Horrible Shed Need Some Advice.

I had asked about shedding cycle and humidity in another post and now that my boy is shedding it is horrible. I need some advice about what I can do. I am pretty sure that I am going to have to take him to the vet for the retained eye caps as well as the top of his head which both look like he has had multiple sheds without correctly shedding. He was a rescue so I am not sure on his back ground. Right now he is in a 10 gallon tank the uth is between 88-89 degrees his humidity is at 73%. He is on newspapers right now. I have been soaking him nightly for about 15-20 minutes to help soften the skin. I even put a little bit of mineral oil on the eye caps to see if that would help but nothing seems to be working. Does anyone have any other suggestions that I could try for him before I take him to the vet. Also has anyone ever used the shed aid and had it work?

Zoo Med Shed Aid

Here are a couple of pics of his head.

http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Lucahead1.jpg

http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/Lucahead.jpg

Let the snake run through a damp towel after soaking, the remaining skin should peel off.
Try soaking him longer than 15 mins, I've read caresheets telling me to soak the snake for 2 hours on shallow water.

Thanks I will do that when I get home from work tonight. Any suggestions about the retained eye caps or the top of his head. I want to get the shed dealt with before I feed him.

Soak the snake for longer. Room temp water with a few small air holes, some paper towel for him to grip on to. I'd leave him in there for quite a while. Just leave him on a table within your field of vision so you can keep an eye on him.

After maybe 45 min to an hour, try gently rubbing the skin off his head. Don't mess with the eye caps. If they come off, great. If not, just wait til next shed. If the skin doesn't seem loose enough to rub off with a damp paper towel or cloth, keep him in the soaking tub.

Its really not that bad. No need to go to a vet. I've actually heard of vets blinding snakes trying to get eye caps off.

And no reason why he can't eat with a little stuck shed. Not a huge deal.

A good shed starts with long term good husbandry. If you haven't had this guy for long then he may have a bad shed or two, even if you keep him in ideal conditions, due to the damage done before you got him.

Please don't soak while your snake is in blue as that can be counter-productive. You can soak him after he starts to pop the shed. Just keep his humidity up while he's in blue.

Since you use newspaper as substrate then he would probably benefit from having a humid hide. It gives him a place to go with high humidity without you having to turn the newspaper into a damp mess.

With correct conditions he may just pop his own eye caps. If he doesn't they should come off with his next shed.

Finally, shed ease is snake oil. Your money would be better spent on spaghnum moss for his humid hide.

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Originally Posted by thewolfden

Any suggestions about the retained eye caps or the top of his head.

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Don't mess with his eyes. If you sort out the humidity issues by the next time he sheds, the eyecap problem (and the stuck shed problem) will almost assuredly fix themselves.

Thanks for all the advice, I will soak him longer tonight. He has been out cruising and I had planned on feeding him tomorrow night. I will keep that schedule and see how he does. I have only had him a little over a week.

While he is in pre shed, do not soak him.. As bcr said.. When you see him going into a shed just bump the humidity up and let everything be natural.


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Originally Posted by thewolfden

Thanks for all the advice, I will soak him longer tonight. He has been out cruising and I had planned on feeding him tomorrow night. I will keep that schedule and see how he does. I have only had him a little over a week.

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As long as there's no ring of complete stuck shed anywhere on his body, and his tail is clean, I wouldn't soak him again after tonight if he eats tomorrow. Just keep his humidity up and leave him alone to digest for a few days; you won't fix the effects from months of bad husbandry in a week.

I have helped snakes with bad sheds before. The reason humidity is important is because they are essentially breathing in water in the air to hydrate themselves. Soaking a snake can work to release stuck shed though. Let them soak in luke warm+ water and then let them slither though your grip and it will roll off like a condom. Never pull off stuck shed. Only let the snake do it with with the motion of their body through your hands. Humidity in my tubs is at a good level so I only raise when I see a snake is gonna shed in the next week. While I'm cleaning tubs & I will fog their tub (zoo med repi fogger) rather than misting because it puts micro sized water molecules in the air that the snake breathes in. As for stuck eye caps. I've heard everything from leave it to bring it to a vet. I have done this many times for peoples snakes. It is very easy if your a competent person. Soak in luke warm+ water making sure the snake gets the occasional head under the water. hold the snake firmly behind the head. gently brush a q-tip across the eye from front to back with a little twisting motion to. Very gently! usually if you have soaked enough it will just slide right off. if at any point you feel even the slightest resistance then stop, continue to soak and repeat. I know I'm going to catch a lot of crap on here for suggesting to do it yourself because it is easy to always reply "go to a vet". The vet is going to do the same thing. If you need a walk though let me know and I can call you over the phone.

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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

I have helped snakes with bad sheds before. The reason humidity is important is because they are essentially breathing in water in the air to hydrate themselves....

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

While I'm cleaning tubs & I will fog their tub (zoo med repi fogger) rather than misting because it puts micro sized water molecules in the air that the snake breathes in.

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I'm going to stay away from the eyecap debate, but snakes don't breath water in to hydrate themselves, they drink... I think your reasoning behind that advice is a bit off. By that same logic, fogging vs misting really shouldn't make a lot of difference as long as you reach the target humidity.

Edit: On the chance I've just never heard about that and I'm wrong, could you tell me where you got that info? It's just so far removed from anything I've ever heard my knee-jerk reaction is that it doesn't make sense.

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Originally Posted by DVirginiana

I'm going to stay away from the eyecap debate, but snakes don't breath water in to hydrate themselves, they drink... I think your reasoning behind that advice is a bit off. By that same logic, fogging vs misting really shouldn't make a lot of difference as long as you reach the target humidity.

