Manasha is looking mighty dehydrated (pix)

So for anyone who doesn't know the story. Manasha is a 6 month old super pastel I bought from a herp store 3-4 months ago.

She became sick after a 2 week mite infestation that made her incredibly anemic. After a week long stay at an exotics vet where she was tube fed every other day, I brought her home (last week thursday). I took her back on saturday for another feeding. The vet instructed me to soak her every day for 10 minutes. I did that for 2 days but then stopped when she started acting stressed to the point of death. I've lefter her alone for the last 2 days I think (losing track of time here..) and decided to weigh her today and take a look at her. she hadn't come out of her hide for the last 48 hours.

I was shocked to see how dehydrated she looks. Her skin feels rough and dry and looks shriveled up. Just like an old lady. She is incredibly weak too and shaky. (what I mean is that her head doesn't stay steady when she moves around. it goes side to side...) Next time i'll take some video...

Here are some pictures. what do you think? I really don't want this stake to kick the bucket on me!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5...1F18805139.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-g...E5332A3338.JPG

Poor baby :( is that stuck shed or just her scales?

That poor thing! How's your humidity that looks like stuck shed everywhere :(

Forgot to include her weight.

She weighed 85 grams on saturday. She's 84 grams today.

complete history as long as I know..

4/26 - 74 grams (according to vet, altho, how can she gain 12g in 4 days?)
4/30 - 86 grams
5/03 - 86 grams
5/05 - 85 grams
5/09 - 84 grams

it doesn't look like a stuck shed to me because her eyes are clear.
she also has not pooped for a month.

The humidity is between 50% and 60%.
Ambient temperature is 83%
heat pad temperature is 90%.

Also she has a bowl with water in her tub 24/7. I offered her some but aside from dropping the bottom of her mouth into the water, she did not seem to drink any. I'm not sure if a subcutaneous injection of fluids would be in order or not. A soak, a spray in her tub, or something else ?

I have not been spraying her either... should I have ? I wanted to leave her alone for a while after all the poking and prodding of the past 3 weeks, mites included.

The eyes clear up after the blue stage...

This is what I do for stuck sheds:
I use a tub (with some air holes and a lid, not too many holes!), and I place newspaper on the bottom. I soak the newspaper, usually about 1/4 cup of water. Just enough to soak it but without causing a giant puddle. I place the tub over the heat source (UTH,regulated, of course) and put the snake in there overnight. By morning, they usually work it off themselves. It really looks like stuck shed to me...

You're probably right about the shed then.. because her eyes were cloudy over the weekend.

OK I will do that tonight with the newspaper (does it have to be newspaper or can it be paper towels?)

Paper towels work too I'm sure. Just make sure it's not a puddle, just enough water to soak it. And I try and make sure the water is warm-ish so you don't stick the snake in a cold wet tub lol.

What LGray said....

Do what you can to boost your humidity too. It should be about 70% - especially right now while she's recouperating.

she's moving around in there and sticking her head under her body... should I do the wet paper towel thing now or wait till later tonight..?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

What LGray said....

Do what you can to boost your humidity too. It should be about 70% - especially right now while she's recouperating.

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roger that!

Now until morning would be fine. You'll see a lot of condensation...that's normal so don't freak out. It's only temporary for overnight...

Woot! doing it right now.... I *much* rather fix a stuck shed than a dying snake... lol...

The skin has already started coming off around her head (before I did anything). This is awesome, thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Please let me know if it works for you. I started doing that for my bad sheds this winter, it was a terrible winter for humidity here :rolleyes: but it worked every time!

I'm actually filing this tip away for future reference myself. I like this idea much better than the pillow case thing.... Thanks Leah!! ;)

humidity 90%
Ambient 79F
Heat Pad 90F

She already looks better. No wrinkles anymore... skin hanging around her head but she's not doing anything to get it off. Just hiding out..

Just give her time. She should be much better by morning. :gj:

See hon, I told you. That silly vet telling you to soak her in the beginning stages of a shed was going to wreck her shed.

Give her a little time and some peace and quiet and she should come out of most of it. If not, you can gently help her peel it off.

I am waiting and rooting for you both that she gets better. She is such a pretty snake.

Gale

My corn just shed and his head and about 3 inches down the top of his back got stuck and then some other random spots. All I did to get em unstuck was take little tub put a little bit like half way up his sides of luke warm water then got a wash cloth soaked in water as well then left him in there for 15 minutes and him moving in and out of the wash cloth got the stuck shed off with ease!

I found these instructions on the forum here when I searched stuck shed. Hope this helps at all! :gj: good luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by angllady2

See hon, I told you. That silly vet telling you to soak her in the beginning stages of a shed was going to wreck her shed.

Give her a little time and some peace and quiet and she should come out of most of it. If not, you can gently help her peel it off.

I am waiting and rooting for you both that she gets better. She is such a pretty snake.

Gale

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I know.. I felt the voices in my head saying "I told you so" all evening.. ;)

Well, I have some great news!! She finished shedding already and it's not even 11pm yet (here at least).

One single long piece..
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a...251C094366.JPG

And here she is post-shed... Looking like her old self!
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M...C5A10D002B.JPG

can't tell if her eye caps shed tho... hrmph..

What a beautiful shed. A:gj: re her eyecaps not on it?

Tada! Told you it was shed. Looking so much better :)

no they weren't ... :(

If her caps weren't on it. That's ok. Keep your humidity up and wait for the next shed. I'm sure you've seen it in her before but don't Try and remove the caps. Watch you humidity and I'm sure if they didn't come off this time they will next time. It won't bother her at all if they didn't.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

thanks! I'm going to try feeding her a hopper tomorrow evening. I offered her a hopper earlier today before the shed and she sortof followed it around with her head but didn't make a move. I removed the hopper after a few minutes. I feel hopeful she'll eat tomorrow now that she has shed. Thank you sooooooooo much!!!


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I'm going to be offering her a hopper this evening. Hopefully she's feeling good enough to eat now that the dead skin is off.. Wish me luck!!

She looks great! I'm still a fan of her insane blushing!

I bet she'll take the hopper. When my snakes don't take food, its usually due to them being in shed. They eat all other times.

And like everyone else said, if she does still have her eye caps, don't remove them. It does more harm than good. Just wait for the next shed and get her humidity up.

thanks! My fingers & toes are crossed..

Can a snake die if you don't get a stuck shed off like that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by satomi325

She looks great! I'm still a fan of her insane blushing!

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I've seen pictures of super patels a lot lighter than her tho...
And unfotunately, I've read that pastels tend to darken as they age. Is that always the case ?

Awesome NEWS!!!

SHE ATE A HOPPER!!!!!

Woooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Now I hope she keeps it down...

She looks so pretty after her shed. Glad to hear that she ate for you. Hope the little thing continues to improve for you :)

I have seen some of your other posts. I'm so happy for you and your snake. After all you have been through you must feel like you won the lottery.

So glad to hear things are looking up!! Once she's digested and settled down a bit more, you'll have to post some fresh pics!! :gj:

I was doing the happy dance around the office. It's ironic that the vet called and I was on the phone with her when I looked over and caught manasha swallowing the last of the hopper. The vet called to tell me that her poop (which I dropped off this morning) was "negative". Meaning no parasites. She said that even if she did have parasites before, it would have been negative anyway because she was de-wormed last week. I did the mandatory happy dance around the office when I got off the phone. Soooo happy she's eating on her own. Hopefully she will strengthen up now. I'll feed her every 5 days (or try to if she'll take it) from now until she grows a bit. I'd love to see her grow because she hasn't grown since I got her. We'll see what happens from here...