Shedding Problem

[Ike]

i got my snake about 2 months ago, and he was doing great and eating regularly, but then i noticed he was starting to shed, then he wouldnt eat for a week, but finally i got him to eat last friday. he is still shedding but his old skin wont come off. he has been shedding for about a week and a half, and im not sure whats wrong. his skin seems to be coming off in bits. im keeping the as high as i can, which is about 80 F, and he has both a warming pad and a heating light. i squirt his cage down with water to keep it humid in his tank. now he is always in the back corner of the tank...maybe its too hot in there for him, because i have each side with a heat source, one above his tree and 1 below his hollow log half, then in the middle is his water dish. im not sure what to do, and any help would be greatly apprechiated.

[Ford Flyer]

First off if the high temperature in the tank is only 80 F you need to get that up or you risk getting a respiritory infection. You also need to know how high your humidity is. During shed it should be around 70%. One thing I do with my snake is take a wash cloth or towel and soak it with warm water and squeeze out most of the water then let the snake lay in the moist towel for about 15 minutes. When the skin comes off in pieces like that, the skin is dry. You can also add a humid hide in his tank so that he can go in there.

[phoenix-dancing]

What do you do to make a humidity hide? I am in Denver and am very interested in that! Need it here -- I have not had the first shed yet with my girl so would like it to go well.

[Ford Flyer]

Probably the easiest way is to get some spanghum moss and moisten that and put it in the hide. How are you keeping track of your temps and humidity?

[phoenix-dancing]

Okay -- that is what my friend told me to do when she begins to shed. I wondered if there was another idea.


I have meters in various spots (only one humidity meter) -- she is not due for a shed yet. She had just shed when I brought her home. 4 weeks ago -- her eyes and skin are still clear so just want to be prepared when i see them haze up.

I do have an issue at my house....I ordered an AP tank which should hold humidity better too (right now have the screen top and lamps so it just dries up). So doing the soaks for now, spraying cage, and I see her drink too.

But did not want to wait for an issue. And kind of jumped in to find out ideas -- learning and this site is wonderful!

[Ford Flyer]

I would get a 2nd humidity gage, one for each side. Cause if you have a heat lamp on one side that is going to make it a lot drier there. I had the same problem when I started my setup. I put a piece of cardboard over the screen with a cut out where my heat lamp is, and just poked a couple holes through the cardboard. I also put the water dish right under the heat lamp to evaporate the water and increase the humidity.

[kavmon]

you shouldn't need to soak unless they had a bad shed. getting the setup correct with the right amount of ventilation helps alot and spraying the cage/tank more during the shedding process too. if your house or room the snake is in, is really dry, a simple room humidifier may help also.


vaughn

[tigerlily]

Humid hides are easy to make. I use rubbermaid like containers from the dollar store, and melt a nice hole in them to make an entrance (using a handy dandy soldering iron). Then you can line it with damp paper towels or damp spagnum moss. Do not drench it!! You don't want to worry about belly rot.

Ike, you'll probably have to soak your bp to get the rest of the shed off. Again I grab a rubbermaid like container and poke a couple air holes. Then fill it with tepid water so that the water level is about half the height of the snake's body. Pop snake in and then close the container. Put the whole thing back into the enclosure for an hour. Then gently wipe the snake to remove any shed. Sometimes it doesn't all come off, just repeat once a day until all of the shed is gone.

[Ike]

thanks for all the help, i just got done changing his cage around and placing him in a warm damp cloth, and he feels alot moister. i also took some of your suggestions and placed tin foil (if tin foil is ok to use) over his cage to keep the humidity in and cut a hole for his heater, which is over his water dish, and poked a bunch of small holes for air. i will get some rubbermaid containers and make him a humid hide, and a little container to soak him in as well. i need to get another thermometer and humidity gage(any suggestions where to buy one would be great )

[SatanicIntention]

WalMart would be your best bet for a RELIABLE and ACCURATE thermometer/hygrometer combo unit. Those stick-on things from pet stores are, well, crap, and are usually off by more degrees than I want to acknowledge.

Look for the Acu-Rite Digital Thermometer/Hygrometer Combo unit w/Probe. They cost around $11-$15 and can be found in your local WalMart in the hardware/indoor-outdoor thermometer section. Look behind the paint section and where the electrical stuff is.

When you get the unit, place the unit itself flat on the floor of the cool side, next to the hide, and run the probe over and up under the warm side hide. This will measure your cool side floor temps, your warm side hide temps and your humidity. Or you could be anal and get two units and place them like this:


You place both units about halfway up on the wall of the enclosure, one on each end. Then run the respective probes of the units under the respective hides on each end of the enclosure. This way, you get ambient temps, hide temps, and relative humidity for each side(warm and cool).

Hope that helped