Edit: On the chance I've just never heard about that and I'm wrong, could you tell me where you got that info? It's just so far removed from anything I've ever heard my knee-jerk reaction is that it doesn't make sense.

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Those to sentences jumped out at me too. :confusd:

Humidity obviously keeps the lungs and skin in good shape, but as far as internal hydration goes.... Food and water. Plain and simple. There is no way a bp could stay hydrated on humidity alone.

As for micro-sized water molecules.... Its called WATER VAPOR. lol

Yup you guys are right. It makes no sense. I kept using the word breathe for some dumb reason and never reread it before hitting submit. Here is basically what I was trying to say and I wish I could edit the post so people didn't get wrong information that I spewed out.

Humidity plays a part in shedding, but from my understanding Hydration is more important, wether from drinking or the rats fluid from eating. I remember reading somewhere that I thought was legit that raising humidity in the last few days before shedding actually does nothing as far as wether the snake will shed properly.Then what I was meant to say was that rather than misting with a traditional sprayer, which is basically just throwing water on the substrate/cage to raise humidity there was another way to get the snake to hydrate itself, which is more important from my understanding. I use the fogger/nebulizer because my snakes actually drink the water "vapor" :) right out of the air....NOT breathe it in. I think what i was trying to say is that the breathing and more so tongue flicking was pulling the vapor into their mouth where they then ingest it. Sorry for the confusion on my part.

So now here is my question: Anybody have an opinion on the hydration vs humidity when it comes to shedding??

also.. I know humans loose hydration every time we exhale. so if you where inhaling hydration through something like a fogger would it offset the loss from breathing out and thus keep you hydrated?

But Yes PLEASE disregard any of my original post regarding breathing, cause that was just confusing and wrong. The other crap I wrote about helping the stuck shed and the eye caps I'll stand behind.

Maybe not. Just pulled this from a vet himself regarding treating an RI with a nebulizer:

"In simple cases nebulization with sterile saline can moisten respiratory secretions making it easier for the animal to expel and aid in the breakup if necrotic or inflammatory debris. It can also aid in the hydration status of the patient as some of the water vapor will be absorbed by the lower respiratory tract."

I have used the nebulizer for a snake with a bad RI before to administer F10 SC, which was made popular by Brian at BHB. The breakdown of water to such small size allowed it carry the F10 deep into the lungs. It did not work in my situation, but it seems like maybe some of that does hydrate the snake.....Although not as much as drinking or eating of course. Either way what i said about breathing in humidity to hydrate was off.

I think hydration via ingestion and hydration via humidity are both essential to the shedding process and the overall health of the animal.

I don't think using a fogger is a bad idea or anything, its just not practical for most people. I don't think it does anything more helpful than a spray bottle would. They are both increasing humidity. I use a spray bottle, or just a big water bowl. I use tubs so I don't really have any shed issues.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

A good shed starts with long term good husbandry. If you haven't had this guy for long then he may have a bad shed or two, even if you keep him in ideal conditions, due to the damage done before you got him.

Please don't soak while your snake is in blue as that can be counter-productive. You can soak him after he starts to pop the shed. Just keep his humidity up while he's in blue.

Since you use newspaper as substrate then he would probably benefit from having a humid hide. It gives him a place to go with high humidity without you having to turn the newspaper into a damp mess.

With correct conditions he may just pop his own eye caps. If he doesn't they should come off with his next shed.

Finally, shed ease is snake oil. Your money would be better spent on spaghnum moss for his humid hide.

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I have only had him about a week. He is not in blue. His eyes cleared on Saturday or at least what I could see of them. I have put a humid hide in with him but he refuses to use it, So right now it is just being used to keep the humidity up.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Soak the snake for longer. Room temp water with a few small air holes, some paper towel for him to grip on to. I'd leave him in there for quite a while. Just leave him on a table within your field of vision so you can keep an eye on him.

After maybe 45 min to an hour, try gently rubbing the skin off his head. Don't mess with the eye caps. If they come off, great. If not, just wait til next shed. If the skin doesn't seem loose enough to rub off with a damp paper towel or cloth, keep him in the soaking tub.

Its really not that bad. No need to go to a vet. I've actually heard of vets blinding snakes trying to get eye caps off.

And no reason why he can't eat with a little stuck shed. Not a huge deal.

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Thanks I have him soaking right now, his shed is coming off in pieces and not in one piece. He is definitely trying to work off the shed on his head so I will continue to let him try. I have never had this issue with my corn snakes they shed so easily.

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Originally Posted by thewolfden

Thanks I have him soaking right now, his shed is coming off in pieces and not in one piece. He is definitely trying to work off the shed on his head so I will continue to let him try. I have never had this issue with my corn snakes they shed so easily.

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When I first adopted mine she had a pretty badly retained shed that came off in bits and pieces. Didn't take long for her to bounce back, and every shed since has been fine. Depending on the previous conditions it may take a couple odd sheds before yours sheds off normally, but hopefully the next shed will be better than this one!

I just want to say thank you to everyone one After about an hour and 45 minutes of soaking all of the shed came off. His head and eye caps came off too. The eye caps were very hard to the touch so I have no doubt that there were multiple on there. I am concerned about his tail tip. I did not see any visible damage to it but it is very hard to the touch. I will keep an eye on it. Now to the next hurdle him eating. I haven't tried to feed him yet so hopefully he will be good and hungry tomorrow night.

a freshly shed boy
http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/IMG_3805.jpg http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/IMG_3806.jpg

Congrats! He's looking good. Now what I've read (and i most certainly could be wrong) is that It might be good to let him settle in without handling for a while before you feed him. Do you plan on feeding in his enclosure?

Nice work!! Tail tips just feel hard like that so i wouldnt worry. Glad it worked out :)

Great news and Good work! :)