Shedding tips

So I know my girl is in shed. Her eyes are that cloudy blue color. I've read (from other people on the forum) that when their snakes go into shed, they just hang out in their hides. I know every snake is different, but my snake doesn't hang out in her hide. She had two, one on the cool side, and one on the warm side. The cool side is about 80 and the warm is around 90. The humidity is around 60%. She will switch to each side, but she doesn't stay in her hide. She'll go in every once in a while, but not for to long. Am I the only one who's snake acts this way? I'm just curious.

Also, I took out all her bark because I found out it had mites in it, and I replaced it with newspaper. I am going to get a better bedding for her, but all my money went into the Provent-A-Mite. I have a hard time keeping up her humidity. I have her water dish, along with a plastic container with wet paper towels inside. I also mist very frequently, but that doesn't last to long. She's in a 20g glass tank. Any tips on how I can help keep the enclosure humid while she's in shed?

Hello,

Hopefully I can answer most of your questions. You shouldn't be too worried about your snake not using her hide. I have many snakes and some use their hides all the time, some use them sometimes, and others never use a hide. They're all different.

As far as humidity is concerned, you can try covering most of the top of the tank with aluminum foil. This should help keep the moisture in. You can also make a humid hide which is essentially a plastic bowl with a lid and a hole cut in the side, and filled with moist sphagnum moss. It will help, but it's not essential. There are also many easy methods to use if your snake has a stuck shed, but we'll cross that road if we come to it.

Finally, you mentioned that the bark you used had mites in it. I just wanted to point out that the mites that may have come with the bark are different than reptile mites that feed off of your snake. You still want to get rid of them, but if they are the mites that came with the bark at least you don't have to worry about them harming your snake. :)

As long as your snake is eating consistently, it doesn't really matter if she uses the hides or not. What kind of hides are they?

As for boosting humidity, if you are using a heat lamp, that will significantly lower your humidity. Tin foil, foil tape, or plexiglass over the screen lid will help to trap humidity. A larger water bowl will also help a little bit.

While she is in shed, try to keep the humidity about 70% and you will be good to go.

I wasn't to concerned about the mites, until i find a few in between her scales. I haven't seen any on her in about 2 days, and theres nothing on the newspaper nor in the water. Though I do know there can still be eggs. I still got the PAM to take care of her enclosure anyways, and spray all future substance that I get from now on.

I'll try the humid hid for her. Now I'm glad I work at walmart. XD I'll be able to ge my hands on a plastic container easy. lol. I don't have any money to get moss. If I laid some damp flat paper towels in there will that work, just as a temp for her? I'm getting a like a shredded cocoanut bedding for her when I have the cash, and I was told that, that is great at holding humidity.

And thanks for telling be about the hid thing. I was just confused about what was going on with her.
Thank you for the tips!

You said your humidity is 60% or WAS 60%?

If its currently 60%, you're good to go. If it isnt, cover 3/4 of the tank with a layer of plastic wrap and then cover that with aluminum foil.

Mist and enjoy. Serves 3.

You can also just get a plastic shoe-box sized tub and put about an inch of water in it and place it in your tub or tank. I do this every time I notice they are going into shed. Sometimes they use it to soak and sometimes they don't. But since I have started doing this I have never had a bad shed. I leave it in until they shed and just change out the water every three to four days.

@Kaorte: I have a rock looking hide, and a little cardboard triangle like hide. I do use a heat lamp. I don't have much of a choice as of right now. My room faces all the wind that hits the house. And even though I put the tank on the inside wall of my room, it's still cold in here. So I need to use it to keep up her temps.

@Pavlovk: It's dropped down since the first post. I'll do the plastic and tin foil thing. Thanks.

@Snakecharmer: I'll try your thing if the other two ideas don't work. Thanks also.

Hope somethin' works for you. :)

You can also try covering part of the top with a damp towel. :gj:

Gosh! I didn't even think of that! I think I'll try that first and work from there. Thanks for the tips everyone!
Also back at Kaorte, I know she ate last Wednesday (not yesterday). The lady I got her from told me I didn't have to offer her food yesterday, because she was going into shed. So we'll see how she is after her shed. Another quick question, I know that the time period of shedding depends upon the snake. The girl gets fed every Wednesday, if she was to shed on a Saturday, should I feed her Sunday, or just wait until Wednesday? I just wondering so I can be prepared for after her shed.

