New Owner and it's my snakes first shead . . . .with me

Well I've had my snake for almost a month now and it has been interesting. When I bought her the pet store owner tried to feed her but you know how they can be. Well about 2 weeks later after she had adjusted to her new home I tried to feed her . . . no luck so now I had a mouse and a snake. . .lovely well my mom is an animal lover and she was supposed to take the mouse to school with her and bring it back with a cage. . .needless to say she kept the thing named it Roosevelt and wont give it back. Anywho that has nothing to do with this. About 3 days after I tried to feed Zoe she pooped so my first thought was "hey she wasnt done with her last meal" i waied about 2 days I tried to feed her again. . .no luck (thats when mom took the mouse) well a week after that i bought another mouse and tried again . . .no luck well for the past couple of day she's been really unactive (not that they're really active to begin with) and spending a lot of time in her water bowl. Well tonight i went in to check on her and her eyes are cloudy and such and i was wondering if there was anything i could do to make shedding easier for her? Anyone wanna help me out?

Well you want to make sure your Humidity is between 60% and 70% during shed. Do you have a way to measure the humidity? What kind of enclosure are you using?

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

Well you want to make sure your Humidity is between 60% and 70% during shed. Do you have a way to measure the humidity? What kind of enclosure are you using?

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I do. I have an Exo-Terra with a humidity sensor and two temp. sensors. But I cant seem to keep the humidity up. . .

What about your enclosure? is it an aquarium with a mesh top? If so, I had great success with the humidity by placing a damp towel on top each day. Also, giving it a light mist works.

It dose have a mesh top . . .warm or cold towel or does it matter?

Another option would be to cover 75% or so of the screen top with tin foil. I had lots of success with that when I used aquariums. On top of the tin foil, I used black duct tape to make it look nice :). When doing this, you just want to make sure the snake can't come into contact with any of the sticky parts of the tape. There was a link that showed how to do this on here, but I can't find it. Perhaps someone else can post it? Once I got the humidity stable, I added a water dish with a larger surface area to raise the humidity up that extra 10% or so when they were in shed.

Another thing, when you offer your snake food, you want to do it once a week. If it doesn't take it within about 20 minutes, it probably isn't going to. Take it away and wait another week before trying again. When you try to feed her every day or every two or three days, you are probably stressing her out. Just be patient with it and make sure you have adequite hides and temp/humidity conditions. She could still be acclimating herself to her new home. Until she starts eating on a regular basis, keep handling to an absolute minimum.

If she is soaking a lot in her water bowl, I would look her over to make sure she doesn't have mites also.

Hope that helps a little.

Yep great advice casperca

It does not matter if the towel is warm or cold. If you take the time to warm it up it will only cool off in about 10 minutes...

I used the same guide and it does work well

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=32800

but i found in the winter because of the electric heat in the room and the aspin i use the my humidity was still on the low side so i got a large plastic peanut butter jar, cut a slit in it across the middle about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide and stuck an ultra sonic fogger in it then plugged into my thermostat. I place it ontop so that when thermostat kicks on the foggers runs and a cloud flows out the slit an down into the tank. It works amazing and keeps my humidity up when i need it.

I cant get my humidity up . . .nothing is working. . .even the tempature seems to be aganist me. . . .wont get any higher than about 82 degrees. . .i dont know what else to do

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Originally Posted by STRETCH

I cant get my humidity up . . .nothing is working. . .even the tempature seems to be aganist me. . . .wont get any higher than about 82 degrees. . .i dont know what else to do

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What size tank are you using?

What are you using to heat it?

Did you cover the screen top with plastic wrap/foil/tape/...? If so, did you cover ALL of it?

Are you misting or otherwise trying to raise the humidity?

Does your thermometer/hygrometer have a remote probe for humidity? If not, do you have the unit itself inside the enclosure?

Steve

Size: 18x18x24

Heat: Heat source under tank, day hood, heat lamp (red)

Covering: Foil with duct tape 3/4

Misting: yes

Humidity: sensor in enclousure

I'm about to take the mesh off and work on the foil. But i have another question. I have a day hood that covers the back side of the enclosure, how do i work with the foil there?

I have wonderful news!!! First shed went GREAT no problems eye caps came off and it was in one piece (for the most part) Thanks for all your help guys but I have one more question. How long after a snake sheds should you handel it?

What are your actual temps? That would be helpful, too. :)

Oh, and handling after a shed isn't a problem. Just look out, they put out some massive poop after sheds! :D

Two problems may be that yo bought it from a pet store andsecond you bought it even though it didnt eat for you at the place. Read the sticky article about glass tank set-ups. Get an accurite thermometer from walmart (with probe and humidity sensor) those work great, most of the time the ones made for reptile use suck and are waaay over priced get your temps where they need to be and 82 is not it (it will do for the cool side but warm side needs to be in the low 90's. Humidity is not as big of an issue as some people make it out to be, I always have 50-55% naturally (with tubs) and always have complete sheds.

Heresa pic of the accurite thermometer

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...b/snake157.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...b/snake156.jpg

I've got my temps up now. . . .i turned the vents off in my room. . .my mom is really hot natured and its summer in georgia so it's really chilly in my house between that and the foil its between 85 and 90. Shes got a little on her tail that i couldnt see last night is it alright to help her with that?

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Originally Posted by Subzero

Two problems may be that yo bought it from a pet store andsecond you bought it even though it didnt eat for you at the place. Read the sticky article about glass tank set-ups. Get an accurite thermometer from walmart (with probe and humidity sensor) those work great, most of the time the ones made for reptile use suck and are waaay over priced get your temps where they need to be and 82 is not it (it will do for the cool side but warm side needs to be in the low 90's. Humidity is not as big of an issue as some people make it out to be, I always have 50-55% naturally (with tubs) and always have complete sheds.

Heresa pic of the accurite thermometer

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...b/snake157.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...b/snake156.jpg

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she had eaten there ju7st not on the day i bought her. the day i bought her they tried to feed her again.