My 7 year old male ball python just shed after being opaque for about 10 days. As is usual, I did a full body check to make sure everything came off smoothly. Eye caps were fine, the back injury was fine (he's a rescue and sometimes has skin stuck to his injury), all dorsal scales came off completely, all ventral scales looked fine, but when I got to his actual vent... what the hell... He has tiny red things, they look like threads, next to his vent. I took him into the bathroom where the lighting is better, and they do come off if I rub them gently with my finger. I pushed back his vent a little with my thumb and there are more on the inside. He is and has always been fed only frozen/thawed, so I would not think they are worms, plus he has a yearly fecal. His spurs are also very weird looking. For lack of a better word, they look necrotic. Very dried up looking and just wrong. Tomorrow I will try to get a picture, I just wanted to post before I go to bed.

I do not handle him much, and there is nothing in his actual enclosure that could have caused these red threads. Tonight I took out his wet box and water dish, dumped the moss from his wet box, cleaned both out and refilled both. I am going to the vet on Tuesday with damn near the rest of my animals, so he gets to come along for the ride. I'm hoping it is nothing, but the spurs really scare me. Just wondering if anyone can shed any light or has had experience with this so I can start to problem solve before Tuesday. My vet is great, but I live in rural Vermont and he does not see many reptiles, so I do like to do my own research and help him brainstorm whenever possible. Thanks in advance.
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1.0 rescued ball python

1.1 house rabbits

1.0 significant other

2.0 house cats

0.1 rescued Am. Staff. terrier mix

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