dry flakey scales issue

Hi everyone, first post

I have a corn snake who is a few years old now, and has never had any issues before.
He didn't shed for quite a while and then since his last shed I've noticed his scales getting dry and flakey, very bad in one spot.

When I first noticed the issue, the ends of the scales seemed black and I decided to keep an eye on it, now about a week later the black has faded and now the scales just seem like dry dead skin.

I spoke to a guy at my local reptile store who suggested maybe using orchid bark for a while to boost up the humidity but couldn't really give any other suggestions as to what I could do

viv is 37x16x16"
82 in the day 75 at night
heat lamp
large water dish on the other side
aspen shavings
large bits of bark and branches to climb on bought from a reptile shop
I don't know the humidity of the viv, usually just move the water dish a little closer to the lamp when blue

Eating fine, lovely temperament, would love to know what the problem is and more importantly how to treat! would really appreciate any input.

Thank you for reading

William

Mites maybe?

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I'm going to say it's the heat lamp. Heat Lamps tend to dry out the air more so than the UTH does. Also, the heat lamp's heat comes from above and the damaged scales look like they are on the back of the animal, which would be closest to the heat lamp. And if the Lamp is able to make the cage 82 degrees, then the heat coming out of the bulb is actually much hotter. (I've actually measured some of those heat bulbs at well over 400 degrees.) If the snake is able to climb and can get closer to the bulb, then the heat could actually be "Cooking" the snake, or at best drying out his skin.

Although some Snake owners do use Heat Lamps and swear by them, most of us prefer not to.

I would suggest you take a Temperature Gun and measure the temp directly under the heat lamp, and then point the gun at the bulb and measure the bulb itself. Keep in mind here on Earth it may only be 85 degrees outside, but if you lay in the direct sun long enough it too will cook your skin and dry it out. Same thing with a heat lamp. I would also suggest you invest in a Hygrometer so you can measure the humidity. Proper humidity should be between 35 and 60 percent. (35 to 40 normally, perhaps as high as 60 during sheds). A hygrometer is not expensive, you can get a cheap one for a few bucks.

And if you're still concerned take the animal to a vet.

I doubt it's mites, if it was mites you'd see the damage all over the snake and you'd see the mites crawling about the cage.

Good luck.

It looks like scale damage that we see from escape attempts or just getting caught in something in the tank/viv.
It doesn't look like what you see with mites. Mites hiding under scales just raise the scale like a lump. The lumps are usually spread out from each other.
His other scales do look a bit dry. A daily misting will help raise the humidity. The heat lamp is drying the air out as mentioned.
The damage will shed out.

Thanks guys, have bought a hygrometer and a better duel thermometer and currently looking into the best way to fit a heat matt in my viv, hopefully he'll be better in no time,
Appreciate the help!

the heat mat does not go "In" the viv it goes under the bottom of it. Also make sure you hook up a thermostat to it as they also get very hot. "Any Heat Source" you use should have a thermostat on it, just as your own heater at home also has a thermostat.