Scale rot?

[Carlos]

This is somewhat of an embarrassing ordeal and quite annoying, but today (Thursday) I noticed one of my snakes had some belly scales that seem "chipped" and dry. I've never had any experience with scale rot, but from what I've read, this doesn't really seem to fit the most common descriptions: unclean conditions where the snakes develop red sores and blisters on the ventral scales.

However, while trying to find info on it, I found one page that did describe scale rot as "chipped" scales. Lately the snake in question has been tipping his water bowl over and spilling it into the substrate, so I guess I can see how this ailment is a possibility, despite my efforts at removing the wet stuff. However, the snake is due to shed soon and just entered his dull stage today, so it may just be something that will slough off on its own (which is what I'm hoping).

Anyway, enough rambling; below I've included a picture of one of the belly scales with the "chip" on it. If anyone who has dealt with scale rot or has read more about it than I have (which wasn't much since apparently nobody on the entire internet has a decent description of it) can give any insight as to whether or not this looks like it, your help would be very appreciated.



I moved him to newspaper today for this exact reason; I was worried his constant spilling of water might create unsafe conditions with the aspen as a substrate (and yes, I'm changing the bowl to a less-easily-spilled one). So, if it is what I'm hoping it's not, I've taken at least a small step toward combating it with a dry, pretty-sterile substrate.