Bad Shed, Red/Brown Patch on Underbelly, Extremely Crabby/Unsettled?

[Aetheriial]

Okay so I'm extremely concerned about my new South West Carpet Python Monty, I've had him since the 18th of December 2014 and he was a surprise gift from my parents (a VERY unexpected one!)

As much as I've fallen in love with him now and we were getting along famously his eyes went a horrible milky white on the 12th of January 2015 and he became VERY grouchy. After lots of panicking I googled the problem and found that this was the beginning of the shedding cycle, everything went exactly as the websites all said and he shed his skin on the 17th/18th of Jan. The problems began when I noticed that it hadn't ALL come off, and it had come off in bits and pieces.

I noticed after his bath today that there is a spot on his underbelly near where the last bit of shed is sticking that is a reddy/brown and looks yucky (it can be seen in the picture below just above his head).

After his soak today he did an EXTREMELY large poo which he hasn't had since I got him so I wonder if he was constipated or whatever else. I called a vet today regarding the shedding and she suggested soaking and taking him in if he doesn't clear up but I hadn't spotted the red/brown mark yet. The reptile vet in my area isn't available for a while so I am struggling with finding out what this mark is, if its life threatening or if its a result of something I've missed?

Unfortunately I don't know a lot about my snake, my parents bought him from a pet store and they didn't know his gender or age. (looking at size he looks like a yearling) I've been winging it and up until this shedding cycle he was very happy. Any help is tremendously appreciated.

X A VERY Stressed Snake Mum.

 

[bredli]

Looks like a burn, How do you have your heating setup ?. I would suggest you take it to the vet asap.

 

[arevenant]

Yeah, very much like a fresh burn, do you have your heat lamp caged?
Need to get it to a vet to assess the damage and get some medication.

 

[Aetheriial]

He has a heating lamp set up outside the cage shining into it and a heat mat under a corner of the tank. Maybe he touched the glass when it was hot? I'll book an appointment ASAP.

 

[bredli]

I think your heat mat might be the culprit. If it is a higher wattage mat and you don't have a thermostat or similar to control it's output, Coupled with a glass tank I can see that creating a very hot spot.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Looks like a bad burn, as others have said. It has the potential to become infected if you wet it. PLEASE don't "bath" your snake at ANY time - it's unnatural and totally unnecessary. They are not human babies, or puppies... keep the burnt spot as dry as possible and hopefully it will clear up after a couple of sheds, but will probably scar.

If the glass is getting hot enough to do that to your snake, you are running a real risk of overheating and fire from an improperly used heat mat - you need to have some space between the mat and the base of the tank to allow excess heat to escape. My advice would be to ditch the heat mat altogether - they are very often more trouble than they're worth. It is likely that you have too much heat in the enclosure with both a lamp and a mat - too much heat is far more rapidly damaging than than being too cool.

The snake has some of the remaining shed stuck to its body - you should get to a vet who knows reptiles to remove this.