Help Please

So my 6ish month old boa has me a little worried. She refused a meal so i figured she was probably going into shed, soon enough a little while later her eyes went blue. It has now been about 2 weeks since her eyes returned back to normal and still no shed. Her skin looks all wrinkly but I can't tell if it's because of the shed or because she hasn't eaten in 3 weeks. I've tried bumping the humidity. Is there anything I can do or am I just overreacting?

After two weeks after turning clear it seems she has a stuck shed. I would definitely recommend bumping up the humidity since she had a bad shed, also, try giving her a nice long soak in luke warm water (not hot!). She may want to rub against your hands to rub the shed off after the soak, but if I need to assist I usually just put them back in their hides and they remove it themselves....Good luck! :)

Edit: Do you know why she hasn't eaten? Was it because she's been in shed?

Ok thanks. This sucks because this is only her second shed with me and the first one was bad too. I've even bumped up the humidty since then to make sure it doesnt happen again :( I haven't tried to feed her since she went into shed because everything I've read online says not to. Should I try and see what happens?

EDIT: Do you have any tips to help up the humidity? I spray a couple times a day, I have a damp towel on the lid, anything else i can do?

What are you keeping her in? Like, what's her set up?

I have no problem feeding my boa during shed! He's albino, so I can't even tell when he's going into shed...and he's NEVER refused a meal for me. Especially a baby, I wouldn't not offer it just because of shedding.

I'm not sure the exact dimensions, 2x5x3 or so? Screen top lid, glass on the sides.

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Originally Posted by mbrandner27

Ok thanks. This sucks because this is only her second shed with me and the first one was bad too. I've even bumped up the humidty since then to make sure it doesnt happen again :( I haven't tried to feed her since she went into shed because everything I've read online says not to. Should I try and see what happens?

EDIT: Do you have any tips to help up the humidity? I spray a couple times a day, I have a damp towel on the lid, anything else i can do?

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I would try to get the stuck shed off before you try to feed. Stuck shed tends to get dry which makes it less flexible. I also feed all of my snakes when they are in shed.

As for your humidity, what are you using as a substrate? I use cypress mulch with my boa that I keep in a tank. I also keep her water bowel over the UTH all the time, mist daily and keep a damp towel on top of the tank. I've had her about 5 months and I get perfect sheds from her.

Wow, this would have me a little worried too. Boas should shed within a few days of returning to normal after the blue phase. What causes the skin to become faded and the eyes hazy in the first place is fluids between the old and new skin. Typically, they help the shedding process after the snake clears up. However, if the shed skin is not shed properly, these fluids can dry out and act almost like glue causing a stuck shed. Take some lukewarm water (only slightly above room temp) and soak the boa for a good couple hours or longer with water deep enough to go about half way up its sides. After the soak the boa may need to be assisted in shedding. However do not be too aggressive in pulling off the old skin, which can cause injury. Simply have the boa crawl through a damp towel, or use a rubbing motion to roll it off with your fingers. If you do not get it all in the first attempt, soak the boa again and repeat until you get it all.

This is most likely a response to too low humidity. I generally keep my boas in 60-70% humidity and approaching 80% during the summer months. As long as there is no condensation or wet conditions within the enclosure, the humidity will not be too high. My temps during the summer months are 92 F on the hotspot and 78-80 F ambient air temp on the cool side. Keeping the heat and humidity in check will help with future sheds. Typically glass aquariums with screen lids are not good at keeping proper heat and humidity. You can tweak it by covering most of the top with something to keep in humidity well and using an under tank heater on a thermostat and good size water bowl. However, the best option is the use of plastic tubs with small vent holes in the sides using a soldering iron, and when the boa grows switch to a plastic reptile cage.

Good luck

What are you using for heat? If you are using a lamp in a glass terrarium that explains the problem with humidity. I also agree that you should do the soaking and removal of the shed before feeding, especially after so long with stuck shed.

I use the Repti-Bark. I planned on switching to the cypress mulch as soon as this bag runs out. I'll try soaking her and see if that helps. I really hope everything turns out ok :(

Edit: I am using a lamp, I should switch to an UTH?

