bredli scales

[minya55]

Hi all

I'm new to snakes and I've got a 2 year old bredli, I've had him for 5 months. He has shed twice since I've had him, the first shed was fine, but after the second shed I've noticed a problem with his scales. There's a group of about 4 scales that are a lighter color then the rest, at first i thought scales had been ripped off but after a closer look, they seem to be there but then again I'm not too sure as I've never seen anything before to compare, then there's also a few scratches.

So I'm just wondering if anyone can tell by the pictures what has actually happened and give me some advice on what to do about it. I've included a picture of his enclosure, the wooden logs in there had some rough spots on them but i have taken them out and sanded them smooth in case he has scratched him self on them, just got to heat treat them to kill the germs again before putting them back in.

I have looked up on all sorts of things like mites, scale rot and burns, but the light and ceramic heat emitter have cages around them, and I've never seen him soaking in his water bowl, and I read that they will spend a lot of time trying to drown the mites and there are no little black specs in his water and I cant see any black dots on him.

The thermostat turns off at 31 degrees and turns back on at 27, in case there's an issue there. He is still feeding with no problem and is still calm and great to handle.

I understand it mite be hard to see whats happened with the pictures but yeeh I'm new to snakes and paranoid hes not ok so thought I'd ask some experienced people before taking him to the vets because I hear the vets here don't have much knowledge of snakes.

Thanks

 

[Hedge182]

Know one can help??

 

[JrFear]

Bump it for yuh!

looks like dry scales to me! You could give it a bath no hot water and gently rub it to see if any left over shed comes off! Otherwise I'd just leave it and see what happens next shed cycle!

 

[Paintbrushturkey]

Pic 2 looks like a healed scar to me, my spotty has one of these from a breakout attempt through wire mesh... the 3rd pic looks like a scale wo pigment (or a scale missing from the last shed as Jr Fear said, i'd tend to go with a mispigmentation as it does nto seem to have any colour in it), my bredli boy has one of these above his eye and it has never given him any bother. Imo nothign to worry about

 

[Pythoninfinite]

What "germs" do you need to kill by heat-treating his cage decorations? Snakes actually live extremely well in the bush on untreated branches, untreated soil, they actually curl up under logs and rocks, where there are massive amounts of "germs" - bacteria and fungi especially... What do you think they'll catch from your branches in the enclosure?

Seems to be a rash of new keepers who think their snakes need to be coddled like human babies... wierd...

Jamie

 

[minya55]

Thanks for the replies guys.

And I've just been told and read up that you should heat treat the branches you've got from the bush in case of any insects etc that mite be living in the wood........

 

[Hedge182]

What "germs" do you need to kill by heat-treating his cage decorations? Snakes actually live extremely well in the bush on untreated branches, untreated soil, they actually curl up under logs and rocks, where there are massive amounts of "germs" - bacteria and fungi especially... What do you think they'll catch from your branches in the enclosure?

Seems to be a rash of new keepers who think their snakes need to be coddled like human babies... wierd...

Jamie

I thought being captive born they are different from snakes in the wild

 

[harley0402]

snakes are snakes, looks like a healed scar to me as well.