Lifting ventral scales

I have done a lot of research here and on the web and haven’t found an answer for certain… my adult has scales lifting along his belly. I have been giving him betadine soaks for scale rot but they stress him an awful lot. If it’s not actually scale rot I want to stop! He is not bothered by the scales (shows no discomfort when they get caught on clothes), they look normal otherwise (no redness or blistering). Does anyone recognize this? It’s not a small section, it is most of his belly. All scales on the rest of him are normal. It’s been going on for a month or so and I’ve been treating him twice daily for five days. When I put him in his lukewarm bath (betadine mixed with water 1:3) this morning, he went crazy and was bashing against the side and lid… he’s gradually gotten more upset with the baths, instead of getting used to them… I leave him in it for 5 minutes before drying him and spraying him with reptile safe antiseptic. He doesn’t mind that part at all. In the photo, the colouring is from the betadine. Thank you so much for your help! I’m new here, trying to do the best for my snakes!

I’m really sad that no one here has any advice for me… ��

Hi Hermione. I am sorry you and your boy are going through some stress. Some of them love swimming, others driveline do not. Sounds like yours is in the latter group.

Text/messaging is notoriously bad at tone, but please don't read this as snark. Did someone look at him in person and diagnose scale rot? It's really hard to say from that picture, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Snakes have a lot of tiny muscles controlling the directionality of their belly scales. The edges of these scales can easily be moved into the position in the picture. The snakes will do this as part of normal locomotion, as well as when they're trying to climb or grip.



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For example, here's the perfectly healthy Princess Irene, holding onto me while I change her water. Is this like what you're seeing with your snake?

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Thank you! Yes, that looks like what I’m seeing. No, no one had told me it was scale rot. It is something we noticed (the scales catching on us) and didn’t remember if from before. I have only had him a few months and he was quite thin when I got him. Perhaps it was from better body condition that it changed? He is my first adult. I only looked up “lifting scales” and found scale rot to be caused by high humidity. When I had changed his bedding end of March, I brought the bag from the cold garage. It had caused condensation in his warm home and I had spent a number of days working on drying it out with lots of opening up, stirring the bedding and such, so thought that the high humidity for a few days to a week could have caused it. He was happy and eating well (until I started giving him baths lol)
Thank you so much for your help!! I will keep watching him (I didn’t do the whole 2 weeks of baths) for any other signs and hope that it is just his stronger muscles than he had when I got him. Thank you!

By the way, that colouring looks exactly like my Ginny, who is almost 2 now. What do you call that colour? The breeder called her a hypomelanistic so that’s what I go with!
Thank you again for your help and the photo! It looks exactly like Harry’s scales. I feel so much better but will keep a good eye on him just in case! (As I do with all my babies anyway!)

You're very welcome. I'm sorry that we somehow missed your first post. I know too well what it's like to worry about them and not find solid answers.

I think you're right on point, and you were able to notice Harry holding onto you with those ventral scales after his body condition improved. That means he's doing well in your care, so kudos!

You asked about Princess Irene's morph. She's not actually a Hypo as far as I know, but I do wonder. Her belly scales are very colorful, which is usually a Hypo trait. I produced her, and she's het for Amel, Stripe, and Diffusion, p/h Anery, Caramel. In pretty confident of the Caramel het, and I have suspicions that her dam is carrying Hypo. Her first clutch is incubating now so I'll have some of those answers soon.

Since you asked about her, here is Princess Irene. (Hubby Dan named her for a multi-colored tulip cultivar. Her mom's name is Tulip. I told him he was silly but it stuck, lol.) The ventral shot is fuzzy but it does show those colors. I'd love to see some Harry pics!


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Wow she is beautiful! Mine has faded checkers but not all that colour! I tried to upload a couple pics but I’m not good at it; it keeps saying they are too big. I had to crop so many times to get Harry’s belly pic on here… I’m not sure why but it doesn’t like my phone photos… is there a trick?

Thanks. She's a real sweetheart too, always has been. I'm excited to see her babies. The sire is Artephius, one of my all time favorites.

As to loading pics, although I'm far from an expert, the only "trick" I know is to download the Tapatalk app. It's free, and it definitely simplifies dealing with photos. I was super frustrated with all of the cropping before I got the app.


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I believe I have attached a photo of Ginny and of Harry. I tried getting the app that you mentioned but I haven’t been able to sign in on it because I have forgotten my password lol. Hopefully it will come to me…
Incubating eggs is exciting and an exercise in patience!! I’m also excited to see Ginny’s babies but only now that she is doing awesome after safely laying her accidental eggs…. Her sister turned out to be her brother… I was quite worried about her as she is my favourite!! Such a wonderful personality - friendly and engaging. She’s doing awesome since her lay 3 weeks ago. She was supposed to breed with Harry when she was old enough. Those 53 days were so stressful (thanks for holding your eggs so long too Ginny!) that I’m second guessing breeding her when she’s full grown but I guess it won’t be so scary when she’s the proper size.