Bad SD retic shed

[Justin83]

Hey all, I've just finished removing most of Hector's first shed with me, it was the worst I've ever experienced?

I had to soak him in a bucket for 20min then run it off with a towel, eye caps all stuck...
I was aware he was gonna shed because he went slightly blue and very very wrinkly, horizontal wrinkles... I've not had a snake go wrinkly before. I was spraying daily bumping it up too 70% and it would drop to 50 again by the next morning.
I'm actually considering a fogger if this becomes a regular occurrence.
He still has a tiny bit on his tail tip and bottom jaw I will get tomorrow as he was getting agitated. I can't seem to get the humidity above 70 even with two vents covered, maybe it's the che and Brian barcyk substrate?
Any tips on kalatoa retic sheds? I've read they rarely do a full shed but people must get round it?

[Dxw425]

I was looking through your threads to see his viv, it looks better than a lot i've seen. I would suggest adding a larger water dish or a humid hide with damp moss in it. Sonny only ever had one less than ideal shed with me, and it was a bit odd and im still not sure why it happened. But my humidities are never above the 70%s, he's just on paper with water dish for now and it works out fine. Get the last of that bad shed taken care of, make sure his water dish is full every day and add a humid hide next time around and see how it goes.

[Justin83]

Cheers pal, he does have a 12" round 3" deep dish under his che as well as the exoterror one tbf. I think the humidity hide is a good shout tho, I had forgot about these.
So a tub full of damp spagnum will be my next mission I think.
It's I little disheartening to see him in such a state, I wondered if he hadn't been drinking when I saw all the wrinkles, or if this was a typical retic thing?
I should have took some pics tbf I will document it better next time round.
On a plus the wounds he had from pushing in the petshop tub are looking so much better now.

[Snakeboyaz]

I've been curious about retic shed issues for awhile now. Most people seem to think they're just bad shedders and there's not much you can do about it. I could be completely wrong but it does seem as if there's is some correlation between locality, morph or nutrition and shed quality. My male platinum has had more or less one piece sheds from day one. When I had my golden child she was very healthy but her cage looked like a disaster area after a shed. The purple albino was a rescue and was kept with no heat and very infrequent feedings for the first year or so of her life. She's had 4 sheds with me and they have gotten progressively better as she's grown. Mind you that the gc and albino have got the platinums hand me down cages as he's grown so they've all had different results in the exact same conditions. Very curious if anyone else has had similar results.

[KevinK]

Keep in mind that with a CHE you will always be battling humidity in some form of another, it's the nature of the beast. However a fogger shouldn't be necessary and if you're hitting 70% you should be fine. Large constrictors rarely shed in one piece to begin with especially retics. What I do with my Burm is soak him in the bathtub BEFORE shedding. When I notice him going opaque I will try to soak him at least once, of course you need to be extremely careful as you're dealing with an essentially blind large constrictor at that point....but it helps immensely. Im my experience, my snakes did not use humid hides when I had them available.

So in summary if you want to continue using a CHE, I would be proactive and soak your animals. When I ran CHE's a long time ago I had the best luck with cypress mulch. The shredded coconut stuff dries out almost overnight otherwise.

......OR (best option in my opinion) consider a radiant heat panel, they are the bee's knees for big snakes. I won't use anything else personally. I take that money for the fogger and buy a few instead.

[Justin83]

Cheers guys, some great feedback there. Deuly noted:-)

[Zincubus]

Maybe simply a humidity level issue ??

I did this very successfully with my SD Retic who's viv was heated with a 250W ceramic that was very drying ..

The trick with many (and certainly Royals ) is to wait until they go blue / into shed ( they usually disappear for a few days ) then ensure you spray the viv well daily ...
THEN crucially when they make an appearance and get their colour back / eyes clear ... you should spray well each morning and evening ( and between if poss) they will normally shed perfectly each time ..
You will usually find their shedded skin in a filthy rolled up mess under a hide somewhere a few days later


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