Scale rot or injury?

Well, she just shed about an hour ago, and it was in pieces. This is the first time she hasn't had a perfect shed in a couple of months. The spots she had are looking better, but there are new spots starting, more up toward her sides. On Friday I put in newspaper, cardboard hides, and a small water bowl. I haven't gotten Betadine yet, because I don't get paid until tomorrow, so I will get some on Tuesday. Then I give her daily 30 minute soaks in a 10% solution? For how long? What if it gets worse?

Also, she has a line down her belly. It looks like her skin is all stretched out or something. I've never noticed it before, but is it something that happens after they eat or shed? She ate yesterday, but I took her out tonight to clean up her shed pieces and do a quick inspection.

Sounds like your "hospital" setup is good. With the Betadine, I didn't soak my snake. I made an old face flannel wet with the solution and let the snake slip through it. She hated that much, so I couldn't have soaked her anyway.

Could the line down her belly be in the region of her umbilicus? Sometimes they're more obvious in some than others. It might not be part of the problem, just something you haven't noticed before.

I'm not sure. Its kind of like an indent that runs the entire length of her body. I can take a picture in a while

Ok here is the line thing. I don't know if it's always been there and I just never noticed it, or if it's something new.





And here are some scale pictures.





She was really squirming around like usual. She just wanted to go around my neck. She is addicted to that place. When I was trying to hold her to take pics, she pooped or something on me. It was like a white gel stuff. It was smaller then a pea size, and didn't smell. What was that?

with the betadine do you use it straight from the bottle or dilute it down?

Depends on the type you get. Some need diluting, some don't - there should be instructions on the bottle.

The stuff I got didn't say it needed diluting, so I put some on a rag and let her slither through it a few times, then put her back in her viv. That's it? I'm planning to do this twice a day, as the bottle says 1-3 times daily.

Oh, and no concerns about the line thing?

I believe all snakes have that…unless I am mistaken

Both my corn snake and my garter snake have that line down the belly.. I'm not sure exactly what it is but I feel like it's just a crease that forms from the constant bending of those ventral scales. When snakes are growing it seems like they have more of those types of lines too. My baby garter has several different creases on her belly like that. I think the line on my older snake is just from the constriction of his abdominal muscles when he's moving about.