All,
I am an experienced ball python owner and just acquired a new snake. It was free, but upon closer examination, I wonder whether it was worth taking in. The snake is thin; his skin is loose around his neck and his spine is prominent (instead of the nice rounded and muscular ball I was raising back on the East Coast). I also tentatively fed him and he defecated an *extremely* hard stool (felt like a rock) with a lot of brownish liquid. More troubling is something I haven't seen before in any snake and am wondering if you guys can tell me what's going on.
This snake's belly looks normal for about 2/3 of its length starting from the anterior end. But, about 2/3 of the way down, it starts to taper down. So, picture the normal parallel belly scales of a ball python and these are instead getting smaller and smaller while the snake is getting wider in the latter half of its body! Also, the ventral scales on this part of the body look like the snake has been slit and sewn back up. The scales don't have any sort of resemblance to their normal shape and are irregular and frankly look scarred or blistered (although if it is an injury, it has long-since healed and is completely dry) down the middle. The scale that normally overlaps the vent and conceals it from view is abbreviated and exposes the membrane. Does this sound like a "heating rock" (damn the things) burn or a congenital defect? Has anybody seen anything like this? I've never seen blister disease....does the healing look like this? The part that makes me suspect some early defect (like back in gastrulation even) is the way that the width of the scales decreases in the portion of the body where they should be largest.
I'm not going to speculate on how the snake got like this. The individual I got the snake from breeds corns and balls and the animals I've seen in his place are in good condition. He often takes in snakes from other people, so this might be an unfortunate cast-off from somebody else. If it is an injury, will it "grow out" as the snake grows and sheds? Any advice would be appreciated.
-Moo.
