Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my little girl has been having some problems with weird looking scales on her belly, they look dry, wrinkled and not glossy. i have changed her cage back to cage carpet and have been applying neosporin to the scales. but now in the last two days those scales have been "flaking" off, just like a really thin layer of scale, and it has been individual scales. if this is just part of having scale rot, if that's what she has, i'd love to know. also how long does it take for the scale rot to fix it's self and is there anything else i have to do to help fix this?? all temps and humidty are on in the cage. sorry for no picture, i don't have a digital camera.

thanks in advance for the help and advice
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~dana~

1.1 ball pythons (hailex and roxy)
1.0 cat (whiskers)
1.1 russian hamsters (peanut and tj)

Are there still scales where the ones fell off? I know this is a stupid question, but are you sure that she didnt shed there last time, and they are just now comeing off?

she had a complete shed on christmas day, i checked the whole shedded skin to make sure everything came off. there are still the real scales there, iknow this is a dumb analogy, but the flakes kinda look like when milk is spilled and then dries and flakes.
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~dana~

1.1 ball pythons (hailex and roxy)
1.0 cat (whiskers)
1.1 russian hamsters (peanut and tj)

so is the skin exposed?How many scales have fell off? I dont know mutch about scale rot,but are the scales changing to a darker color?

there is no skin exposed, it just looks like the normal scales. the scales that are flaking off look like sheded skin, but are in little pieces. the weird looking scales are her belly scales, which are normally totally white, now the affected scales have a very slight tan color to them, look dry and are wrinkly.

if i have cleaned the cage throughly and have been applying neosporin, what should the deciding factor be for taking her to the vet?? if it doesn't clear up or starts looking worse type of thing?

thanks for the help
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~dana~

1.1 ball pythons (hailex and roxy)
1.0 cat (whiskers)
1.1 russian hamsters (peanut and tj)

Try putting the Neosporin on twice a day and change the substrate to newspaper or towels until it clears up. If it gets any worse, go to the Vet. My snake was doing the same thing about two weeks ago, see my post further down for details, but has mostly stopped now.

I'm not sure if this matches with what you described but it does gives some symptoms and treatment.

http://www.reptileallsorts.com/ailments.htm

Ventral scale rot or Ulcerative dermatitis:

Causes:
substrate kept to moist,
Unclean substrate resulting in bacteria or mould build up, This is sometimes said to be caused by under floor heating, which if the tank is not cleaned regularly could be true.

Symptoms:
Appetite Loss.
Red patches on the ventral scales, which if left untreated will develop into open sores.
Blisters on the ventral scales.

Treatment:
Mild cases can be treated by cleaning the wound each day with warm water, and then applying vetadine. While treating the animal keep in a bare tank on Kitchen roll, this should help eliminate possible infection. In severe cases consult your vet.

i'm going to just keep her cage clean and the bottom dry and keep on putting neosporin on her scales. they seem to be doing ok, but i will defienetly take her to the vet if it gets worse.

thanks again!!
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~dana~

1.1 ball pythons (hailex and roxy)
1.0 cat (whiskers)
1.1 russian hamsters (peanut and tj)

The dull scales you were treating sounded to me like the beginning of a rot or dermititis. Unfortunately I have seen snakes treated with a petroleum based ointment or oil then DROP their scales. If the neosporin is an ointment you might very well want to go to a CREAM. The ointment acts like a mineral oil and some snakes will just flake off their scales. I have seen this in a major way with people who treated their snakes with mineral oil for mites (instead of olive oil)
Some snakes just react BADLY to petroleum products. Something to think about.
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Sonya

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