Posted by:
OrangeHeterodon
at Wed Apr 2 21:42:55 2014 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by OrangeHeterodon ]
How often is the moss replaced? Does the snake stay mostly on the cool end of the cage? Bacteria love damp areas, and especially damp dark areas. If the snake's body temp is too low then it will not be able to fight off bacterial pathogens that causes infections such as scale rot. Indigo Snakes live in habitats that quite frequently reach into the upper 90s, the two Eastern Indigos that are kept where I work have a high end at 91 degrees Fahrenheit. I would increase your warm end to at least 85. I would also research scale rot a bit more so that you can determine for yourself as you are able to first-hand inspect the snake, if the snake may need treatment for scale rot. A vet visit can also usually determine this, at least it can with the vet that I go to.
Another possibility is just a genetic defect. Getting new genes to add to Eastern Indigo captive pools is rather difficult to accomplish, especially for the pet-trade side. As a result, a few generations of inbreeding may have caused a defect that causes the tips of scales to flake.
These are just two possibilities that come to my mind, there may be another reason. In any case I would look into scale rot a little if I was you JUST IN CASE, because if left untreated scale rot can become quite costly to treat, and it should be treated if the infected animal is valued.
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- Eastern scale concern - bigfoot90, Wed Mar 5 17:47:50 2014
RE: Eastern scale concern - OrangeHeterodon, Wed Apr 2 21:42:55 2014
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