Quote Originally Posted by Razaiel
I had Emily out last night and she was crawling around me when suddently she scratched me with her tail - her tail has always been a bit harder than the rest of her but it's never prickled me before so now I'm wondering if it's all old shed and how I can get it off of her or will it come off on its own with a good shed?
Your snake has a "sharp" tail tip to help it grip. You might might notice that when it moves around you arm from time to time it might poke this on your skin. Its just trying to get a grip. No worries. As for the old shed a warm bath in shallow water then just gentley rub it off with a warm damp wash rag. This should help.


I just thought of another thing - when I spray the enclosure I tend to spray around and about but never make the paper wet at all. One thing I noticed when I got my boa from the breeder is his tubs had paper in and they seemed quite soggy - I thought that was a bit too wet - but maybe I'm not making them wet enough - the boa, by the way, had a perfect shed and has perfect skin.
I don't use newspaper but I'm going to take a stab at this. The paper shouldn't be soggy but damp. Like the substrate (bark or bed-a-beast). Too wet will risk belly rot and could cause prolonged high humidity and thats a lead in to an URI. Just damp enough to hold the humidity.

If you feel more comfortable using the other substrate then thats what you whould use. Use what you can maintain without risking the health of your snake.

I hope this helps.