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Originally Posted by mbrandner27

I use the Repti-Bark. I planned on switching to the cypress mulch as soon as this bag runs out. I'll try soaking her and see if that helps. I really hope everything turns out ok :(

Edit: I am using a lamp, I should switch to an UTH?

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I would switch to a UTH with a thermostat/dimmer and put your water bowel at least partial on top of it. Lamps kill humidity even if you put the water bowel directly under them.

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Originally Posted by Kinra

I would switch to a UTH with a thermostat/dimmer and put your water bowel at least partial on top of it. Lamps kill humidity even if you put the water bowel directly under them.

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+1 :gj: UTH with a thermostat....

Ok thanks for the help everyone, I really hope she'll be ok :(

She will be fine, stuck shed can't cause too many problems, it's more of an annoyance. Just try soaking for like 20 or 30 minutes and see how that works. She could probably remove it herself after a long soak....then feed....then worry about changing the husbandry :) Don't worry.

Thanks. I love it here, everyone is so helpful!

So I bought a UTH today. It has solved my humidity problem, but unfortunately the temperature hasn't gotten higher than 84 degrees. So now I'm not sure what to do.

How are you measuring the temps and where are you measuring them? A UTH will give you a hot spot on the surface of the cage but does nothing for the ambient temps. But you do need to make sure the UTH is being controlled by a thermostat or a dimmer to make sure it isn't getting hot enough to burn the snake.

If you're not already using one, I would recommend getting a digital thermometer with a probe. Put the probe directly on the glass over the hot spot, under the substrate. You may want to glue it down with a dab of hot glue so it doesn't move. That is the temp you should be measuring. If you're using the little sticky dial thermometers, they can be highly inaccurate, not to mention that they are generally stuck up high in the tank and will only read your ambient temps, not the hot spot...

EDIT: Someone will be along shortly to tell you to get a temp gun instead of a digital thermometer. Personal preference IMO, but just make sure you have something more reliable than a cheapo analog dial stuck up high in the tank. You need to be measuring the hottest temperature your snake could be exposed to...

Ok so i stuck the digital probe on the glass and yes its much hotter there. What temperature is too hot, because witht he substrate on top of that its obviously not as hot as the glass itself.

I'm not an expert on RTB husbandry, but I recall the temp range being about 5 degrees cooler than a BP. So, shoot for mid to upper 80s for the hot side... Someone may come along and correct me though...

Ok, I will bite and be "that guy", lol. As stated in my first post in this thread, I keep the hotspot at about 92 F as measured on top of the substrate directly above the UTH using an infrared temp gun. The heat pad should cover an area of about 1/3 of the enclosure off to one side to provide the proper temp gradient. Ambient air temps on cool side 78-80ish and humidity between 60-75% would be ideal. I like to keep all wires and probes out of the enclosure, so the temp gun for hot spot temps paired with the digital thermometer/hygrometer for the cool side works well. I would recommend using only a very thin layer of substrate. You can use reptibark or cypress if it is spread thin, but I just use plain folded newspaper. It may not be as pleasing to look at, but it does well in my tubs. Now that you have switched to an UTH with a thermostat, you can cover most of the screen top with something to keep in more heat and humidity while making small holes (about 1 inch) in each of the 4 corners for ventilation. You can then tweak it once you see what the humidity and ambient temps are doing.

I think it is important to mention that proper humidity does not mean keeping the whole enclosure wet, and I tweak things so that I do not have to mist at all. A wet enclosure and condensation can lead to more severe health problems down the road due to more bacteria forming and possibly mold. All the humidity in my enclosures is provided by the proper heat and evaporation from the water bowl. In time, you will get the right airflow and humidity balance :gj:

Hope that helps a bit.

Ok, thanks to everyone for the help, I really appreciate it. Still no sign of the old skin coming off, but I've soaked her once a day for 2 days now so hopefully it'll come off soon!

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Originally Posted by mbrandner27

So my 6ish month old boa has me a little worried. She refused a meal so i figured she was probably going into shed, soon enough a little while later her eyes went blue. It has now been about 2 weeks since her eyes returned back to normal and still no shed. Her skin looks all wrinkly but I can't tell if it's because of the shed or because she hasn't eaten in 3 weeks. I've tried bumping the humidity. Is there anything I can do or am I just overreacting?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by mbrandner27

I'm not sure the exact dimensions, 2x5x3 or so? Screen top lid, glass on the sides.

