Dried out scales on back?

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, well I'm not saying it is scale rot I'm just saying it sounds like it. Also, it's possible that the bacteria infected the snake before you got it and so the cause may not be your husbandry or the enclosure. Once the infection gets a foothold, correcting the damp or dirty conditions isn't enough. You need to kill the infection on the snake too. And, sanitize the enclosure often, until you are sure it's gone. The affected scales may or may not return to their original state. Likely some scarring or disfigured scales will remain but they should improve and not spread.

If it is scale rot, it doesn't look serious at this point. Catch it early, treat it, and the prognosis is good.

[MlizGr]

Mmm. I suppose that's possible. Yay for catching it early though! I'd hate to have my first snake keeping experience end horridly...

[ConcinusMan]

Your attention to this small detail and spotting this as a potential problem suggests to me that you are a fine snake keeper. Keep it up, and learn more as you go and I'm sure you'll have many years to come with healthy snakes in your care.

Yeah, I would sterilize the enclosure. Extremely weak bleach solution left in contact for 15 minutes, or perhaps hydrogen peroxide, then a thorough rinse will kill any bacteria on the surfaces.

As far as the snake goes, a few drops of iodine in warm water.(just enough to give the water a little bit of color) submerge the snake's body in the solution for couple of minutes at least twice a week. Be extremely careful not to get this solution in the snakes nose or mouth (keep the head out) because it is poison if ingested, snorted, inhaled, whatever. But it is very effective against just about any kind of skin infection. Rinse thoroughly, dry the snake, then put back in sterile enclosure. A few weeks or perhaps a month of this, should halt this and put an end to the infection.

It does look like this is just barely getting started. Shouldn't be too difficult to "nip this in the bud" and prevent it from spreading.

Oh, and it doesn't necessarily have to be damp substrate. The bacteria can thrive under those belly scales with other moisture other than high humidity. Can't hurt to remove the water dish and only offer water for a few hours every day while treating this.

I know it sounds strange given garter snakes habits of being somewhat aquatic and spending time in or near water, but it's extremely important in captivity to keep the substrate dry and humidity levels moderate.

[Tyrel26]

I had a snake once that took on that dried leaf look to a few scales, they even felt dry and crispy; I have also seen this on wild snakes. After she shed the scales were back to normal and they never took on that appearance again.
When was the last time this snake shed? If you think it will shed soon you may want to hold off on any treatments until after the shed to see if its just damaged scales rather than something more serious.

[ConcinusMan]

Not bad advice. Like I said, I can't really tell from the pic and we're not sure at this point if it actually is scale rot. Could be nothing.

[Tyrel26]

Well in my case it just seem to be damaged scales that were fine after a shed, however if after a shed the problem is still present (assuming it isn't retained skin) you will want to follow the steps richard listed.

Any potentially harmful treatment should always be a last resort or only used when you are certain its necessary.

Could you possible burrow a camera to get some pics? If not, are the scales in question crispy or soft or moist or some combo of those?

[MlizGr]

I've only had him a little over a week, so no idea when his last shed was. He doesn't seem to have any cloudiness to his eyes though, so I don't think he's getting close to a shed. I took out his large soaking water dish and gave him a much smaller one for the time being after cleaning out his tank. In terms of feeling, the scales feel pretty much like his others, perhaps a touch softer? They also feel lower than the other scales when I run my thumb along his back.

On another forum someone said their vet suggested using melafix for minor cases of scale rot. It's a naturalistic antibacterial medicine that's used for fish with fin rot and the like. I'll probably use that for his bath until I'm completely sure what he has, since it is antibacterial, but shouldn't be dangerous. I'll be careful to keep his head out of it anyway, just in case.

[ConcinusMan]

Any potentially harmful treatment should always be a last resort or only used when you are certain its necessary.

That is also good advice. Actually the iodine thing was suggested because it's good for killing any skin infection even if it's not your typical bacterial scale rot. Also, as long as it is used on the skin only, and not ingested (rinse thoroughly) it is perfectly harmless.

The medicine for fin rot, or whatever it was called might not be affective whereas the iodine is all but guaranteed to work.

But hey, you haven't had the snake very long at all. Is this WC or did it come from someone else.. from captivity?

The reason I ask is because if it is WC there's a good chance it's just an old injury. If it's from captivity then it's more likely to be early stage scale rot. It's pretty common for people to make that mistake with garters - the mistake of keeping too large a water dish, or not keeping the enclosure dry enough. I'm not immune. I did make that mistake early on as a teenager and had some northwesterns develop a nasty case of blister disease. That species seems particularly prone to it.

Luckily, correcting the conditions and treating with iodine worked and they healed up nicely.

[MlizGr]

He's WC. I suppose older injuries do make sense. He's lucky he didn't get run over by the car that came by right after I scooped him up. Don't know what the silly snake was thinking, sunning out in the middle of the road.

[ConcinusMan]

Really. Silly snake.

But seriously, I don't think snakes are so aware that they know it's a dangerous road. To them it's just a warm flat rock.

This is most likely just an old injury. I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep an eye on it. If nothing changes, then nothing needs to be done.