Flaking skin on the head?

[proileri]

Today I noticed Nuppu had a bit of flaking skin on top of her head. The portions that stick up are very thin, and look like they could be bits of old skin that were missed in previous shed, or a new shed that's beginning. They are firmly stuck from one end, but the area itself doesn't look damaged. The skin below the loose bits is white.

She's been very active and roaming around for the past couple of weeks. She did hide for a couple of days in the warm hide, but was out exploring again today. Dunno if she took a scrape from something, and was hiding because of that.

Last shed was about a month ago, it starts to be shedding time but I haven't seen her blue. I always inspect the old skin for eyes and tail, and I seem to recall it was a bit rough in the head area, so it might be that these are just old shed. I looked at it and didn't see any inflammation or blood, but I'll keep an eye on it.

It might be a bit dry around here as we're still below freezing, so she got a moist hide for tonight.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/23393722/nuppu-scales.jpg

[diamond2906]

this is what my mia has.. no idea what i just got some que tips and soaked it but still nothing.. only diffrence is when i looked after noticing it (next day) the flake had come off and she had dark wrinkly effect under it :/ seems ok in herself though.

[proileri]

Oh yeah, did bathe the area with a q-tip and some diluted Betadine. As a watery solution (1 part B and 2 parts water or so), it penetrates well under damaged skin and should keep any infection away.

[NickP961]

Are they males? My males usually do this at this time of the year, when they are looking for females. They rub their head on everything in the cage to try to get out, and sometimes they peel their scales.

Don't be alarmed though, it goes away after a shed or two!

[diamond2906]

no she is female :/ and she has shed but it caused a bad shed.. thanks for the info though :)

[rrowdy]

Mine do this also. Mostly the Males, but it's nothing really to be concerned about.
Happens in Nature too from what I've observed on Kings and Gopher snakes.

[proileri]

Ok, after a shed tonight (seems like spring activity delayed the shed a bit) I checked the head region and noted that the damage didn't go through the shed skin. Didn't look like there was any scab tissue in the shed skin and there's no sign of damage in the new skin, so I guess it was just a surface scrape on the top layer of the skin originally.

[Guruofchem]

That's good news indeed - glad there was no lingering problem...