weird - scales coming off one by one.

okay, so i had drake out today... i just couldn't stand not being able to spend time with him. so i held him for a while and he slithered all over me and i started noticing he was leaving scales on my hands... (remember he was rubbed down with mineral oil to kill his mites on friday)

he is still all glossy from his rub down on friday... and i wonder if he's shedding but instead of a complete shed he's releasing each scale because of the mineral oil???

here's a pic of the scales he left behind (my hands looked like they do after you gut a fish - with the scales on your hands)

http://www.timelessspirit.com/images/snakes/scales.jpg

those scales in the pic are his belly scales... i also had his other scales on my hands...

anyone else ever see this?

I have never seen anything like that. Hopefully someone else can come up with an answer for you.

well i'm stumped. hope he is ok.

just a quick note: i did give him a nice soak in soapy water... he had a big poop and seemed to really enjoy his soak. i brought him out, dried him off and put him onto a clean towel in his enclosure. once the p.a.m. gets here... i'll move him into his new encl. once it's sprayed.

Careful how much soap you use. It supposed to be just a drop of liquid ivory in the water. I tend to stay away from homegrown methods like soap and mineral oil so I choose not to do it. Reptile Relief works for some and not for others. PAM is definitely the choice of most and righfully so. I personally use Permethrin from the drugstore but I no longer advocate it for others due to the fact that there was concern over the different strengths that are sold at different drugstores.

it wasn't ivory soap... oh man, should i bathe him again in clear water?

ooookay. well i'm leaving him alone for awhile since he's being bratty. hopefully my p.a.m. will arrive on monday and i'll give him another quick soak in nice clean water (no soap) before i put him into his pammed new enclosure :)

When we got Orlah she was a mess of retained shed all over. We soaked her repeatedly and also applied AD&D cream and she shed just like that...scale by scale..what a mess! I would assume that it's due to the mineral oil and will pass in time as it did with Orlah but I know I won't use that treatment again as it was just way too messy.

so just leave him and he'll shed it off with his next shed?

or should i be soaking him whenever possible.

i really want him to have a great life with us and at this point, something "traumatic" has happened to the poor guy everytime i take him out of his encl... and i don't want him to start assuming we are 'evil snake torturers' *insert menacing laughter here*