New owner and site member, BP Dehydrated from store.

I have decided to never buy a snake from any of the local pet stores again. I just recently received a new baby pastel ball (nicknamed Kaa) from the local pet smart as a birthday gift, and upon getting it home I noticed that his/her skin was very wrinkly and the spine was noticeable. However, he started a shed the next day and is still finishing that up and I've heard that sometimes they can get dehydrated looking when they go into a shed. The skin is flaking more than sloughing off completely which I would think would also indicate dehydration. The team members at the store were unable to provide me with any information as to the last feeding time, nor anything about Kaa's temperament, feeding habits, or history.

i'd appreciate any suggestions as I've heard a few different things as far as treatments and i'm a little confused. Some sources say to soak for a few hours every day, others say to soak multiple times a day; however some sources say not to handle for a few weeks. Other sources still suggest simply misting the tank. Furthermore he hasn't fed since he's been home and some sources say that's fine while others state the dehydration could be fatal if he doesn't eat. So I don't know whether to handle or leave him alone, and whether to keep attempting to feed or leave him be.

I will attempt to get some decent pictures when i get home. He has a constantly full water dish and two hides, his temp is 87 on his warm side and about 82 on the cool. Aspen bedding and I don't use a daytime light, simple a red heat lamp for his warm side and the natural light cycle in the room. The humidity fluctuates around 50% but my meter needs replacing as its old.

(Side note: my last snake was also from the same store and died from an eating disorder)

I will also get a weight and length when I get home if it helps by knowing his approximate age.

Skin wrinkles
http://i59.tinypic.com/e0ikus.jpg

And here you can see the paraspinal indentations.
http://i57.tinypic.com/dwcb9d.jpg

And I'm not sure if it's residual skin flakes from the bad shed or not but there's a small white "V" on his right eye that almost looks like an abrasion. He wouldn't pose for a good picture :/
http://i58.tinypic.com/whfx8m.jpg

This is my first Ball so I may just be seeing normal structure and thinking it looks bad but something just looks off so I figured I'd ask the people that know more about them than I do. Any input and suggestions for how to help this would be very appreciated. I got a new humidity gauge and the humidity is pretty low so I'm trying to block off air flow by obstructing half of the screen on the top of the terrarium. I'm also going to start misting once a day and I'm trying to set up a soak to help him get rid of the rest of this bad shed. The ceiling fan is off and his water dish is always full so i'm not sure why the humidity was so low, but hopefully you all can help me out. I don't want to lose another baby :(

Looks to me like a lot of that is stuck shed. A good 30 minute soak in lukewarm water in a closed tub would help loosen that stuff up. As for raising humidity in the cage covering the top should help. You might water to cover more than half of it.

Sorry to keep spamming my own post but I'm really needing some help. The new humidity gauge is now reading 35%! I just dropped a damp cloth to help with his bad shed and to raise it but I don't even see how that's possible. I live in central LA, and it's raining, and as stated before there is no fan going and half of the screen lid has plastic wrap covering the mesh. The temps are alright (actually running a little hot on the side with the UTH) but I can't get the humidity up for the life of me. Any help would be really nice right now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by salt

Looks to me like a lot of that is stuck shed. A good 30 minute soak in lukewarm water in a closed tub would help loosen that stuff up. As for raising humidity in the cage covering the top should help. You might water to cover more than half of it.

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Ok i'm currently trying to set up a soak box, i'm thinking adding a water hide in addition to his water bowl might help raise the humidity and give him a place he can go and get as hydrated as he needs at the same time.

I don't understand how I've seen so many snakes raised to full maturity being kept in a Tupperware bin with some newspaper and I have tried to follow every diagram I can short of building a few hundred dollar vivarium (which I do plan on doing, is just a temporary home for Kaa) but I can't seem to get him to a healthy setting. I feel like a horrible owner.