Can anyone give advice on a snake - skin problem

My little brother has a corn snake which apparently has dry patches on its skin without scale? I havent seen her so am only passing on what he has told me any ideas what this is and how to treat it I have told him he should take her to vets but he has to wait for my mum to take him so wants to know if he can do anything in the mean time.

Any ideas?

Sorry I am not very good with snakes but I bet Ceiron would know because he has a snake and other reptiley things and creepy crawlies doesn't he

Oh yeah good idea maybe I'll PM him thanks!

Think Hevvur has a snake as well so she would probably know.

Thanks have sent her a PM Ceiron is offline at the mo

Is it possible the snake has been burned?? by an unprotected heat source??

Could be scale rot but that would be more red and angry rather than dry and open..This is caused by lying in wet, dirty tanks, vivariums..

It definately shouldn't be missing any scales..

I would bath in a weak iodine solution to prevent infection and visit a vet asap..

I assume this has been evident for a while as these things don't normally appear overnight..

My brother used to have lots of reptiles and his rat snake got burned by the heat lamp (was years ago before they invented the covers i think! ) and that went dry when it started to heal so it could possibly be that?

I would try to get it to a vet asap if he's worried. Ring around the local ones and see if any can deal with exotics, there should be at least one!

I dont know I dont live near him and he only mentioned it today!

ok i havent recieved any pm.lol

however it could be one of a few things, burns, scale rot, poor shed or maybe contact with glue/sticky tape.

as for now i would personally give it a bath in luke warm water then let it run through a wet towel, if it is unshed skin it wil lcome off, if not then it wotn but wil lelliminate that option.

also to be honest i need to know its hosuing conditions, so what its kepot in, how its heated, what are the temperatures in it, hot, cold ans basking, the humidity in it, what substrate its on, whats it fed and how often, how its pooing, if it has access to water?

alot i know but they could all in minor problems lead to ill health.

it also does need a vet to rule out anythign seriosu and to treat it now.

Wow Ceiron you certainly know a lot about snakes and creepy crawlies don't you

How does a snake run though - I keep trying to imagine it 'running' through the towel