sheding and feeding?

should i feed normally while they are in a shed??
my babies have been hazy for a while.. and theyre kinda getting flaky in places.. i need to feed them, i tried last night and they didnt eat..

anyways, should i try again tomorrow? or wait till they have completely shed..

If they are getting flaky then they should have shed already. You need to soak them and try to get the shed off. The humidity in your enclosures are too low and you should try to get it to 50-60%. I would wait to feed them until you can get the shed off. ;)

okie dokie.
i need to find a way to get my humidity up..

ill soak them first thing tomorrow.
thanks a bunch (^_^)

Your humidity is definately flakey (no pun intended). That said. 99% of my BPs eat while in shed.

so when i soak them, should i try to get the skin off. or do i just let them play a lil while and put them back up and wiat for them to shed???

Well if they can get some off by themselves thats fine, but you can gently rub them and pull some off also. ;)

i soaked them again today, and got at least 50% off, the rest just wouldnt come yet..

so ill soak them again tomorrow.

im gonna have to feed them tonight tho..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phantommaggot

i soaked them again today, and got at least 50% off, the rest just wouldnt come yet..

so ill soak them again tomorrow.

im gonna have to feed them tonight tho..

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IF you feed them tonight and IF they eat...then don't soak them tomorrow. Leave them completely alone for 48 hours. OR...just skip the feeding altogether until you get this shed problem squared away. It won't hurt them to miss a meal.

try two meals.. O_O!


i may put a damp wash cloth in with them tonight.. and see how they do..
or i could just keep misting them or soemthing..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phantommaggot

try two meals.. O_O!


i may put a damp wash cloth in with them tonight.. and see how they do..
or i could just keep misting them or soemthing..

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Even two missed meals won't hurt them, unless they're already starving. Anyhow...it's just a suggestion to skip the meal until you get the health and husbandry issues straightened out. As I said...if you DO feed them, then just don't mess with them for a couple of days. But misting their enclosures would be fine...as would putting in humid hides.

so i soaked them another time today.. and got most of their skin off..
the head and skinny part of the neck are still dry,

and my male seems to have a dimpled eye!!! i didnt see it yesterday :(

im so worried about them..
i set up some humid hides, with wet paper towels

i need to find a better soultion to my humidity problems..
should i just ditch the pegboard on my rack, and drill small holes in my tubs.. just enough for air..

i dont know what else to do..

for reference, my rack set up ..
i keep them set up like the one on the left, with the fanfold insulation over the pegboard thats not under the plywood..
those blue bowls are my hides..

my temps dont drop below 88 and dont really make it much above 98
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../DCP_27072.jpg
help O_O!!!!! (<_>)

Those temps are a bit hot- try 82 for an ambient temp and 90 for the hot spot. Keeping them too hot will make the humidity problem worse also. In the future, if you are not able to get the humidity right on, pay close attention to the couple days when their eyes turn from cloudy to clear again (1-2 days prior to shedding) and either soak them or add the humid hide/damp moss. Also careful not to force the skin off, you can pull off the new scales with it.:colbert:

The eye dimple could be dehydration (temporary and will correct itself with better humidity) or a stuck eye cap from retained shed. If the latter, there are lots of resources on the net for dealing with that. It's not an emergency, but if it is not corrected by the next shed, you should probably ask your vet to help you remove it.

Try not to offer food more often that once a week, otherwise it may be stressful for them (another cause of bad sheds). Try this for a few more weeks before you panic. Work on correcting the temps and humidity and they'll eat. Welcome to the wonderful world of ball pythons!:cool::cool::cool:

those temps werent my grad. but my hot spot variations..

i have a good grad. in temps.. just cant keep the hot spot one solid number..

my humidity is my real problem. but after rethinking it all, i think building a melmaline rack wil fix this problems..

im hoping its just the eye cap as far as that problem goes..
i have bad depth preception.. maybe im seeing it wrong..

i really thought i got my humidity up.. havent had the chance or extra $$ to pick up a solid humidity gauge yet.. so im stuck till next weekend..


anyways..

i have fed them every 4-5 days up till now..
but ill drop it down to 6-7 and just keep misting till i can afford melmaline..

thanks for any tips, help etc.. i just want my snakes to be healthy.. :(
-j

Just grab an Acu-Rite from Walmart. For $12.00 plus the cost of a AAA battery you'll have a pretty good grasp on your warm and cool side temps as well as humidity.

I'm with Judy on this. Unless those snakes are severly underweight I'd personally hold off feeds for a few days or a week until I got all the retained shed off them and got the enclosures stable. What's the point of feeding a stressed snake if you end up causing a regurge. Just more issues for the snake and more hassle for you I think.

How are you soaking the snakes (method). Also allowing them to slither through a wet rough facecloth in your hand will help strip off the old stuck skin. Don't mess with that eye other than to do the soaks, get your humidity in the right range and make sure the snakes are properly hydrated (constant access to clean drinking water in their enclosure). Generally it will resolve itself with proper husbandry.

Once you have the Acu-Rites before they go in the enclosures take a day and set one up in the room your snakes are in so you can watch how the room is during 24 hours as far as temps and humidity. Once you have a handle on the room you can often adjust that which in turn helps the enclosures work more efficiently (small oil/electric space heater, humidifier/dehumidifer, opening or closing heat/AC vents, moving enclosures away from drafty doors or windows, etc.)

where in wal mart can i find the acu-rites.

ive been running warm water into the bath tub and letting them swim around in it till their old skin is soft.. then i rub them and get off everything i can..

ill do the wash cloth thing too when i soak them again today.. tho i may use a hand towel.. :)

do you have better suggestions on soaking them??
also, how can i go about getting the head&neck skin off?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phantommaggot

ive been running warm water into the bath tub and letting them swim around in it till their old skin is soft.. then i rub them and get off everything i can..

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You don't want the water deep enough so that they swim in it. You want the water to be no more than halfway up the snake's body. If the water is too deep, they can panic and drown.

Hi,


I use tupperware containers half full of damp peat and with a small entry hole in the side as wet boxes and they seem quite good at keeping their humidity. But if I get a stubborn shedder I sometimes soak a pillowcase in warm (Not hot!) water and put some scrunched up newspaper in it and leave them tied up in it overnight (remember evaporating water causes cooling so place it near the warm end of the tank but not in the hot spot). They usually manage to remove it themselves while moving through the newspaper and against the fabric but even if they don't it is nearly always really easy to remove in the morning.

The eyecaps can be tricky to remove and I've seen some recomendations I'd be terrified to even try ( one of them was sticky tape wrapped round your fingers :eek: - I'd be scared it damaged her eye). I always (not that its happened all that often at home but we used to get them brought into the shop a lot) just made sure the skin was as moist and softened as possible then either tried a licked finger end or used the edge of my finger nail under the edge of the old eyecap.

The important point is to be really REALLY carefull and mindfull of the pressure you are exerting - if it dosn't come of with the most gentle force soak her again till it does.

Look forward to pics of nice shiny snakes :D


dr del

it wasnt that deep, it was just enough so they could scoot around the bath tub.. there was only water in the deeper 1/3 of my tub.. so thats probably half body.. if not less..

ill give the towel thing a try when i get home today.. we have some rough towels here so ill warm them up and see what i can do..

thanks again for all the help. im super worried about my male.. and his eye..
the female seems fine.. she only has minimal skin left on her neck.. and possibly head..

anyways..
ill post again after i soak them tonight..