What is this?

[rynpckrd]

I've had my red-tail baby for almost two weeks now and he has been great. I have yet to stop being pleasantly surprised at how social and active he is in comparison to Atticus, my ball python.

The last couple of days, however, I noticed what I can only describe as "dead skin" on his face toward his nose. It did appear he was going into shed a few days prior - Grey eyes, soaking in water, being very inactive, etc. - but afterward, when his eyes cleared, he did not shed. So...?

[CamStatic]

He's probably just going into the shed cycle. Moist his cage a little more, be sure he has something to rub against, and the shed will come off within the next day or so.

Good luck!

[rynpckrd]

Good call!

You'd think that after owning and taking care of Atticus for however many months I'd know when to identify an oncoming shed.

[AndrewGeibel]

Yep! Sounds perfectly normal. The shed should come very soon.

[rynpckrd]

Oh, and here is Onyx post-shed...



On a random note with a question that follows, I think I discovered a couple springtails. I took him out to look him over and did so thoroughly and didn't find any more, and I looked through his cage to see if I could see any within his substrate but I found nothing. Since I use Reptibark, would simply baking his substrate before using it prevent springtails from popping up in the future?

[AndrewGeibel]

Ya it would. Although ... honestly I use newspaper. I used to use something similar to Reptibark and it held tons of smell and was harder to tell when it needed to be changed. Newspaper is quick simple and takes 30 seconds to change. I use it for all 5 of my snakes.