A lot of ball pythons will eat during shed.

Is this a new snake? If so, I would wait a week from the day you got her and feed her then. Or pick a day that is convenient for you to feed her on and go with that. If she is normally fed on wednesdays and you want to stick with that, then that is perfectly fine.

The shed cycle lasts about 7-10 days. After their eyes go blue, they clear up and look almost normal and then they shed in the next 24-48 hours.

Here's and example of the foil thing that I did last year before I switched to tubs. Keep in mind that I live in Utah which is the desert...I kept humidity easily at 65% + using a heat lamp after using this thing.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...1/img00300.jpg

Thanks for the photo. I went with the damp towel over the cage at that worked great! Brought the humidity right up! It's currently around 80% right now, and has been stable at that for a few hours.
@Kaorte: Yeah. She's news. I've had her for a week this day. ^^;; So I'll try and feed her next thursday, and see what happens. Roughly, how long do their eyes stay blue? Her's have been blue for about three days now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sorakitty

Thanks for the photo. I went with the damp towel over the cage at that worked great! Brought the humidity right up! It's currently around 80% right now, and has been stable at that for a few hours.
@Kaorte: Yeah. She's news. I've had her for a week this day. ^^;; So I'll try and feed her next thursday, and see what happens. Roughly, how long do their eyes stay blue? Her's have been blue for about three days now.

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The thing with the damp towel is you have to keep it damp. I opted for the more permanent solution.
Congrats on your new BP. Almost a year ago I came here with the same questions, literally, and learned a ton from this community. Lots of good information on here. Good luck not getting anymore BPs btw. LOL :gj:

Yeah. I can do that though. And Thanks. I already want another. XD I'd love to have a pied! =3 They are just so stunning to me. To bad their also a big stab in the wallet.
My girl has me a little freaked out right now though. She's in the corner and she's making me worried she might be dead, because I can't see her breath. I know she's not that dumb and she'd move to the cool side if she got to hot. Now I think I know how new moms feel. XD

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sorakitty

Yeah. I can do that though. And Thanks. I already want another. XD I'd love to have a pied! =3 They are just so stunning to me. To bad their also a big stab in the wallet.
My girl has me a little freaked out right now though. She's in the corner and she's making me worried she might be dead, because I can't see her breath. I know she's not that dumb and she'd move to the cool side if she got to hot. Now I think I know how new moms feel. XD

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Lol they breath super slow. If you're truly worried rub a hand down her back and wake her up to see.

Okay. So I went out for a bit and when I came home, I checked out the girl and her eyes seemed to have cleared up a little. Their aren't that blue cloudy color, but seem to be around a almost undetectable cloudy white color, if not clear. So I might of been wrong about the amount of time her eyes where blue. So does this mean she's going to shed in the 24 to 48 hour period?

Also I found another mite on her. -sighs- Thank goodness it was at least crawling around on her, and didn't lodge in between her scales. Does anyone know about how long it takes for the PAM to clear out of the bank and ship from the day you order it? Or should I just directly e-mail them?

Edit// Okay. Just found out that the cash got taken out for the PAM. So I'm just curious if anyone knows about how long it takes to ship.

She should be shedding with in the next day or two :gj:

As for the time for pam to get to you, I think it ships from New york, so it shouldn't take more than a week.

XD I'm so in experienced. When I changed her water and took a look at her, her eyes looked bule-ish again, but a settle blue color. I know she's going into shed, because I had her checked out by a experienced snake/reptile owner. I just don't know anything myself. So I'll know when she shedded when I find the skin in her tank. Heh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sorakitty

XD I'm so in experienced. When I changed her water and took a look at her, her eyes looked bule-ish again, but a settle blue color. I know she's going into shed, because I had her checked out by a experienced snake/reptile owner. I just don't know anything myself. So I'll know when she shedded when I find the skin in her tank. Heh

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When they clear up they still look a little bit dull.

:) don't worry about it. Eventually you will be able to see the signs very clearly.

