ball python scale problem?

[3etchh]

my three year old ball has these weard dry scales on her head, and I'm not quite sure what it is.. =/

       

[smilts]

Has she recently shed or is she close to a shed?

[3etchh]

here are some more pictures.


       

[Peter_Steele]

My best guess is a retained shed. It can stay there for several sheds because it is stuck on and dried up. Put your snake in a tub of sorts that has a lid and fill it just about 1/2 inch or so with warm water. You can put a rag in there to soak up some of the water and put the snake in. Close the lid and leave him/her in there for a little bit. I generally leave mine in for about 30-45 min and then pull them out and use a towel to remove the stuck shed. I wrap the snake up gently and let it crawl out on its own. This normally removes the stuck shed. If not scotch tape can be used to very gently remove any shed left over. Many people try many different things but most likely this happened because the wintertime humidity wasn't high enough for your snake to shed in one piece. I hope this helps you and your snake. If you need more help just google videos or something on removing stuck shed for ball pythons so you can see step by step whats going on and how to do it. Please give this a try and let us know how it went.

[3etchh]

thanks, I'm not sure if she'll tolerate that though, she hates water touching her head. O_o
she absolutely loves towels though..

[Peter_Steele]

You dont need water touching her head. The water is to raise the humidity up really high so that you give the skin time to soak it up and become loose and removable. Thats why I said maybe 1/2 an inch of water with a rag cause it will just raise the humidity like crazy for her to try and get rid of the stuck skin.

[Heather]

Looks like what I went through with one of my balls. But on a much smaller scale.

1: Are you positive it's a female? My vet said that it might possibly be some sort of hormonal thing. He has only ever seen it in one or two other females that where breeder size/age.

I had to give my female oral meds every other day for 5 doses. So a totally of 10 days.

Here's a link to the thread I made of my bp:

http://www.darksidereptiles.com/forum/index.php/topic,3968.0.html

[3etchh]

No, I'm not sure really, I just diddnt want to call her an it. O_o
it's been spreading too...
Thank you bunches! I'll try to take her to the vet later. =]

[1softkiss]

Suggestion for your Ball Python.

Either take a plastic storage tote with some warm water around 80 degrees and put the snake in the water and close the top for about half an hour but BE SURE the snake shows NO indications of a respiratory problem such as a discharge but with a retained shed it's common for them to huff and make noises from their mouth when their breathing is hindered.

I always use vitamin E gel capsules for a dry or retained shed and it will loosen it up within an hour or so always works.
I buy the bottles at the dollar stores. Vitamin E gel capsules and prick the end open and squeeze some of the oil onto your finger or a q tip and apply it to the dry area on the snake. It will look sort of greasy but it works miracles with shed problems.

[1softkiss]

Looking over the pictures again zoomed in it's definitely a shed issue.
Notice how thick and dark the scales are toward the front of the nose and on the head crest.
These thick dark scales are usually from a thick shed or a retained shed. It's easy to tell because the separation between the scales to look at is almost impossible to see so the entire area is holding thick dried up skin.
From the thickness of it's eye lens cap covers I'd say the snake has had a few incomplete sheds and soaking will help shed these eye lens cap covers also.