another shedding question

[Tammy]

i'm new to all this...please be patient with me!
my balls eyes looked pretty normal again this morning. i asked yesterday how long it takes for them to shed once their eyes go back...i was told 2 or 3 days. anyway, while i was changing his water this morning, i noticed his head looked all crackie...is this normal? i did see him last night scrathing his face against his hide log.
thanks!!!!
Tammy

[frankykeno]

Sounds pretty much like your snake is about to shed. Ours usually start about 48 hours or so after they return to that "normal" look. Just make sure your humidity is good, mist if you need to or add in a humid hide and it will probably go just fine. Do check that all the shed came off, especially the eyecaps and the very tip of the tail (common areas for stuck shed).

[Tammy]

thanks so much...i am a worrier by nature and I just love my new little guy so much i want everything to go right. i am having some trouble keeping my humidity up to where it needs to be. i am going to try the saran wrap on the wire cover tonite. i have been misting daily, sometimes twice, and he has been spending alot of time in his water bowl. i am kinda worried about that too. don't want him to get scale rot or anything.

[frankykeno]

Those wire mesh lids are hard to manage so definitely cover some of it up with saran wrap or something similar. As long as their some area open for air movement it will really help. Do you use any sort of overhead heat lamps? They are awful for sucking out a tanks humidity.

As far as the water bowl, it isn't particularily good for your snake to be in it so much. First make sure this snake doesn't have mites as that can cause them to soak excessively. Get the humidity up with covering the lid and perhaps adding in a second water dish on the warm side to encourage more evaporation in the tank, you can also add in some damp moss in a hide for your snake to use during shed cycles. I don't put a water dish in with any of our snakes that's big enough for them to climb into. They might drop a coil in there occasionally but they won't fit and they don't bother to try. That way they can't poop in there and foul their water or get belly rot from soaking too much.

It's okay to worry....shows you care and are striving to be a responsible owner.

[Tammy]

i do have an overhead red heat light on top of the tank. it seems to keep the gradient just perfect. i also have 2 water bowls inthere already. he hadn't started soaking all of the time until he went blue. i figured it's just because of the lack of humidity for the shed. i have a damp towel on top of the cage right now, but it just doesn't seem to be doing the trick. i will do the saran wrap thing tonite and see what happens. i checked his underside this morinng when i changed his water...it still looks really healthy. i also checked the water for mites again last night...put a bit of the water under the microscope. didn't see any mites. as far as ventilation, my tank has 2 screened holes in the sides. that should do the trick, right? i sure appreciate your help.

[frankykeno]

When you put the saran on just make sure a little bit of each corner is open for top ventilation too (and watch it around that hot lamp). If you can possibly go with UTH (under tank heat) it's really best for the snake and will solve tons of your humidity issues. Those lamps are just terribly bad for drying out the air.

One thing to check is the humidity in the room the snake's home is in. It's a good starting point to know that when you are struggling with an enclosurer environment. Gives you a bit of a starting point and sometimes a small room humidifier really helps (and it's good for you too...humans in the winter suffer too with being too dried out).

The snake may be soaking due to the dry tank but you may want to consider bowls small enough to not allow for this. Misting will help and with the saran wrap all the moisture you mist in there won't immediately dry up. Just don't mist to the point that the substrate is ever really wet.

[Tammy]

i put in an undertank heater last night...i was worried that it wouldn't keep the tank warm enough, as it is a 40 gallo. the uth only covers maybe a forth of the space. i will try the saran wrap though. i seen someone else said tin foil with the shiy side down and duct tape. ???

[frankykeno]

Oh that's a big tank hon. You might want to downsize that a bit. Much easier to heat a smaller tank (way less volume of air which is hard to heat in the first place as air doesn't retain heat like a solid does) and your BP likely doesn't need anywhere near that space if it's a little one. How big is the snake?

Tin foil shiney side down can reflect both heat and humidity but please do not use duct tape or any tape anywhere near a snake. Even on the outside. Accidents can happen, a bit of tape gets caught under the lid and you have a badly injured or dead snake. Saran Wrap is just naturally slightly sticky and I believe they now sell a self-sealing type Saran Wrap that would be quite effective (just trim to tightly fit the lid and not into the tank whatsoever).

[Tammy]

ewww...never thought of the dangers of duct tape. glad you brought that to my attention! Batista is just 25 inches long...i have no idea how old it is.

[frankykeno]

You could easily go down in tank size then. Really a 40 is huge for most BPs but you could use it when the snake is fully mature (or save it for another creature that needs a larger tank). Either a smaller tank or even better an Iris/Rubbermaid/Sterlite tub would be a much easier option for you. You could find a lovely Iris of an appropriate size at OfficeMax for under $20.00 (add in the cost of securing the lid with big clips or straps or whatever). Iris in particular makes a really nice brand of tub, they are glass clear and have smooth insides so no snake poop gets stuck in grooves.

Here's a site for a great guy Eric Erb who features lovely Iris tubs. Alternately you could go with Rubbermaid or Sterlite which can be found just about anywhere. If you are looking for a smaller glass tank phone around to aquarium shops, they almost always have spare older tanks that may not be water tight but do beautifully for snakes.

http://www.reptiletubs.com/