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Ball Python Super wrinkly before shed
I'm fairly new to ball pythons, I've had my normal female for about 8 months now, and when she goes into shed she normally gets a little wrinkly, but this time it's gotten pretty bad. Her humidity is at 50-60 and then bumped up to 70-75 during a shed.
Is this normal?
She also has little dents on her eyes, which is weird cause she hasn't shed yet to have retained eye caps, and she has plenty of water.
http://i58.tinypic.com/2j4u254.jpg
Also for the heck of it, here she is playing cards with the family.
http://i57.tinypic.com/29zrjn.jpg
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Id give her a mist or 2, little dents meant lack of humidity, its not damaging, and goes away with a few squirts or a small sit in water, but your humidty gauge has to be wrong. Aswell they all go "wrinkly" prior to shed.
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Okay! Thank you, I'll mist her terrarium.
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If its a stick on analog 1, Scrap it and either get a Acu-rite, or well youll eventually learn for your snake, itll be hard to keep 60+ with just paper substrate if you dont mist daily.
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so the BP has a nice water bowl with fresh water.
then i dont know. it looks like there is a really big shed coming. and it also looks like the BP recently deflated and/or diminished in size.
what is the feeding situation? how do you feed it?
EDIT: depending on the feeding, if its not just underfeeding, maybe a fecal exam to check for internal parasites is a good idea.
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Re: Ball Python Super wrinkly before shed
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pythonfriend
so the BP has a nice water bowl with fresh water.
then i dont know. it looks like there is a really big shed coming. and it also looks like the BP recently deflated and/or diminished in size.
what is the feeding situation? how do you feed it?
EDIT: depending on the feeding, if its not just underfeeding, maybe a fecal exam to check for internal parasites is a good idea.
I feed her one rat pup, every 7 days. And she has never ever refused a meal. She doesn't seem to be losing weight.
Ill monitor her closely and see if once she sheds she goes back to normal.
ill also look into a better humidity gauge for sure
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If you've had her 8 months, she should probably be on something bigger than rat pups by now. Do you know how much she weighs? Ideally you want to feed about 10-15% of her body weight every 5-7 days until she's 500 grams. You can also go by width - you want the rat to be the same width or girth as the thickest part of her body.
In the second picture, she looks pretty good, if a bit small for 8 months, but the first picture looks a bit concerning to me. One of ours had two times when he was about to shed when a bit of him was wrinkly, but it wasn't nearly that wrinkly. If she's in a glass enclosure and on paper towels, it's pretty unlikely that the humidity is actually 50-60%. How are you measuring humidity? A stick-on won't be very accurate. As already suggested, I would get a digital Acurite thermometer/hygrometer from Walmart - they're about $12, and well worth it! The one with a probe will measure the temps on the cool side and the warm side, as well as the humidity.
I would definitely get a better hygrometer, and spray the enclosure several times a day until she sheds. You can also switch out the paper towels for a substrate that holds humidity better like cypress mulch or coconut coir/Eco earth, give her a larger water bowl, and if the tank has a screen top, cover part of it with a damp towel.
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Re: Ball Python Super wrinkly before shed
Quote:
Originally Posted by bumblebee1028
If you've had her 8 months, she should probably be on something bigger than rat pups by now. Do you know how much she weighs? Ideally you want to feed about 10-15% of her body weight every 5-7 days until she's 500 grams. You can also go by width - you want the rat to be the same width or girth as the thickest part of her body.
In the second picture, she looks pretty good, if a bit small for 8 months, but the first picture looks a bit concerning to me. One of ours had two times when he was about to shed when a bit of him was wrinkly, but it wasn't nearly that wrinkly. If she's in a glass enclosure and on paper towels, it's pretty unlikely that the humidity is actually 50-60%. How are you measuring humidity? A stick-on won't be very accurate. As already suggested, I would get a digital Acurite thermometer/hygrometer from Walmart - they're about $12, and well worth it! The one with a probe will measure the temps on the cool side and the warm side, as well as the humidity.
I would definitely get a better hygrometer, and spray the enclosure several times a day until she sheds. You can also switch out the paper towels for a substrate that holds humidity better like cypress mulch or coconut coir/Eco earth, give her a larger water bowl, and if the tank has a screen top, cover part of it with a damp towel.
Im not sure how much she weighs, but the rat pups/small rats I feed her once a week as about as thick as her girth. Should they be bigger?
i will invest in a better thermometer and I can switch her substrate out.
Right now she has a wet hand towel over her terrarium. I hope she's okay! I'm a little worried.
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Re: Ball Python Super wrinkly before shed
Just looks dehydrated to me. Give her a bath in de-chlorinated lukewarm water for about 10 mind. Let her drink her fill, try not to dry off the feeders too much. Shell be fine
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Re: Ball Python Super wrinkly before shed
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