My ball python is irritated and idk if it's because of the new bark I gave him or what. He's definitely irritated when the rat is in there. I've been checking for mites but can't find any. And scale rot or fungus? Unsure


I'm concerned about my ball python who is about 11. I've had him for about 9 years and he has never been sick. Was just told he might be a girl cuz he's about 4.5ft lol



Concerns: occasional gaping, keeps aggressively rubbing his face and body against stuff, discolored lines on belly, some weird scales and pealing near nose, dried blood on nose, soaking in water bowl, won't eat, weird texture on the tip of his nose


1) I think the lines are scrapes from the bark that got filled in by dirt but rubbing it with a wet paper towel does nothing, so idk. Otherwise, thinking maybe he is developing scale rot? His humidity has been off but too low, not too high.

2) unsure if maybe he is also developing a respratory infection? He doesn't have any mucus and us not wheezing though. The dried blood could just be from rubbing his face on everything so hard.

3) someone else said he might have a fungal infection?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YzWi3vEbFmn3EVT4A

Recent changes which could be causes: I put bark from the woods in his enclosure, it seemed like he really liked it. Also, he hasn't been eating much recently and the past 2 weeks I've been trying to get him to eat a rat but he hasn't, so it has pooped and peed inside but I took out what I could and was going to clean it after he ate...also, the past 2 weeks the enclosure has been too dry. I think I'm going to change his substrate because I think it's been drying out way too quickly recently.


I just cleaned his cage today and put in paper towels for now as a substrate. I also took out the bark and replaced his hide with the original plastic one I had.

Other than that, I know that to treat scale rot, the enclosure needs to be a bit more dry and clean. And I saw stuff about soaking him with betadine/water solution. But this kind of conflicts the respratory infection treatment (higher humidity). Not sure what to do about that. Also not sure if this is actually what is happening. Maybe you guys can check the photos to give advice?


I asked a bunch of ppl online and they said it's probably mites, but I don't see dots in between scales, so idk. Tried soaking him to check but I can't tell because the substrate dirt particles would get in the water too.

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