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Flaking Scales

dasluder62

dasluder62

First Time Corn Owner
Hi. I'm new to snake ownership and new to this forum.

Our young Corn Snake's side belly scales are flaking off. This happened all of a sudden. I fed him on Saturday and put a clean carpet in the cage.

Is it possible that this is happening because I didn't rinse out the carpet well enough? Do I need to take him to a vet?
 
dasluder62 said:
Hi. I'm new to snake ownership and new to this forum.

Our young Corn Snake's side belly scales are flaking off. This happened all of a sudden. I fed him on Saturday and put a clean carpet in the cage.

Is it possible that this is happening because I didn't rinse out the carpet well enough? Do I need to take him to a vet?
Click to expand...

Can you show some pictures of whats going on?
 
Reptile carpet is a very bad substrate for corns. It can hold a biofilm of harmful bacteria and doesn't absorb moisture. Which is why paper towels or aspen are the favoured substrate for about 99% of the keepers on here.
 
Thanks everyone. I'm working at learning how to upload pics. They didn't come out so well, cuz Joey wouldn't cooperate!

It is DEFINITELY not a bad shed. His last shed was wonderful. We're expecting him to shed again pretty soon.

I'll post again as soon as I figure out how to upload the pictures.
 
images of flaky scales

I don't know how much you can see - because of the image size limitations.

I listened to your advice and switched to aspen today.
 

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Does look like skin to me. I would try running him though a dark colored towel, dampened with water around 70-75 deg. see if any comes off you should be able to see the bits easier against the dark background. I have seen one snake like this, it was my brothers and it was skin from a shed. His was very flaky, like every scale. We couldn't pin down why this happened because he always shed well and his next shed was perfect. Looks like yours is only on the belly is there anything abrasive in the tank he may have crawled across.
 
The reason I don't believe this is a shed, is because Joey didn't go into "the blue" at all. His eyes didn't get cloudy and his skin didn't dull. There is nothing new in the cage. The only thing that's different is the undertank heating pad.
The roughness and flaking skin is just on the sides of the underbelly. I'm really worried. I guess I need to take him to a vet.
 
It just looks like a few areas have lifted. I have seen that a couple times. I would wait till after the next shed cycle and see what it looks like then. I suspect we are just nearing a shed cycle and once he sheds it will be gone.
 
yeah I would take him to the vet. I do have 2 snakes who never go blue but shed every month just the same. For whatever reason this is happening doesn't seem to matter because like clockwork they shed bad thing its hard to tell so for 2 weeks around the last shed date I don't feed them. they shed during that time frame and I resume feeding the day after. Because of this these are the only snakes I feed ever 4 days. for the most part I know prior to going blue for most of my snakes because they hide under the substrate when I see that I know it wont be long till there in new skin. usually 3 days after hiding they emerge blue eyed stay blue for 3 to 4 days, then because I place a shed box in the tank ahead of time most shed within 24 hours out of the blue.
 
I don't see this as something that warrants a vet visit just yet IMO. Since the snake is nearing time for a shed I would just wait till after sheds. I have seen this before and it always resolves its self with a shed. If it does look worse or doesn't resolve with a shed then maybe consider seeing a vet then.
 
Christen said:
I don't see this as something that warrants a vet visit just yet IMO. Since the snake is nearing time for a shed I would just wait till after sheds. I have seen this before and it always resolves its self with a shed. If it does look worse or doesn't resolve with a shed then maybe consider seeing a vet then.
Click to expand...

I agree, My creamsicle has some of this on her belly and head. It's just thin little flakes, the skin under it looks fine and normal, she's still on aspen. Frankly I thought the aspen might be drying her out but she sheds just fine without any help or even a humid box every time, in fact she just shed recently and it's all gone.
 
I just wanted to give an update and thank everyone for the help and advice. Joey had a good shed and the flakes have gone!
 
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