A little concerned..

[Coyotemoon]

I'm a little concerned about Shikara. I'm pretty sure he's about to go thru a shed. His eyes have turned blue and his color is very dull. Last wednesday I soaked him while I cleaned his cage. He seemed okay. Since then I have only seen him stick his head out of his hid a couple of times. Other than that he has not been out of his hide that I can tell. I know BP are nocturnal and very shy but is that normal behavior for them to stay in the hide for days and days? Or is he hiding because he's about to shed? How long after the eyes turn blue will he come out and start rubbing? Should I mess with him at all during this time?

Here is a pic I took last night of him.


Also up until this past sunday I was using a red heat light to heat his cage and misting regularly to keep the humidity up. My hot side ranged from 90 to 93, cold side from 81 to 86, ambient from 79 to 84 and the humidity was 60% to 80% (higher after misting of course). On sunday the heat bulb burst so I had to use a regular 60w during the day and a blacklight at night to heat the cage. On monday I bought a CHE and UTH. I keep a log of my temps and today's readings were:

11:56AM
hot: 89.3
cold: 80.1
amb: 82.6
hum: 72% (after misting)

9:16PM
hot: 88.6
cold: 81.5
amb: 81.3
hum: 50%

The substrate is like a soil (comes in brick form that you add water to). The UTH I bought is ExoTerra Heat Wave 10.5x11 and the CHE is ExoTerra 60w in a wire frame lamp. My tank is 40 gal. and made of glass with deminsions of 36"x15"x16". Is the 60w CHE sufficiant? Should I change to a different substate?

[rex322]

first of all, it is normal for a BP to hide even when its not in shed. most likly, you will not see him come out of his hide and start rubbing his nose. hell do it in his hide. your best bet is to leave him alone until you find the sheded skin. you should keep your humidity at 70% during this time. this is a very stressful time for your snake, try not to handle him or bother him in any way.

[PrincessErica]

Definitely agree with Rex. Bump up that humidity, toss a humid hide (with wet paper towels or moss in it) into the tank in case he feels like soaking, and let him be. Don't try feeding or handling him. It's perfectly normal for him to stay in his hide constantly, even if he's not in shed. With the blue eyes it's extremely hard for them to see right now, so they feel vulnerable and scared, definitely better to leave them totally alone.

I've found that the eyes stay blue for like 4-5 days, then clear up for a few days, and then the shed happens. Just pop your head in in about a week and see how things are going from there. Just remember to keep your humidity up! Some people around here have sheds no problem without high humidity, but it's been the only thing that's worked for me and my guy, who has shed perfectly the last 3 times. Certainly can't hurt, and it's much better than trying to fix a bad shed.

If you need any other tips, let us know! Otherwise, good luck.

[daniel1983]

Everything is fine....thats just normal behavior. I would bump those temps up a tad too....shoot for 92-94 warm side/ 82-84 cool side.

[tigerlily]

It's difficult to tell you what you need as far as heating products go. You may need to keep trying stuff until the temps are right, and whatever works - works. Definitely don't worry about the quiet behaviour. Mine always stays in their hide, and don't even peek out at night, and they always shed in their hides. (stinky little boogers!) I check on them every other day and try to disturb them the least amount possible. I usually either find the shed or see them sticking their heads out again. You should be fine, so just sit back and relax!

[frankykeno]

We use the humid hide for Baby and if needed move her water dish from it's normal position on the cool side of her bin over nearer the warm side. For a humid hide I just flipped over a dark plastic large margine tub with the lid on it, cut a hole in it (make sure the plastic isn't sharp) and put in a nice layer of damp paper towels and then change them daily as they dry out fast. We take out her regular warm side hide and put in the humid hide in it's place. She's a very accepting snake tho, others might need to have both the humid and the regular warm side hide they are used to.

Baby always sheds in her hide and leaves it in a ball even though she has things she could rub against outside her hide. Guess that's just how she likes to do it. She does stay in the hide a lot more when she starts to shed, tho she does eat during shed (many don't but she's a piggy!). She looks faded and blue eyed and her belly goes very pink, then everything sorta clears up and she looks pretty normal, then usually the next day or so we find the ball of shed and a lovely bright snake.

I actually saw her shedding and it's sort of like she wiggles and flexes (looks like a woman trying to get out of a overly tight pair of blue jeans LOL).


~~Joanna~~

[Adam_Wysocki]

(looks like a woman trying to get out of a overly tight pair of blue jeans LOL).

Now there's a tangent that I could get started on!!!

-adam

[tigerlily]

Uh oh!!! :eek: Now you started it Joanna!!!

[Coyotemoon]

Thank you so much everyone. You guys are da bomb! I feel better reading your comments. I'm still very new to all this and I'm letting myself get all worked up over even the smallest things. The temps today seem to be okay. Reading right now is hot side - 91.6, cool side - 85.1, ambient - 83.5, and humidity - 70%. Guess I just needed to give the UTH time to penetrate the soil real good. I do have it about an inch deep. Maybe I should try thinning it down to about a half an inch. What do you think?
I just got a funny idea for my next drawing. A snake trying to wiggle out of a rally tight pair of jeans.