Probably been asked before

[ChareiHeals]

Hello All, it's been forever since I've posted on here. But I have found myself in another conundrum with my male radix KeithRichards. I noticed some flaky skin recently on his underbelly right behind his head. Gave him a good soak, but it seemed like I was pulling his actual scales off, so I eased off. I've been watching it periodically since then and today I noticed it was REALLY bad. It looks like his body is collapsing in on itself.

Help!
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[boyer45]

Wow that looks bad. I am sorry I can't help but maybe you can take him to a vet?

[d_virginiana]

That looks really bad. But, I've never seen a retained shed look like that... Are you ABSOLUTELY sure it's a retained shed? Like, he went into shed and it never came off? If you're 100% certain it's a retained shed, you can continue trying to soak him, but I would bet the new skin is already fused with the old, which doesn't have a good prognosis...

At first glance though, this looks fungal to me. If at all possible, a vet would be good to confirm it. Is he wild caught? You can try applying betadine or maybe diluted hydrogen peroxide to the affected area, but I'm not sure how much good that would do... Is he housed with any other snakes? If so I'd remove them immediately just to be on the safe side.

That just really doesn't look like a retained shed to me... especially if you're not seeing other signs of it on the rest of the body. And it looks more crispy than most bacterial infections. Just has a very fungal look to it IMO.

[ChareiHeals]

Honestly. I'm not certain of anything. But at first it LOOKED like a retained. I can understand how it looks fungal. I have to see if my turtle vet is willing to look at snakes too, so I'm probably gonna try the betadine/hydrogen peroxide route for now while I get that sorted. I'm also going to clean/disinfect his tank. He's housed alone, so I don't have to worry about transfer if it IS something that can be transferred. He's wild caught but over a year ago. The crispy part is what had me stumped, because it really did look like his scales had shed that were stuck to it.

if it IS fungal, from what I'm reading, he doesn't have a chance... which is something I suppose I should prepare for... sigh.

[guidofatherof5]

I've seen retained sheds look like this. A warm(kept warm) shed box for a few hours and then it might require you to manually shed the snake. Starting at the corner of the mouth is usually a good place. Doing all this under running warm water is very helpful. This can be an easy quick process or it can take hours picking pieces of shed off. Give the snake some rest back in the shed box if it turns out to be a marathon. Best of luck, please keep us posted.

[Albert Clark]

I'm afraid this looks like a underlying case of scale rot accompanied by a form of dehydration. What type of substrate are you using and immediately switch to paper towels. The poor guy probably will need at least a topical antiseptic/ antibiotic as well. Yeah, a herp vet would be a great idea just in case the animal is septic and needs a course of injectable antibiotics. Keep the paper towels changed out as soon as you see so much as a urine stain on them. Definitely keep us posted. Good luck and we are hoping for a speedy recovery.

[joeysgreen]

I agree with the vet visit. This may look liked retained shed, because there is undoubtedly retained skin surrounding the lesion. In captivity this commonly is associated with poor sanitation and/or inappropriate dampness of substrate. The skin is compromised and environmental bacteria and fungi can move in to colonize. This likely has been going on undetected for a while; hence the dehydration and poor body condition. This will make it more difficult to treat, but I'm sure he still has a fighting chance with the right help.

[BUSHSNAKE]

Id go with what Steve said. The longer a retained shed is on the worse it looks and the harder it is to get off

[Albert Clark]

How is the little guy doing? Did he start to recover?