My young garter has a problem with her scales. Most of the damaged scales are up near her head. I will try to attatch a pic, but don't hold your breath... I will also try to describe what I'm seeing. The scales look dry and brittle, some turned up at the edges, most showing black skin? between scales. She's fairly small, maybe 18-20" and is kept in a 10 gallon tank with a heat lamp w/ a 40 watt bulb on one side. Her substrate is paper towels or paper napkins. She has two water bowls, one small, one larger. She often rests her head on the small "rock" water bowl. Could it be too rough? Or is this a humidity problem? The warm side of her tank is about 88 degrees, sometimes reaching 90 in the afternoons and the cool side is about 82 degrees. Is this too warm? At night I cover the tank with a towel and turn off the heat lamp, allowing it to cool down to about 75, maybe a little cooler, but not much. Oh, and last week I treated her for mites using mineral oil. I've heard that could dry her out, but I don't know enough to know whether the scales are actually dried out... please reply, either public or private, with any advice you have to help! I have a couple of other pictures if you'd like to see them, too. Thank you so much!
[addsig]
