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Some scales are wrinkled and white - injury or scale rot?

R

reptire

New member
Bought the 4 years old california ratsnake today. He has a few wrinkled scales and some of them even has some kind of white skin where the scale should've extented to if it wasn't wrinkled. He was fed live prey and shows no sign of illness (very active).
Does injury to the scales by live prey manifest itself in the scales being wrinkled and surrounding the scales the skin is white and sometimes red?
Since the concerning areas are not wet or crusty but rather dry (like the rest of the snake), I don't think it's scale rot. But I think it's worth asking, so there it is.
 
Is there any way you could get some pictures up? It sounds like it could of been from a live feeding bite that's healing but without seeing a picture I can't be sure.
 
I will post pictures in a few hours (asap). His head also has some injury like thing, I'll post a picture of that too.

Another question until then: If I feel the scales to lift up a bit and are spiky to my hands when I go against the flow of it's body, is it a good indicator that he is going to shed? He also refused to feed, altough his eyes didn't go blue and his skin may or may not have darkened, no way to tell since I've bought him today and I don't know if he has brighter skin usually.
 
At least with my corn I don't feel any major difference in her scales before a shed. They'll go a very pale color and her eyes will blue before it happens but I don't feel any roughness. Usually if there's that much roughness it means a bad shed has or is happening.
 
I wouldn't worry about the feeding if you just got him. Give time to settle in before feeding at least one week no handling except to get the picture of scale injury.
 
Here are the pictures. I apologise for their terrible quality, my camera is quite old.

There're two pictures of his head scar(?), five of his scars/rots on his body and one of the whole snake.

I eagerly await replies.
 

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Three more pics of his body wound I couldn't upload on the previous post because of the limit.
 

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Huh! I was worried it would be scale rot. :))))
Yes, he was fed with live prey in the shop (and he spent years in the shop).
 
One more question left.

As I said, many scales kind of are rough and lift up to some extent when I go against the flow of the body with my hand. I know he has had a bad shed before, because about 2 months ago I was at the shop right after the event and patches of dead skin were still attached to him. Also, more importantly, around one of his eyes I still see the remnants of a cap. A blue circular layer remained there.

How do I treat these (the rough scales and the eye)? I've tried gently rubbing his eyes with a wet warm cotton thingy but it didn't come off.
 
Had a lukewarm soak. No old skin remained from his last shedding as far as I can tell. However, some scales (which are quite big since he is an adult) can be literally folded back and teared down if I wanted to. Is this caused by the previous shedding being bad or is it something else?
Desperate for answers.
 
Could be just old injuries. I wouldn't worry too much. If the wound on the head is pink you can put some ointment on it, just make sure it is the kind without the painkiller. You can always add a humid hide in his viv.

It pretty much is a waiting game til his next shed to see if the damaged scales heal. It might take a few sheds for it all to work out. Some areas might never be "normal" again.
 
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