BP health ??s

[tman]

Hello; I'm a new member here with a couple of health ??s for my 4month old BP, he's 19in long and 3in round roughly, anyway his last shed wasn't very good came off in 2 peices, eye caps came off really well...Whew!. He was left with a couple of small paches. I've tryed soaking him but they are still there...wondering if this will affect his next shed??
Also my BP refuses to take any thing but live, and he will not eat out of his tank, I do reallize how dangerous it is to feed live, and because he won't eat any where else tonight he accidentally ate a peice of his substrate, what will happen?? Any info would be great, Thanks .

[TONYDM41684]

First off if you get her skin moist you gently rub head to end and remove the skin. Only if it rubs off, do not pull it off. You really have to move the snake from its enclosure to feed I don't see why she won't end in a different tank, for some ideas try a google serch from feeding problems and you should get some people who have ideas to try and get her to eat in another tank. As far as getting her to eat prekilled, Which I just got my 10 month old bp to eat prekilled, kill the mouse when you get her in another tank and take tongs and run the mouse aroung like it is alive. Get close to her with it. Let her smell it and just don't put it in front of her. Snakes are hunters and like to at least have some chase. About the substate don't wait till it is to late call a vet and just ask. Good luck!

[tman]

Thanks for the info and I will call and get some more info on the substrate.

[elevatethis]

A couple good soaks will get rid of that old skin. Don't even bother pulling it off, it will come off by itself.

A shed isn't "bad" as long as it is complete. The shed before last, my bp shed in one piece. This shed, she mangled the skin into a ton of pieces as she ditched the old skin inside a hide. But it was still complete, no harm no foul.

Some snakes are finicky eaters, you just have to do what works for your own snake. What kind of substrate are you using? Keep in mind, Bp's stomach acids dissolve bones of rodents. Further logic would tell me that a small piece of bark or shaving probably won't hurt them, but its important to look out for its next bowel movement to make sure they aren't impacted. If you don't get a bowel movement for a few weeks, you will need to give them warms soaks every day or so to hopefully get things moving. Hope I could help.....

[tman]

That takes a load off my mind and it does make sense about the tummy acid.
Thanks

[gozetec02]

I agree with brad. A bad shed isnt all that bad but if you get several bad sheds in a row then you need to up your humidity. My snake has swallowed some reptibark and that aspen bedding and has had no ill effects. Maybe it adds a little fiber in thier diet, just kidding. Dont rub the head too much because this will stress out the animal greatly. I have had baby ball pythons have incomplete sheds but they usually get all the pieces off in a few days. It seems to me that they older they get the more experienced they become. A soaking a week never hurts it removes loose debris from thier scales and helps them get rehydrated.

[JubJub]

Try this, it worked great for me on my first feed. On feeding day buy the mouse in the morning and put it in a newspaper lined bin about the length of the snake (mine feed tank is about 24X10 for a 7 month old BP), which the tank cost me 2 bucks at Pic and Save type store. Cut holes in the top for breathing and have the mouse live there all day. Keep it in another room from snake. At night when the snake is moving around, take out the mouse, kill it, and put snake in the mouse tank. Then dangle mouse with tongs or put it on other side of tank (I dangle with my hand and he always strikes about 3 seconds after I start the dance). Do this in a realitively Dark area. Don't feed in the light. I do it in my bathroom (good humidity in there) and have the light on in another room which gives me enough ambient light to see.