Please help, random discolored and dry scale patches on my boa

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I noticed that there were patches of flakey or dry looking, discolored (darkened?) scales that appeared on my boa. He's almost one year old (11 months), and he was sold to me as a hypo hog island boa. He didn't look like this a week ago. I fed him 4 days ago (f/t mouse fuzzy), but today when I took him out to handle, I noticed random spots of dry and discolored scales on him. His hot spot (UTH w/ a thermostat) is 90F, and cool side is 75F. I'm worried that it was scale rot, but his ventral scales look completely fine, and his enclosure and substrate are pretty dry and not wet. Could he have gotten hurt from rubbing against something? It almost looks like it could be a friction burn...

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He does enjoy to burrow a lot in the substrate, which is Zoo Med's Forest Floor cypress mulch substrate. I've had him since June, but he still hasn't shed for me, so could it be due to a bad previous shed? I feed him one f/t mouse fuzzy every two weeks. I'm considering taking him to a vet, but I would really appreciate advice from more experienced snake keepers. Should I take him to a vet ASAP? I was reading online, and some sources said to wait until his next shed to see if those marks are still there? And I saw that some recommended a betadine soak, should I try that first? Thank you in advance. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...18ae538c27.jpg

I really can't tell much from these pictures, & you have to realize that all creatures, whether human or snake, everything gets the occasional scrape or scratch from just living. Burrowing in substrate & against objects can certainly do this, & on a light colored snake, the evidence (minor damage) shows up easier.

If it's not spreading (getting larger or duplicating in other locations) I'd wait until after he sheds. It doesn't look like any broken skin (ie. not a risk for infection) so I wouldn't "soak him"- first of all, snakes usually dislike the the loss of traction when "soaked" & you sure don't want to risk him drinking the water with medication in it- so a BETTER way, IF you really want to do something, would be to use diluted* Betadine (*to light tea color) & dab that solution on the spots (use a cotton ball or Q-tip) several times a day. It absolutely won't hurt anything, & could help. But mostly, I'd wait for him to shed.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I really can't tell much from these pictures, & you have to realize that all creatures, whether human or snake, everything gets the occasional scrape or scratch from just living. Burrowing in substrate & against objects can certainly do this, & on a light colored snake, the evidence (minor damage) shows up easier.

If it's not spreading (getting larger or duplicating in other locations) I'd wait until after he sheds. It doesn't look like any broken skin (ie. not a risk for infection) so I wouldn't "soak him"- first of all, snakes usually dislike the the loss of traction when "soaked" & you sure don't want to risk him drinking the water with medication in it- so a BETTER way, IF you really want to do something, would be to use diluted* Betadine (*to light tea color) & dab that solution on the spots (use a cotton ball or Q-tip) several times a day. It absolutely won't hurt anything, & could help. But mostly, I'd wait for him to shed.

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That makes sense. I have him and a ball python, and I've been keeping snakes for only three years now, and this was the first time I've seen something show up on the scales, so I hope I'm just being paranoid and that it's just a scrape that isn't anything dangerous. I'm leaning towards waiting until he sheds to do anything for now, but thankfully other than those markings, he seems to be acting pretty normal, so I'm thankful for that!