Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have recently noticed that my ball is retaining some sort of liquid substance in his scales on his stomach. i dont know if this is normal or anything. but i am worried about it. please help

Possibly too much humidity or damp substrate - If so, just keep things dry and after a few sheds it should clear up. If he/she is soaking in water bowl make sure temps are not too hot and look for mites. If substrate isn't too damp then you may want to get to a vet. and find out what's going on.
Mike Derks

Too much humidity and the substrate is probably too wet or dirty with feces. Clean out the cage, use newspaper, take out the water bowl temporarily and keep the temps up.
If this doesn't clear up the problem, it may be blister disease.
I tried to rescue a ball that had this problem. Cleared up, came back, cleared up, came back. So I put him down.

Take your snake to a vet. The problem is serious and I am not kidding. If you do not already know the location of a good reptile vet, there are actually some lists online. Some are more helpful than others, and while I realize that probably doesn't help you too much, you should be able to find a good reptile vet near you with a little bit of searching.

The phone book is actually a perfect place to start; a lot of vets who work with reptiles will advertise that in their phone book listing. If you don't find any vets advertising that they can take care of reptiles, call the vets that are listed, and ask them who they know who might work with reptiles.

In the future, I strongly suggest that you buy and read "The Ball Python Manual" written by Philippe de Vosjoli (et all), as this book has a section devoted to identifying diseases such as this one by symptom and suggested treatment.

Good luck, I hope you get help for him!

~Rebecca
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1.1 Ball Pythons (1.0 '05 Ghost, 0.1 '03 Normal)
0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40 lb darling lap dogs)