Very wrinkly/loose skin horizontally along body...

I noticed Cake has been getting increasingly wrinkly horizontally along his body. Not vertically, like I often see in pre-shedding photos. I previously thought it was from getting ready to shed, but now I'm thinking otherwise... His skin feels almost loose and wrinkly horizontally, almost like it's falling down around his spine, and not rotund like my other BP is. It is particularly visible around his neck, with the skin hanging almost transparent below his neck?

He has a tup setup, a large water bowl, and his humidity is constantly around 70%~80%, depending on the day. The LA humidity lately has been around 60% in itself, so even with a ton of holes all over his tub (which now looks like swiss cheese), his humidity just is stuck at around that high. His feeding response is fine and he ate 4 days ago.

I'm hoping it is just from shedding, but just need to make sure... and any advice is appreciated! I can provide photos if needed.

Well, here's a photo anyway- sorry it's pretty dark right now. :s You can kind of see the way his skin is folding horizontally along his whole body, hanging down from his spine, and particularly on his neck.

http://s10.postimg.org/knnsgkhux/Full_Size_Render_4.jpg

My initial guess was dehydration but that humidity is p high. Have you seen other clues that he was getting ready to shed like going blue (in albinos you'd notice his eyes turning milky pink instead of red)?

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

My initial guess was dehydration but that humidity is p high. Have you seen other clues that he was getting ready to shed like going blue (in albinos you'd notice his eyes turning milky pink instead of red)?

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Yeah, I would have figured dehydration if it weren't for the humidity... Is it at all possible that my Acurite hygrometer is inaccurate? (lol...)

I honestly can not tell whether or not his eyes or skin is getting lighter/milky, because I'm still not familiar with his original coloration. I'd say that his colors maybe look lighter? Maybe that's what I WANT to see, so I can't say for sure...

Also noting that I've been seeing him rubbing his head on his own back last week. Is that a sign of shedding? Whether it is or isn't though, the whole loose overall skin and visible spine shape is worrying me... almost looks like his skin is collapsing down around his spine, if you can imagine.

Can you get us a picture of his spine to show us how the skin is collapsing? My first thought is he could be getting too skinny. Has he been eating for you? What do you feed him?

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Originally Posted by Penultimate

Can you get us a picture of his spine to show us how the skin is collapsing? My first thought is he could be getting too skinny. Has he been eating for you? What do you feed him?

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Sure, I'll a photo now- I got him around 2 weeks ago, and he's eaten twice. His feeding response is great. He's around 70g and on mice hoppers, which is what the breeder had him on before shipping to me.

Is it digital or analogue (I think accurite makes both so I want to be sure)? You want the digital one, and you want to make it's in a place where it won't get splashed by the water bowl and double check that it hasn't just been peed on. Other than that, only way to tell if your equipment is faulty is to test with with a control; put it in a place you 100% know the humidity of or put it next to equipment you know to be accurate and compare readings.

If you missed the pink belly or blue phase of shedding it might be very hard to tell for sure, but over all the scales will just look dull and colors sort of washed out.

I'm not sure if too high humidity can give a snake saggy skin, someone with more experience there will have to weigh in on this.

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Originally Posted by Penultimate

Can you get us a picture of his spine to show us how the skin is collapsing? My first thought is he could be getting too skinny. Has he been eating for you? What do you feed him?

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Does not look like a skinny snake from the first pic. He's got a nice round body shape. If he was too thin you'd see a more triangle shaped animal. Sounds like he's doing great food wise too if he's already got two meals in him with you in that amount of time, and hoppers are the right size for his weight.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Is it digital or analogue (I think accurite makes both so I want to be sure)? You want the digital one, and you want to make it's in a place where it won't get splashed by the water bowl and double check that it hasn't just been peed on. Other than that, only way to tell if your equipment is faulty is to test with with a control; put it in a place you 100% know the humidity of or put it next to equipment you know to be accurate and compare readings.

If you missed the pink belly or blue phase of shedding it might be very hard to tell for sure, but over all the scales will just look dull and colors sort of washed out.

I'm not sure if too high humidity can give a snake saggy skin, someone with more experience there will have to weigh in on this.

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High humidity shouldn't give a snake saggy skin, at least, not from what I've seen. I live in a humid area with my snake room generally being 50% humidity or more. I do what I can to lessen this, but every once in a while the weather gets ridiculously wet and there's nothing I can do. I haven't noticed any issues with saggy skin during particularly humid weather.

Yeah, it just seems like the only thing off on the husbandry that would cause an issue. 70-80 constant is nuts considering they usually only need 70 when they're about to shed. But if he is about to shed then that would be fine.

This one's a chin scratcher for me.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Does not look like a skinny snake from the first pic. He's got a nice round body shape. If he was too thin you'd see a more triangle shaped animal. Sounds like he's doing great food wise too if he's already got two meals in him with you in that amount of time, and hoppers are the right size for his weight.

