new member! few Q's

[amcceney]

hello,
i am very excited for myself and my 4 month old normal bp ROMEO to be part of such a great community with incredible amounts of helpful information! My herp has been doing tremendously well this summer ever since i picked it up from the pet store in late may. Feeding/healthwise romeo is in great shape! i dont want to start any f/t vs. live arguements, but romeo has been eating live adult feeder mice once a week for the past month, live hoppers prior to that. he has had zero problems with feeding. he's about 2 feet long, healthy girth (starting to think this guys so big he may be a she!) his home is a 30gal 3'x1'x1.5' glass tank with reptibark substrate and 30 gal size uth. he has cold side water, three hides(two with branches for climbing), driftwood for shed-aid, a cold side water dish, and a night time 60w red heating bulb. i monitor the temp digitally on both sides maintaining the proper day/night gradients, in addition to the three-times daily misting the tank recieves keeping its humidity just above 50%.

There are a few concerns/questions i have however:
when it comes to shedding time (romeo has twice since may) he has had bad sheds both times, not all in one piece. i soak him pre shed to help the process.
my girlfriend has a ball from the same clutch, and her herp has the same problem. I went to the pet store and they said the entire clutch of 8 has all had bad sheds but their animals are healthy in all other aspects, just like romeo. Is there something i am doing wrong or something i can do to help my animal ?
also i noticed today that he has a dent in one of his eyes, hes about a week out of his shed and i know its not a retained eye cap, but i read that it could be a humidity issue which causes this problem. Should i increase my humidity beyond 60%? is this healthy?

anyone with some feedback i would greatly appreciate it!

[JLC]

Welcome to BP.net!


Sounds like things are going great for you and your little guy. Would love to see pictures sometime!

On to the humidity issues.... 50%-60% should be fine to maintain, if you're sure that's what it is. What are you using to measure it? If you're using the little analogue dials that stick to the sides of the enclosure, it could be way off. Digital meters are much more accurate.

If your humidity is indeed in the proper ranges, then there's really not much more you need to do. Here are my thoughts:

--First, a shed that is not all in one piece is not necessarily a bad shed. If the snake gets it all off on his own, it's a GREAT shed, no matter how many pieces it is in.

--Second, pre-soaking prior to the shed can actually make the process more difficult because it can leach away critical moisture that is developing between the old skin and the new....sort of how water leaches the oils out of our fingers and leaves them all wrinkled in the bath. Soaking should be used only AFTER a shed has gone bad and there is old skin stuck to the new.

--Third, so long as you know your humidity is in the right range and the snake always has fresh, clean water available for drinking, you shouldn't need to worry about the little dent in the eye. It'll sort itself out over time. If it IS an issue with low humidity, then just get it bumped up and again, it'll sort itself out.

Hope this helps some!

[JLC]

Oh, and one last thought...


While it is very uncommon, it DOES happen that some BPs are born as "difficult shedders" and always will be, no matter how perfect the environment. But as I said earlier, so long as the snake is getting it all off, it really doesn't matter if its in pieces or not.

[GirDance]

You could also try converting one of the three hides to a 'humidity' hide by adding some damp moss into it. If you notice that he's spending more time in that hide than the others around shed time, boost the humidity a bit more...

I've seen around here that during shed time it's not a bad idea to bump the humidity up to 60-70 as well

And welcome, it's always nice to see new members taking good care of their animals around here!!! (Any pics?)

[amcceney]

i have an acu-rite digi thermometer/humidity gauge so i (hope) i am pretty accurately maintaining the humidity. i also change his water every 2 days or so.

Good news about the shed! he does get the majority of his shed skin off on his own. it takes him a little longer to get it off his head sometimes but he does pretty a pretty good job.

i am excited now!! my little guy is a really exciting animal, i keep reading in other threads that peoples snakes never leave their hide boxes! dont get me wrong my guy loves his hides too, but when i come home from work its almost like he knows im home and starts exploring his tank! hes a really active little dude, even sometimes after feeding! do u think this could be a problem at all? i know i give him the right sized meals so its not like hes still hungry.
thanks so much for your help though!

[amcceney]

im still figuring out this site so im working on getting pics up as fast as i can!!

[Nikki0326]

If he still seems pretty active after eating he might be looking for more, could try to feed two mice and see how it goes. Thats what I've been doing with mine, I vary between 1-2 feeders a week depending how she acts.

[BostonMacK]

Sounds like you have a healthy happy snake!

As far as the dent in his eye, my boy gets that from time to time and it's seriously no big deal and it doesnt bother the snake. When I see this I give his cage a little misting and it's usually gone within an hour without fail. In the past 5 months I have only seen this happen with his eye twice. The first time it happened I freaked out and instantly started a thread here asking about it. You will experience "new things" with your snake as time progresses and this place is the best place on the net to help you through them all. I am glad your snake is doing well and your so excited. My boy is coming up on a year and I am still as excited now with him as I was the day I brought him home, just a little more relaxed now