fact it wasn't any retained shed in this case, but I never really got to the bottom of it. Initially I thought she had somehow managed to burn herself but I couldn't work out how. Anyway, after a couple of weeks the scales just went back to normal, without her having to shed.

I'm sorry this post isn't very helpful but I just thought I'd share my experience. I don't think you have anything to worry about though.

 

[thomasssss]

ive seen the same thing on mine dannydee , same thing definitely wasn't a retained shed as i had watched his previous shed and it was perfect , could it be dehydration thats only showing in one section for some reason just a thought

 

[pharskie]

Thanks everyone for the help, in response to the retained shed, he has never had a bad shed, always within a week of going milk eyed and always in one piece. I will put him in a bath this afternoon and try to get some moisture into him. Failing that I believe longi( I think that's his name on the forum) has suggested poweraid baths as an excellent way to rehydrate. I just thought about it to much and convinced myself it was the start of scale rot, but now know its not. I'm stupidly particular about my enclosures in that I always maintain 45 %to 55 % humidity and the heat panel always stays between 32-33*c. I always clean the area where he defecates in about a 25cm radius to make sure all bacteria is removed. I just worry too much. I lost one of my very loved coastals last year to liver failure so now I'm super paranoid and protective of the big boy.

 

[dannydee]

ive seen the same thing on mine dannydee , same thing definitely wasn't a retained shed as i had watched his previous shed and it was perfect , could it be dehydration thats only showing in one section for some reason just a thought

Very interesting thomassss, I hadn't thought of that. I am now on a mission to see if I can find any related information. If I do find anything, I'll get back to you.

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry to hear about your coastal that suffered from liver failure, I'd be gutted if anything happened to one of mine.
Would you please post again on this thread, as it would be very interesting to see if once you've tried to hydrate the snake, the scales turn back to normal.

 

[benjaffa]

I have seen similar with a coaSTAL i took into care it had somehow brocken a heap of ribs, the ribs haeled but the snaKE never recovered and its scales went very similar to your snAKes then it staRTED TO HAVE BAD SHEDS and very liquidy poo pertty much every day. conclusion the broken ribs had caused internal damage to the live3r or kidneys.

 

[pharskie]

Did the ribs seem to cause the coastal any discomfort?

 

[cathy1986]

scale rot???

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[pharskie]

It's just not possible to be scale rot. The humidity is always monitored and the enclosure is cleaned weekly

 

[cathy1986]

just looks like the start of it and its sore to touch

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[cathy1986]

Necrotising Dermatitis and Vesicular Dermatitis
scale rot can also be caused by a deficiency of vitamins A and C.

Cathy

 

[cathy1986]

It's just not possible to be scale rot. The humidity is always monitored and the enclosure is cleaned weekly

did you find out what it was?

Cathy

 

[Stuart]

I have seen similar with a coaSTAL i took into care it had somehow brocken a heap of ribs, the ribs haeled but the snaKE never recovered and its scales went very similar to your snAKes then it staRTED TO HAVE BAD SHEDS and very liquidy poo pertty much every day. conclusion the broken ribs had caused internal damage to the live3r or kidneys.

My Brain hurt reading that...

Now onto the constructive part, I would agree with some of the guys thoughts on dehydration as I had a Darwin that did something similiar. A soak seemed to perk her up and sort the issue out and whilst Im not going to say it will solve your issue, but it may be a start. Let us know how he goes.

 

[pharskie]

I had him at the vets yesterday and it's defiantly not scale rot.

 

[pharskie]

It could however be that he is due for a shed and one part of the skin has become very dry and ready to shed before the rest of his body. I'm sceptical on this conclusion as it is not spreading. I went into the snake room yesterday to find him holding his stomach very tense and looked to be trying to regurgitate something. Dorsal scales where pink and he had his mouth and throat where both open and stretched out. Almost like eating a small invisible mouse if that helps with the imagery. The vet checked his airways and checked for obstructions of the digestive track but nothing was found. He also checked over his body very closely for any possible signs of swelling but again nothing to be found. I have gone with his recommendations to increase the basking spot from 30-31 to 34-35 and add another large water bowl to increase humidity in hope the issues I'm facing are minor. I'm contemplating getting a liver function test done to rule out any kind of excess digestive substance being produced, to which may cause stomach irritation and neurotoxicity(that was the cause of death in my female coastal about 1/ months ago), but will only do so if he goes off his food.(which he has never done)

 

[Stuart]

Good luck mate, the symptoms sound scary but heres hoping nothing eventuates.

 

[cathy1986]

poor fella :-(

Cathy