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It doesn't hurt to try and rule this one out, though. At the very least, it would be helpful to see what the OP means by skin collapsing around the spine. :)

The hygrometer is digital. And I'm glad he doesn't look skinny... here are more photos of the whole saggy skin under his neck and horizontally. It's actually much more prominent/saggy and foldy when I pick him up, but less when he's just sitting on this pillow. No edits to the photo either, so hopefully better to tell if he's pinker? Hopefully it's a totally normal and weird shed, and I'm just freaking out. x__x

http://s12.postimg.org/mh8r326u5/IMG_0546.jpg


http://s12.postimg.org/o04581del/IMG_0547.jpg

http://s12.postimg.org/6ljwzrg9p/IMG_0551.jpg

http://s12.postimg.org/sna79t0rh/IMG_0549.jpg

Is his body triangle shaped or round? You don't happen to have a picture of his spine while he's looped on your arm, do you? Hard to explain. Like this, but with a spine closeup (http://powerman2442.tripod.com/siteb...python_1_4.jpg). I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but the more pictures the better.

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Originally Posted by Penultimate

Is his body triangle shaped or round? You don't happen to have a picture of his spine while he's looped on your arm, do you? Hard to explain. Like this, but with a spine closeup (http://powerman2442.tripod.com/siteb...python_1_4.jpg). I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but the more pictures the better.

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Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of that today. :s I feel sorry that I keep taking him out for photos... I am sorry, Cake...

His body shape from above is round- he's round all the way to his butt. But he hasn't pooped for me yet in 2 weeks either, which hopefully is... normal.

Are these wrinkles and saggy skin on his neck and body normal pre-shed? Are they not? x__x

ETA: You can kind of see in the last photo- he is literally round all the way to his anus, and suddenly narrows at the tail tip. Kind of looks like he has a stuck poop or something. Normal/Not normal?

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of that today. :s I feel sorry that I keep taking him out for photos... I am sorry, Cake...

His body shape from above is round- he's round all the way to his butt. But he hasn't pooped for me yet in 2 weeks either, which hopefully is... normal.

Are these wrinkles and saggy skin on his neck and body normal pre-shed? Are they not? x__x

ETA: You can kind of see in the last photo- he is literally round all the way to his anus, and suddenly narrows at the tail tip. Kind of looks like he has a stuck poop or something. Normal/Not normal?

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Yeah, don't bug him too much if you can help it.

I'm really not sure. Mine don't look like that before they shed, so I'm thinking it may be something else. The only snake I've seen look like this was a little one that just wouldn't eat for a while and was losing weight (she's ok now, don't worry, I figured it out), so that's why I'm wondering if he's too skinny. On a mostly unrelated note, how often are you feeding him?

Yes, that's normal. They save up their poop and they let it loose on the day you have zero time to clean.

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Originally Posted by Penultimate

Yeah, don't bug him too much if you can help it.

I'm really not sure. Mine don't look like that before they shed, so I'm thinking it may be something else. The only snake I've seen look like this was a little one that just wouldn't eat for a while and was losing weight (she's ok now, don't worry, I figured it out), so that's why I'm wondering if he's too skinny. On a mostly unrelated note, how often are you feeding him?

Yes, that's normal. They save up their poop and they let it loose on the day you have zero time to clean.

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He's eaten for me every 6 days- I just got him 2 weeks ago and he's eaten twice so far. <__> This saggy skin is gradually worrying me more and more, seeing as it's got everyone confused...

LOL. I will be prepared for that, yet also thankful it's out.

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

He's eaten for me every 6 days- I just got him 2 weeks ago and he's eaten twice so far. <__> This saggy skin is gradually worrying me more and more, seeing as it's got everyone confused...

LOL. I will be prepared for that, yet also thankful it's out.

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It's great that he's eating for you already! I was mostly curious about that one. I honestly wouldn't worry about the skin yet if he's not acting lethargic. Hopefully some other people will chime in with more information. I'll do some research about this one and let you know if I find something. :)

It's interesting. Even more fun when you have multiple ball pythons and they give you synchronized poop. Mine did that today. I think I cleaned out five or six tubs from snakes that haven't made a mess in weeks...

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Originally Posted by Penultimate

It's great that he's eating for you already! I was mostly curious about that one. I honestly wouldn't worry about the skin yet if he's not acting lethargic. Hopefully some other people will chime in with more information. I'll do some research about this one and let you know if I find something. :)

It's interesting. Even more fun when you have multiple ball pythons and they give you synchronized poop. Mine did that today. I think I cleaned out five or six tubs from snakes that haven't made a mess in weeks...

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Thanks for the feedback! Still hoping this is totally normal... If this little guy has something wrong with him, I might get a heart attack. x_x And thanks- please let me know if you've found anything!

Hahah.. Well, I have two BP's right now, so I'll be waiting for the day of synchronized pooping.