Follow Up to "I screwed up" (turns into shed question, hence the move)

[Erikamc]

original: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...g-I-screwed-up

So Saturday was feeding day this week, went to feed Sterling and knew if I reached in to get him, he was going to strike, so he ate in his enclosure. I didn't see any poo at first, but after he ate and I was trying to manipulate the hide back over him I saw the urates, so I grabbed that out, plus some of the bedding around it and hoped it was good enough for the time being. Topped off his water, and sprinkled a little water over his warm side.

Today was to be cleaning day. I removed his warm hide, his brick and his water bowl, then came back to get him. Lift his cool hide, and find... a slightly milky snake with slightly milky eyes, CRAP! But, it's even more pressing for me to do maintenance because there is no way his humidity will be high enough for a shed if I don't moisten the bedding (the entirety of the bedding will stay damp for about a day and a half, with humidity a smidge too high, then the top layer drys out so he's not on wet bedding, but the bottom layer stays damp enough that his humidity hangs in the right range until the day before feeding day where it starts to dip below optimal). I can't get the humidity high enough just misting the dry bedding. I covered him with a hand towel, gently scooped him up and went about removing more bedding and mixing in some water.


This will be his second shed with me. He has some scarring, either from burns, damage when he was a stray, or previous bad sheds. The vet gave me spray to put on the areas, so I did that today (Sterling was not as worried about the activity as I feared, I kept his head covered with the towel for the most part). I have to wonder though if I should do something extra to the scarred areas? On his last shed, he basically ripped them open, like pulling off a scab that wasn't quite ready. Would Vaseline or mineral oil help? Not on his whole body, just the parts that went poorly last shed, or wait and see how it goes with higher humidity this shed?

[KMG]

Damp moss in the hides will give the snakes the humidity they need.

Cleaning day should not be the same as feeding day. I find cleaning day is best a few days after feeding as most of my snakes will have a movement around then.

As to the scarred area I would do just as the vet recommended.