Pink Belly and strange movement.

Hey everybody. I need some heath advice for my snake.

He is 12 years old and around 5' 1" long. I have had him since he was 5 days old and have loved every second with him, but I fear I may have negatively effected his health.

Under the approval of my local reptile store owner, around 9 months ago I filled his tank with organic soil and real plants. He seemed to enjoy it up until recently. His tank got really dirty from lack of cleaning. It was entirely my fault that it his tank didn't get cleaned for I was busy with school assignments and swimming. Literally once I arrived back at my house every night I would hit my bead and go to sleep. The only kind of maintenance I did on his tank was removing poop, skin, and dead plant parts. I kept it relatively dry besides the occasional watering of the plants. I didn't completely clean his tank or change his bedding for the entirety of the 9 months. I literally cleaned his tank today and replaced the soil and plants with cypress mulch and artificial plants.

The thing that prompted me to clean his tank today was the fact that his stomach was and unusual pinkish color and he seemed to be avoiding contact with his belly. He is still very active and seems to be drinking normally. I also noticed when I tried to feed him his usual 2 medium sized, thawed, mice where, in his most recent feeding, he only ate one of the mice. He seemed to strike, constrict, and swallow the first mouse normally, but didn't even attempt to touch the second mouse.

The only other things I've noticed are his skin is fairly dry and his coloration seems darker.

Undergoing my own research, I discovered Blister Disease. As I don't see any blisters or sores on him and, as I said before, I kept his tank rather dry, I don't believe it to be this.

My question is should I take him to the vet and have him examined, or should I wait for his next malting, which should be fairly soon, and see if it changes anything?

I am extremely remorseful and worried. I hope to god I didn't hurt my friend.

Thanks for reading, I am sorry for the overall length of this post.
-Renengan

What morph is he? Amels get pink when they go blue. And, all snakes with melanin get much darker as they age.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe he is either Okeetee or Motley.

I'd get him on to the softest substrate I could - if he's favoring his belly, I'd think paper towel would be better than any form of mulch

I thought cypress was bad for snakes?

What sort of heat source do you use & how do you regulate it? Sounds like possibly a burn to me.

Cypress mulch is generally considered OK for herps - it's the really resinous woods like pine and cedar that cause problems with toxicity.

@nwheather - you may be on to something there. The OP should check that the temp probe on the thermometer is accurate.

Originally Posted by nwheather

What sort of heat source do you use & how do you regulate it? Sounds like possibly a burn to me.

I have a heat pad. His tank is exposed to some sunlight (being AZ the sun is quite intense). If it is a burn, what steps do I have to take to help him recover?

@Guruofchem Sounds good. How many layers?

Is the heat pad regulated in some way?

How are you measuring your temps?

Originally Posted by Renengan

@Guruofchem Sounds good. How many layers?

A couple are probably sufficient, but you will want to watch the heat carefully, as paper towels do not insulate as well as typical mulch or eco earth substrates do. Make sure you double check that the thermostat on your UTH is doing it's job - if anything in the tank feels hot to you, it's WAY too hot for a corn snake. Use another thermometer you trust to check against the setting on your thermostat.

If you can get a pic of his belly, it might help. Given what you said, particularly about exposure to direct sun (which is generally a bad idea with a glass enclosure, as they can overheat really fast) I'm thinking the burn theory is looking more and more likely.