Adjustments after a messy shed

[RedRabbit]

Iggy just had his first shed under my care, and unfortunately it was a fragmented one, so I'm going to be making some changes, and would appreciate any advice/suggestions. He was able to get the shed off his head, tail, and most of his belly and sides on his own, but still had some good-sized patches stuck to his neck and back, even after giving him another 24 hours to work on them on his own. At this point (i.e. last night), I followed the steps I've seen recommended on this forum, gave him a lukewarm water soak, and gently removed the remaining shed with a damp washcloth. He was none too happy with the process, but it worked just great, so here's a satisfying before and after comparison.



A flaky, patchy (and slightly blurry) boy.



A bright and shiny boy!

- - - Updated - - -

Anyway, I know the first question to answer is "what's your setup like?" so here's the breakdown. He is in a Sterilite tub with latched lid, and with air holes drilled into the lid and sides. His substrate is paper towels, and he has two hides - a little plastic tree stump on the warm side, and a Zilla rock lair on the cool side. Both hides have a single entry point and are reasonably snug for his size, and I have seen him using both hides in roughly equal measure. His water dish is placed in one corner of the cool side, and I change the water every 2-3 days. Other than that, he has two plastic plants placed for enrichment, decoration, and to clutter up the remaining open spaces in the tub. The heat source for the warm side is a ZooMed UTH, which is connected to a thermostat set to 90F. The tub is slightly raised on little rubber "feet" placed at each corner, to give clearance for the probe/cords and prevent excess heat buildup. The whole shebang is pictured below (with the lid off, of course, for a better view of the contents).




Now for the numbers. As measured with the temperature gun, his cool side is 78-80F, and his warm side hits 90.5F at the warmest point directly over the UTH. I also have a ZooMed digital thermometer/hygrometer, with both probes placed near the midpoint of the tub edge, at the level of the substrate; as of right now, this reads 80.4F and 70% humidity.


The humidity measure is where I think I'd like an extra layer of monitoring, and may look into purchasing an Acurite. When I first prepared this setup, the tub was holding in the humidity a little TOO well, and I was having trouble getting it down from around 80%. I brought it down to 65% by switching to a smaller water dish, removing the damp moss from the rock hide, and adding a few more air holes, and figured I was pretty happy with that. Then, when I was getting visual indicators that Iggy was going into his shed cycle, I reintroduced the damp moss and the larger water dish to bring humidity up to the 70-75% range. Despite this, a few days later ... messy shed bits, all over the place. I'm wondering if my current hygrometer may be overestimating the humidity level.
A question for you guys, if I do get an Acurite, any recommendations on which specific model is appropriate?


And lastly, a behavioral report on Iggy himself. I got him at almost exactly 2 months old, and gave him a week to settle in before giving him his first live hopper mouse (he was eating live mice with the breeder, and the breeder recommended going with a smaller prey size for the interval while he was still adjusting and establishing a new feeding schedule). At feeding intervals of every 7 days, he has now taken 3 hopper mice in total, and scarfed down his first adult mouse today with gusto. The plan is to start the transition to live rat fuzzies on next week's feeding, and to make the transition from live to frozen/thawed as soon as he's accustomed to the rats. In the meantime, I closely supervise every live feeding (Iggy doesn't seem to mind my hovering presence), and have my feeding tongs at the ready to reposition the rodent's head if it is anywhere remotely within biting range once he's grabbed it. He strikes readily at his food, constricts robustly, and is pretty good about reorienting to always swallow headfirst. He is also pretty straightforward about conveying when he's getting hungry, by cruising a little patrol route around his tub. He has pooped twice, and twice left me some urate blobs, and all have appeared unremarkable. He is neither skittish nor defensive when handled, and mostly seems content to meander slowly up my arm or onto my lap. In short, he's been actually pretty awesome ... except for this problem shed.

[SquirmyPug]

Because he's been eating smaller meals than usual he could be a little dehydrated, after switching to larger meals the shedding may get better.

[bagnew]

I would concentrate on the humidity. I had a similar issue but my set up is a glass tank. I was using paper towels and having trouble keeping the humidity above 50%. First shed was horrible and I spent an hour soaking Dusty and working off the left over shed. This including having Dusty dump a giant poop all over me! I changed to Reptile Prime dampened and the humidity is now in the 60's. I have kicked it up a bit when he blued up. Yesterday I was greeted with one nice long perfect shed.

Bill

[RedRabbit]

Because he's been eating smaller meals than usual he could be a little dehydrated, after switching to larger meals the shedding may get better.

That actually hadn't occurred to me, but totally makes sense as a possible contributor. Thanks for pointing that out! The meals are only going to get bigger from here on out, so hopefully that will help with his hydration.

[RedRabbit]

I would concentrate on the humidity. I had a similar issue but my set up is a glass tank. I was using paper towels and having trouble keeping the humidity above 50%. First shed was horrible and I spent an hour soaking Dusty and working off the left over shed. This including having Dusty dump a giant poop all over me! I changed to Reptile Prime dampened and the humidity is now in the 60's. I have kicked it up a bit when he blued up. Yesterday I was greeted with one nice long perfect shed.

Bill

Oh boy, haha, of course he would choose to poop right as you're trying to clean him up. But congrats on the recent perfect shed! I have a block of coconut chip substrate that I may start using if the humidity needs a further boost, though I do like how easy it is to see and monitor his droppings on the paper towel. Out of curiosity, what kind of hygrometer do you use to measure your humidity?