Behira - 2016 Female Ivory Ghost - First BCI

I spoke to a local reptile expert, who just opened a reptile zoo in my town, and keeps everything from cobras to milk snakes, about Behira's shedding and door striking.

He laughed about the door striking. He says some animals just do it. He said he has 12+ Foot retics who still do it, and a handful of other snakes too. He liked the drape idea to keep her from striking at any movement, but kind of said she might grow out of it, or not. I am optimistic since Feliz used to do that and hasn't in a few months, but who knows.

Regarding the frequent sheds, he said he dealt with it several times over his years of keeping reptiles. He said 9/10 it's a skin irritation or infection. He said he just dealt with it with his spitting cobra (which he said was not too fun giving medicine too). In that case, it wasn't getting better. He said that since Behira is improving, and dramatically, let her be. However, if she stops eating or it regresses to take swab anywhere on the skin and send it in for bacterial and fungal infections.

The consensus was she's pounding food and the sheds are getting farther and farther apart, therefore she's beating whatever was ailing her. He did recommend another vet closer to me if I wanted to get a second opinion.

For now, she seems so healthy, pounding food, growing, and the sheds are getting farther apart. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If anything changes though, you all know I will be on top of that.

That's good news Dave.
Good you got that new reptile shop in town and it's great to be able to talk to someone about it especially as he's been thru it with his reptiles . hopefully she's getting over what ever it was now

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

That's good news Dave.
Good you got that new reptile shop in town and it's great to be able to talk to someone about it especially as he's been thru it with his reptiles . hopefully she's getting over what ever it was now

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Yeah, exactly, Rich. He's been through it, and with a positive outcome both with intervention and without. Nothing wrong with hearing that at all.

His "shop" is actually a reptile zoo he opened here in my home town. Check out my thread. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ter-Enfield-CT. Some awesome critters in there.

He has years of experience with everything from lizards, to boas, to alligators, to venomous, and even small colubrids and giant species like retics and burms. Really cool guy and super happy to talk shop.

Great having this place near me for fun, but also great to have him (Brian) as a resource. Most importantly, he does a great job of taking care of his animals and showing reptiles in a positive light. It's a place you want to support.

Behira is doing great. She's really filling out and getting pretty darn sturdy. She's well over 2,100G now dry and is gaining weight in the past two months faster than she has in a while, on the same prey items (F/T medium rats) and frequency (10-14 days).

Here are a few pics of her on the couch and in her new "holding container." She looks a little scary but she was just being curious.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/y1iU13H.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/TmOWzy4.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/tVqyjaq.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/3USTjLp.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/1yewyMp.jpg

She’s looking good and filling out like a proper lady!

Yeah, something like a skin infection definitely sounds plausible if that’s something that can go undetected like that. Frequent shedding like that typically is tied to health issues, and like I think you mentioned earlier, the meals just gave her a bit of a boost to fight it off.


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Originally Posted by dakski

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Regarding the frequent sheds, he said he dealt with it several times over his years of keeping reptiles. He said 9/10 it's a skin irritation or infection. He said he just dealt with it with his spitting cobra (which he said was not too fun giving medicine too). In that case, it wasn't getting better. He said that since Behira is improving, and dramatically, let her be. However, if she stops eating or it regresses to take swab anywhere on the skin and send it in for bacterial and fungal infections.

The consensus was she's pounding food and the sheds are getting farther and farther apart, therefore she's beating whatever was ailing her. He did recommend another vet closer to me if I wanted to get a second opinion.

For now, she seems so healthy, pounding food, growing, and the sheds are getting farther apart. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If anything changes though, you all know I will be on top of that.

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I wouldn't worry, but I do agree. This is how a snake's body reacts to a low-grade infection, injury or irritation of some kind (internal OR external)- by self-healing. And the extra food was needed to accomplish that. With snakes, sometimes it's better to do too little than too much, knowing how meds can negatively impact their organs. And it's not as if you never had her checked out, but hey, she's got this. ;) Relax...

My niece Meghan was over, and as usual spent a lot of time with the reptiles.

She's doing great handling them and loves Behira. Despite Behira's size, Meghan is not intimidated (of course I am a foot or two away).

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/ARNzRXd.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/PUS2bIZ.jpg

SWEET! Cute kid and cute boa! :gj:

I find it funny that it is always the kids who want to hold my snake and rarely the adults. Even when the adults do hold them they are really freaked out.

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Originally Posted by Reptile$ 4 Life

I find it funny that it is always the kids who want to hold my snake and rarely the adults. Even when the adults do hold them they are really freaked out.

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I hear you.

That's because they didn't have an, "Uncle David" growing up.

Meghan has been holding snakes since she was 2 and I remember her interacting with my Beardie George (RIP) before that. Meghan turns 10 in December (WOW) and her brother Chris just turned 7. He's not as interested in the reptiles but he is hardly afraid. He pets Behira while Meghan holds her sometimes. He can be a little quick, so I stick with the big snakes that I trust implicitly with him. Shayna and Behira, are great for him, as is Figment and Solana. The younger and growing snakes like Yafe and Jeff and Feliz I let him see but with a healthy dose of Uncle David right there and controlling his interactions. With Meghan and say, Behira, I trust him with verbal cues. It's funny, some kids are so curious and respectful and others are like COOL, but then on to the next.

It's funny. I remember being a little kid and loving the reptile section of the bronx zoo. Then when I was about 5 or 6, my best friend had a reptile guy at his birthday party. Boa, Burmese, Corn Snake, etc. That was it, I was hooked. I used to find snake skins in the yard and was taught to be respectful of the big rat snakes and an occasional copperhead. Didn't keep from being curious, but I wasn't out trying to catch everything either.

I also remember as a kid some nasty water snakes down by the pond I used I to catch frogs at. A few really scared me. Darting over my feet and hissing etc. I never got bit though (and knew none were venomous). My first snake, a BP, did bite me, but he/she was little and I knew it wasn't my fault. Frankly, I was more worried, at 10, about him/her. It actually helped take a lot of the fear out as it was so anticlimactic. Even with these potentially negative, not bad, experiences, I was never afraid, just cautious. I learned to be respectful instead of fearful.

Of course I have a healthy respect for Behira now when she comes flying at the door looking for her food :). She gets my heart racing, but I am not scared or afraid, just very cautious. Thankfully, she's predictable.

Anyway, so important to teach the younger generations to respect and not fear these animals. Meghan has always had a propensity towards them, like I did, so all I do is feed into that.