Pre shed of Xena

Here are some pics of Xena. One of her tank. And yes the one with a white lump is her first poop since we got her last month.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/DCP02888.JPG


Rub rub rubhttps://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/DCP02886.JPG


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/DCP02885.JPG

Here, have a piece of...ummm....clay yeah thats it CLAY!
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/DCP02890.JPG

Leave me alone! I'm all wrinkly.
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/DCP02889.JPG

The white stuff is actually her dried up pee.. which are called urates.

She is way too dry. Needs a really good misting.

What's wrong with her side in that last pic? Wrinkly dried up skin?

I'd say your gonna have a bad shed.

Actually she is only wrinkly. The light made her look dried out. I have the humidity up to 67%, will probably get it a bit higher soon. But she is having a bit of a bad shed I think. She is breaking it up in spots on her body. I'll give her a nice bath and rubdown this evening.

It may just be me but my girl doesn't get wrinkly. She stays pretty until the shed comes off. Try bumping your humidity up past 70 at least. My girl sheds bad at humidity under 75.

And keep it at 50 to 60 all the time between sheds. And change her water daily. If I remember correctly a bad shed with the wrinkly skin is a sign of dehydration.


If she's not trying to shed yet. DONT soak her. It can make it even worse. Give her time to try herself. And if she can't get it off after a day or so. Then soak.

Good luck to you!!!!

She is rubbing on everything. I'll up the humidity and see how that does.

I wouldnt worry my bp gets wrinkly like tht all the time and she sheds fine.

My older girl gets a little wrinkly like that and has an almost greyish tint to her just before shedding as well and sheds all in one peice.

At this point I would just make sure that her humidity is bumped up, don't soak her just yet. I would wait until she gets most of it off herself and if there are still bits of stuck shed on her, that's when I would soak her. :)

From the pics I would get 2 identical hides for her tank and maybe cover up 3 sides of the tank so she feels a little more secure. There seems to be a lot of open space.

Very cute little girl!!! :)

She actually looks quite dehydrated and underweight in those pictures to me.


None of mine ever get that "crinkly" look before a shed, or their skin folding on their sides.

It the stick on dial how you measure temps and humidity? If so, your temps and humidity may not be correct. And temps should be measured at ground level.

She's a lovely snake, but her enclosure needs some tweaking. We'd be happy to offer some suggestions if you're interested.

I very much appreciate the comments and of course I'd like tips, tricks and any help offered. I wouldn't be on this forum if I didn't. :D

A little background on her. Being a snake noob I got her at our local PetCo. :colbert: Don't start on that, please. I did ask them questions and the store is actually one of the better ones from what I've read and from what I see in the store.

They were feeding 1 FT pinky a week on a regular feed day. I started by letting her settle in and then fed her a bit random. She is taking 3 FT pinkies now. 3 because I have some on hand, I think she should have fuzzies or maybe hoppers.

She is very docile and seems to like being held ALOT. She will butt her head at Mara when she is returned to her tank, implying she wants to stay out. Our children like to come up and pet her and hold her for a bit. Xena has only struck at me one time and that was just after a feeding and was more of a tap with her head.

I do plan on putting some back ground around the tank after the 1st of the month. I'll be changing the water dish, I don't care much for this one in this tank anyway. And adding another hide. I'll remove the half log. There is and under tank heat pad and a temp sensor in the tank under the green mat that is going to a ReptiTemp 500R.

I am planning on getting other BP's, hopefully some morphs or het's and breeding way down the road. But I have alot to learn yet.

I also have 1.2 mice, not even sure if they are trying to breed. Not really worried about it other than finding quality food until they are popping out snake snacks. If they don't they are interesting to watch until Xena is big enough for full size mice.

I'll probably get some rats just to try breeding. I have a big cage to put them in. If successful I can always build a rack system.
::: Points to self::: Joe-Handyman.

Well, enough of this insomniacal (is that even a word?) rambling.

Milo

Ok I can't figure out how to edit at the moment so....I will be feeding on a regular schedule after reading some other posts about it.


Side note: The internet goes great with insomnia. Especially since cable just has infomercials.

Update:

Xena has shed. I gave her a couple soaks in the tub and the towel rub help alot.
She looks like there may be some on her head and eyecaps. I tried the wet q-tip but no joy. She was dehydrated and this last soak helped and the dimple in her eye went away. I'll be monitoring that.

I changed the setup on her tank gonna put up some dark paper til I can get some of the pretty picture background since she probably doesn't care too much which is up. I put a different water dish in and have it partly on the heat to help keep it more humid.

Now that she is done shedding her color is just amazing, crisp bright colors and demarcation between the colors.