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I have an okeete corn approximately 8 months old and the other day while handling him, I noticed that several of his scales in the ventral rear portion of his body were slightly discolored. Instead of being orange/red/black they were gray/whitish. I have Kathy Love's Corn Snake manuel and it mentions that blisters/discoloration can occur from too moist an environment and that snakes will shed to heal faster - no cause for concern. However, I live in Chicago and I can tell you right now that the air is not humid - in fact it is severely low in humidity. Does anyone know if low humidity can cause the discoloration as well? He doesn't ever tip his water bowl so that can't be the cause and he did just recently shed. I admitt that I have been lazy in cleaning his cage regularly of late due to a hectic schedule. Could this be some sort of skin infection?

I think you'll find most people reluctant to offer possibilities of what it could be without actually seeing it. Its really hard to tell. This discoloration could be so many things from scale rot to simply changing colors with growing and age. Do you have an undertank heat source? What are the temps? Could you be burning your corn? Many many possibilities. Can you give more details?

I have an okeete corn approximately 8 months old and the other day while handling him, I noticed that several of his scales in the ventral rear portion of his body were slightly discolored. Instead of being orange/red/black they were gray/whitish. I have Kathy Love's Corn Snake manuel and it mentions that blisters/discoloration can occur from too moist an environment and that snakes will shed to heal faster - no cause for concern. However, I live in Chicago and I can tell you right now that the air is not humid - in fact it is severely low in humidity. Does anyone know if low humidity can cause the discoloration as well? He doesn't ever tip his water bowl so that can't be the cause and he did just recently shed. I admitt that I have been lazy in cleaning his cage regularly of late due to a hectic schedule. Could this be some sort of skin infection?
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Well, the discoloration is only on the top surface, not on the bottom of the snake so I don't think it could be burns. I do have a uth on the left side of the tank. I find that my snake spends a lot of time in his papertowel tube that is over the warm side, but lies ontop of carefresh bedding so I don't think it is hot enough to burn. Temps are around 78 on the cool side and 86-88 on the hot side. I can try and take a photo and post it later on tonight - but I'm not sure if the resolution will be good enough to see what's going on. I do know that it is definitely dry - the humidity is low in my apt even with a humidifier (which is not placed near the tank). The end portion of the scales all along the back length look kind of dry. I figured this part would start looking better with the coming of Spring. I do mist him occasionaly outside of the tank - ocassionaly meaning once every other week or so.

The wolfcharmer post entitled "Advice needed! What is happening to her scales?" looks like what is happening to my corn. He's posted some nice pics. Can someone look and tell me if that does look like scale rot??

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=357297,357297&key=2004

Or CLICK HERE

I am not a herp vet and have had very little experience with herp diseases, so my thoughts are purely opinions. Someone else awhile back posted pics of this same thing with their corn snake. Within a short period of time, the scales started falling off. It was quite gross. I think it may have been scale rot, although, I am not 100% certain. I would take it to a vet right away BUT I have heard of vets not really knowing how to effectively treat certain diseases.

Another less likely possibility that I considered is the use of certain chemical substances for cleaning, such as bleach. This is a VERY harmful chemical that can cause bad allergic reactions. This is NOT the only chemical that people use incorrectly when cleaning their herp's cage.

One more note... people worry way to much about humidity with corns, or North American colubrids in general. Think of it this way, if you live in their territory, humidity should never really be an issue. Even if you live somewhere else in the US, I would never worry too much about humidity as it is over-rated in my opinion. As long as they have a water bowl to soak in and a proper heat source, you should rarely have to spray or mist corns, unless their having trouble shedding.
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