Terrible problems with shedding.

Both UTHs are hooked to a thermostat, correct?

The coco husk is good. Are you keeping it dry or damp?

How did you ventilate the tub?

My initial guess is you have to much air exchange and we need to cover some of the screen and maybe some of the holes you put in the tub.

I very simple add in is moss. All you have to do is wet it and put it in the hides. Its cheap and with some tweaks to the cages and it I bet your sheds will be perfect in no time.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00..._bw_g199_i4_sh

This box is much more than you would need. You just break off a chunk and put it in the hides. Very simple. They have it at both big box pet stores as well.

When you say the "heating pads" are under the hides, do you mean they are in the actual enclosure or are they secured under the tank and tub? And are they heating pads or under tank heaters? There is a difference.

Also, if there are no non smooth surfaces for them to rub against, that will cause some difficulty starting the shed.

They're UTHS, and they are underneath the enclosures. Unfortunately I don't have a thermostat, as all the ones I've seen have been 80$.

It turns out the tiny injury above her eye isn't as bad as I thought it was, after taking her out to look at it. It's just a tiny scratch, it seems. I freaked out kind of a bit at first, but a little bit of antibiotics should be good enough to help her. I can try and keep the cocoa husk moist if that'll help out.

And yes, there are holes in the tub for air. I'm not sure how I could plug some of them up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BlueberryTrain

They're UTHS, and they are underneath the enclosures. Unfortunately I don't have a thermostat, as all the ones I've seen have been 80$.

It turns out the tiny injury above her eye isn't as bad as I thought it was, after taking her out to look at it. It's just a tiny scratch, it seems. I freaked out kind of a bit at first, but a little bit of antibiotics should be good enough to help her. I can try and keep the cocoa husk moist if that'll help out.

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I don't want to bash you here, as I'd rather help out but time and time again I see people that don't equip themselves properly before getting the animal. It's sometimes a beginner mistake, but once noted you must act.

You NEED thermostats!!!!!!!!!!!! Even an inexpensive Hydrofarm for $30 is far better than nothing, and an entry level Herpstat is not very expensive either. If the snake has "always" had bad sheds, that is a red light telling you something. Your number one priority is the husbandry of that snake. If there is a history of bad sheds the snake could have retained eye caps and if you peel those off there could be issues.

You don't want aspen, the husk is better, and you could easily go to cypress and load up the moisture or get a mossy hide, yet don't over do it because belly rot is a possibility if you hit the other end of the spectrum.

There are places in your life you can cut a few dollars to care for this pet. If not,,, you should simply not have it if you can't provide care. Again, I'm not bashing you, but there are standards that responsible pet owners need to be held to.

Now, you should probably work on soaking the animal on and off for a period of weeks and use a damp towel to let it crawl through a couple of times a week. Hopefully you can loosen up anything that is stuck.

As stated before; GET THE HUSBANDRY DIALED IN and buy a thermostat. Not one decent keeper on this board in any of the forums will tell you differently.

The bad shed is just the tip of the iceberg here. Eventually other issues will pop up. Reptiles are very slow to show signs of stress and other illness, but prolonged husbandry errors will certainly bring on a multitude of problems.

There are hundreds of people here that will help you, but you will run into a brick wall if you bypass doing what is recommended and following the proven standards of basic care.

It may sound harsh but this is a reality when it comes to care. Even if you think you initially over reacted, there is still a situation here and your efforts will determine which way things will go and the future of your snake.

Listen to the folks here, come up with a plan, and look on Amazon for Hydrofarm Theromstats. I have one and used to use it with a Herpstat 1 when I was controlling 2 heat sources.

Keep us updated and good luck!

Like Gio said you NEED a TSTAT. I know you said you don't have much money but unfortunately being a pet owner requires it. You are going to have to make some changes and do whatever it takes to get your snakes living in the proper conditions.

Having animals like snakes requires some essentials to do it correctly. Doing it incorrectly will end up costing you far more with vet bills than if you just did things correctly from the beginning.

UTHs without a tstat can really harm and even kill your snake. Google pics of burned snakes to see what Im talking about. Also having humidity that is too high or low for an extended amount of time can create medical issues as well. We need to get things right to prevent any of this from happening.

As far as covering some of the holes in a tub you could simply add some painters tape over the holes. I suggest painters tape because it will hold but at the same time you can easily remove it and change where it is applied without getting your tubs sticky and messy with tape residue.

The tank screen can be covered with many things. Common items are aluminum duct tape, foil wrapped cardboard, acrylic , or even glass.

You have many things to do to get things right. We are here to help but you are going to have to find a way to get these things done if you want to have healthy and happy snakes.

When we had a glass tank I used these methods to improve everything.

I used foil tape to secure the insulation, a UTH and a heat lamp for heat, and wet towels for humidity (when using aspen). I needed a Herpstat II to control 2 separate heat sources required by the glass enclosure.

I did make it work, but there are much better options. The Reflectix was wrapped around the whole cage minus the front window, and I covered the top screen with it and would put a damp towel between the insulation and the top screen.

The cage was in my, at the time, 9 year old son's room.

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_0219.jpg

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_0205.jpg

UTH and T-stat probe are on the bottom. This was when I used a Herpstat 2 on this cage. But when I switched to plastic cages, I used a Herstat 1 on this and a Hydrofarm. The UTH T-stat probe goes on the outside of the cage between the UTH and the bottom of the cage. I used insulation to cover the whole bottom of the cage too.

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/IMG_0206.jpg

There is a huge selection of affordable plastic cages, plus tubs and bins for snake keepers to choose from.

All said and done this glass tank (40 gal.) was not a lot less money than a nice plastic cage made for a royal.

I bought the older snake along with her tank and such, someone on craigslist was selling her. I'm 16 and I don't really have much money, I plan on getting a job soon enough, so I can hopefully buy a thermostat soon.

I absolutely want whats best for my snakes and I plan on taking all of this advice as soon as I possibly can. I often soak the older one because of these humidity issues and allow her to rub through the towels. The younger one seems to be alright for now, and getting the humidity in her tub seems like it'll be easy enough. I can use something like a soldering iron to close some of the holes up in her tub and trap the humidity.

I'll try replacing the towel on top of the older ones tub with something like plastic or possibly aluminum to keep some more humidity in. I definitely want to get a thermostat soon, I've been wanting one for a while, and since I plan on getting more snakes in the future, it seems like a good investment for the current ones, and for the future ones.

I appreciate all the help everyone is giving me, and I plan to follow all the advice I possibly can. I'm going to move the older one into a tub and hope that helps out a bit, I planned on doing that anyway, since it's just easier to clean out, and is cheaper.

The retained eye caps the older one had from her last shed came off this time, and her eyes look significantly better, so I'm happy about that much.

An electric dimmer switch from Home Depot can help you get by until you get a proper thermostat, set your temp gradient and then play with water bowl placement closer to your hot spot to change humidity. If you want to cover the holes in your current tub forget about using a soldering iron and just put a piece of cardboard over the outside and tape it, you may want to be able to change humidity different times of year. Also are there any drafts or fans/ vents blowing across the set ups? That will suck away the moisture your trying to trap. A full tub set up with a cheap thermostat for an adult is less than $100 bucks, start there and then save for a good thermostat that can handle your current two set ups and possibly expand.