Okay. So I've read that when snakes go into shed, they sometimes get wrinkles. She has that. I know she's not dehydrated, because she has water available to her all day (I give her clean water everyday), and now that I've done the wet towel thing, her humidity is in at about 80%, but doesn't drop any lower then 60%. Yesterday I noticed her belly was a little pink, and the colors down near her belly seem faded. Anyways, I just want to double check that wrinkles are another shed sign.
Also, I'm bringing her to the vet thursday. =D
One more thing, (sorry ^^;; ) her skipping a meal because I was told I didn't have to offer her food, wouldn't be a big deal right? (it's not like I'm skipping every meal. I'll be offering her food on thursday after the vet visit. And the thursday I could of offered her food, was exactly a week that I've owned her)
I just want to make sure. She still look healthy, and despite her in shed, she's a little active. She's moving around when she needs to and what not.

From what I've read here, they can go months without eating. A week is pretty much nothing to them. The time to worry is when they start to lose a significant amount of weight because of it.

Skipping a meal or two is no big deal. You can feed her during shed though. Some animals will eat and some won't. There is no way to find out until you try!

Taking her to the vet is probably going to be a stressful experience so trying to feed her on the day of the vet visit might not go so well.

Okay. Any suggestions when I should feed her? I don't want to neglect feeding her two weeks in a row. Should I feed her on monday or tuesday? That way it gives her time to digest? Or possible friday after the visit?
Also, I got my PAM today! =D So I'll be treating her enclosure monday morning. Would a half inch of water be okay for her to sit in while I work on the enclosure? Or any other suggestions as to what I could do with her while I work on it? I just figured that putting her in the water would be the best, that way it could drown any more possible mites I can't see, and also help her with her shedding.

Feeding a few days before the vet would work (assuming she eats).

If she has stuck shed on her body, then a soak would be a good idea. Half an inch or so of luke warm water (room temperature) and a couple crumpled paper towels so she has something to grab onto. Leave her in there for 30-45 minutes and hopefully that will take the shed off.

Okay. Then I'll feed her tuesday. I worked things out with my local reptiel store (where they breed their own rats and mice), that if she doesn't eat, they'll take the rodent back, and write a rain check sorta thing. Which is awesome of them!
And she had yet to shed her skin. Though her skin is dry, and seems more wrinkly then normal, along with faded color (or so it seems) and a pink belly. Will it still be okay to soak her even if she has yet to shed monday?

Okay. I checked on the girl today. And all looked good.
I noticed that a tiny bit of her newspaper was soiled. Do they sometimes go while in shed? Here's a before (with the blue) and now photos of her.
And please don't yell at me for holding her, I only do it to check on her in the sunlight because my room is rather dim (even during the day).
It's not like I hold her and play with her or anything. It's just to handle her long enough to check on her.

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...s/DSCN1290.jpg

[http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...s/DSCN1291.jpg

So do things look good? I couldn't get a good photo of her head, but her eye caps are still on. And I'm feeding her tuesday, just as a fyi.
(Sorry I keep posting about her, I just want to make sure. I am a first time snake owner and everything)

has she shed any part of her body yet? like, have you found any pieces of skin in the cage?

No. I haven't seen anything in her cage, then again I wasn't looking. But I did notice a little piece of skin starting to peel away near her mouth.
I'm going to put her in a luke warm soak while I spray her cage down with the PAM tomorrow.

I know I must be annoying everyone. But today I noticed something in one of her nostrils, and it raised alarm for me.

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...s/DSCN1297.jpg

I know it's a bad photo, but you can see the left nostril is clear, and the right has something in it, or over it. When I saw this, I was worried she might have a RI, so I checked her mouth and it was all clear. It was nice and pink, no bubbles, or cottage cheese looking stuff. Could it just be stuck skin that will shed soon? I tried to rub it away, which did nothing. I also soaked her in luke warm water while I treated her enclosure with the PAM. When I had her rub through the towel to dry off, no skin came off, so I don't think it's official time for her to shed. I can see her eye caps are still on, and it's been around 6 or 7 days since I noticed her going into blue (I can't remember the exact day). Should I be worried, or am I just over reacting?

It is probably just shed skin. As long as she can breathe it should be fine.

Keep the humidity high in her enclosure and hopefully she will shed herself :)

Okay. Thank you. I assumed so, but I wasn't 100% sure, and was concerned. And she can breath. One of her nostrils are still open, and I watched her for a while, while her enclosure was airing out, and I could pick up on her sides expanding and what not.
I can see that the skin near her mouth is slowly starting to peel. I do my best to keep it up, but it never drops below 60%.
Thank you again, and hopefully I won't be posting until after her shed, or her vet visit. lol