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That is an awfully big tank for such a young boa. It is possible that your baby boa may be stressed from the size of the tank which, in addition to the humidity issues, can cause the bad/stuck sheds and food refusals. I would recommend setting your boa up in something smaller, like a 32 quart tub, with 2 snug hides, a water bowls and maybe a small branch or fake rock, and save the tank for when it is older. A tub will be easier to maintain humidity and offer a little more security, which should help with the feeding and sheds. This will also give you plenty of time to experiment with the larger tank to find out what type of heating configuration will work best for it. Here is the link to a tutorial thread that I made on setting up a tub, in case you want to look into it.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...Basics...*DUW*

If you are feeding frozen/thawed prey, then you need to make sure that the prey item is thoroughly thawed and heated. Some boas will not eat if the prey is too cool. I use a blow dryer to heat the rats up to a temperature of 99-100F right before I offer it. This is the natural body temp of live rats, and boas seem to respond alot better to it.

Here is a link to a thread on removing stuck shed. I have occasionally used this method and it has worked for me.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hed-No-problem.

Here are a few questions:
- How big is your boa?
- How long have you had it?
- How often do you feed it?
- What do you feed it?
- Could you post some photos of the tank?

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

That is an awfully big tank for such a young boa. It is possible that your baby boa may be stressed from the size of the tank which, in addition to the humidity issues, can cause the bad/stuck sheds and food refusals. I would recommend setting your boa up in something smaller, like a 32 quart tub, with 2 snug hides, a water bowls and maybe a small branch or fake rock, and save the tank for when it is older. A tub will be easier to maintain humidity and offer a little more security, which should help with the feeding and sheds. This will also give you plenty of time to experiment with the larger tank to find out what type of heating configuration will work best for it. Here is the link to a tutorial thread that I made on setting up a tub, in case you want to look into it.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...Basics...*DUW*

If you are feeding frozen/thawed prey, then you need to make sure that the prey item is thoroughly thawed and heated. Some boas will not eat if the prey is too cool. I use a blow dryer to heat the rats up to a temperature of 99-100F right before I offer it. This is the natural body temp of live rats, and boas seem to respond alot better to it.

Here is a link to a thread on removing stuck shed. I have occasionally used this method and it has worked for me.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hed-No-problem.

Here are a few questions:
- How big is your boa?
- How long have you had it?
- How often do you feed it?
- What do you feed it?
- Could you post some photos of the tank?

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Excellent points, I missed the part about the size of the enclosure. I currently use tubs and love them, it is very easy to maintain proper heat and humidity that way. I like them so much, I am going to order some 4' slide out tubs from Freedom Breeder this coming spring for the boas that are outgrowing their 41 qt Rubbermaids. Not only is it difficult to maintain proper parameters in a larger enclosure but, as Vypyrz points out, an enclosure that is too large will stress out a little snake as well.

Hmmm, the guy at the reptile store told me boas aren't like ball pythons and have no problem being in big enclosures. To answer your questions, the boa is a little over 2 feet long and I've had her for almost 5 months. I feed it fresh killed pinky rats. The only other time I've had a problem with feeding was the last time she shed, so I'm assuming that's why she refused the last one.

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Originally Posted by mbrandner27

Hmmm, the guy at the reptile store told me boas aren't like ball pythons and have no problem being in big enclosures. To answer your questions, the boa is a little over 2 feet long and I've had her for almost 5 months. I feed it fresh killed pinky rats. The only other time I've had a problem with feeding was the last time she shed, so I'm assuming that's why she refused the last one.

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Most boas don't mind the larger tanks, and as they grow, pretty much need them, but sometimes the younger ones, especially if they have been raised in tubs for several months, need a little more time to adjust.
Based on what you have said, it sounds like yours is doing well in the larger enclosure, and I agree, that the food refusal may be related to the stuck shed. I would say wait a day or so after you remove the shed and offer a meal.