Red dry skin on underbelly

We have a new young ball python. This is his first shed with us. He got most of his head shedded and is getting the rest piece by piece. We put him in some luke-warm water to help get the skin loose, my girlfriend also peeled pieces of the shed off as well, I don't think she forced it too much though. I woke up this morning and noticed the last third of his underbelly is really red and dry. Is this something we did and what can we do to get him healthy again?

hi there,
I would advise waiting to see if it goes away, my snakes often have shedding issues, and their bellies are usually a bit pink or orangish after a shed. if it doesn't look any different the next day or the day after that, make an appointment with the best herp vet in the area. if you make the appointment later,you can cancel if it clears up on its own

Hello,

Well, first off, what do you increase the humidity to preshed? Your ball python really should not be having any trouble shedding & should not really shed in pieces, but instead should shed in one fluid piece ideally.
If he is shedding in flakes such as he did, then he most likely does not have enough humidity in his tank.
It is good to increase humidity to 70% a few days right before he is going to shed & then decrease it after he sheds.
Do you have a large water dish in there for him, & how do you heat his enclosure? If you are using an undertank heater, then I would put his water dish directly on or around it to help increase the overall humidity of the tank to help him shed.
As suggested, if the irritation of the skin continues, I would take him to a good herp vet so he doesn't get a skin infection possibly. Thermazene or silvadene is a very good topical antibiotic ointment/cream to use for skin irritations or other ailments.

Good luck.

Tracie

Thanks for your suggestions guys. I ended up going to a vet, turns out it was a burn due to his plastic hut being directly over the under tank heater. Poor little guy, we had to give him antibiotic shots for three weeks along with some cream. Needless to say, he has a different hut now. I feel so bad know it was because of something I did!

He is back to his old, curious, self now. His belly is almost back to normal now too. He just had his first one piece shed this week!

I'm curious about the idea of the water dish over the heater. I thought about doing that before, but figured he wouldn't like drinking warm water and shouldn't he have that area available to him if he needs to warm up his body temp more? Maybe two water dishes and two heaters would be a good way to go, but since I'm a cheap bastard, I'll keep using the spray bottle for now.

Thanks for your help again guys, I was really freaking out!

Hello,

That is great you took him to the vet. Burns can be quite serious & become infected in some cases if they are not treated. I am happy to hear that he is doing better now.
That is ok if you want to use 2 water dishes. Remember though, that you only have to move the water dish to over his undertank heater for the preshed time period which is not real often. So it isn't like you have to make a huge change, but you do need to get that humidity up right before shedding though.
What type of bedding are you using? I would move his hut or cave to the cooler area that is not directly on top of a heating device. He will thermoregulate & sit on or by the undertank heater when needed. Are you using a ceramic heat emitter also to help with heating? You do need a hotspot of at least 88-90 for them, while maintaining a cooler end as well around 80 or so.

Tracie