new mom shed panic

[Shedevil]

just wanted to thank who ever made the shedding faq stage by stage with pictures.... your awesome!!!!


should her water be warm cold or cool?


I'm a new snake mom have only had snakes for 4 days and we are going through or first shed!
I knew what was happening but until you personally go through it you panic
she is very dry almost cracking after reading the site I realize my so far mistakes yeah I handled her today because I was told to put her in a container with wet paper towel because I'm yet to see her go near water and is looking a little dehydrated ok a lot. so I did talk to her and slowly pick her up put her in and then put her back without her trying to strike maybe because only one eye is grayish blue and I made sure to slowly go toward the good eye. going to let her just do her thing now.

[lovepig78]

raise the humidity... what are you keepingher in... how is your husbandry?...sounds like its bad

[hoo-t]

just wanted to thank who ever made the shedding faq stage by stage with pictures.... your awesome!!!!


should her water be warm cold or cool?

Are we talking about drinking water or soaking water? Drinking water can just be room temp. Soaking water in a separate soaking tub needs to be about the same temp as the snake's enclosure. Around 80 - 90 degrees F. Soak her in an inch or so of water for about a half hour. You may see her drink at this time. Her regular water bowl (in her cage) does not need to be big enough for her to get into. But you need to ensure that humidity is kept at 50% - 60% at all times, and bumped up to 60% - 70% during a shed cycle.

I'm a new snake mom have only had snakes for 4 days and we are going through or first shed!
I knew what was happening but until you personally go through it you panic
she is very dry almost cracking after reading the site I realize my so far mistakes yeah I handled her today because I was told to put her in a container with wet paper towel because I'm yet to see her go near water and is looking a little dehydrated ok a lot.

If you put her into a container with wet paper towel, don't leave her in there long term! This should be like I described for soaking in water above. If left long term, you may end up with scale rot problems! If you have fresh water in the cage, don't worry about not seeing her drink, they don't drink often, and usually after a meal.

so I did talk to her and slowly pick her up put her in and then put her back without her trying to strike maybe because only one eye is grayish blue and I made sure to slowly go toward the good eye. going to let her just do her thing now.

The one or two week "alone time" before handling is a guideline for not taking her out and just messing with her. Taking her out to soak, or clean the cage, or.... is not a problem. Only one eye is blue??? That sounds more like a retained eyecap than shed cycle. Is it silvery or dull blue?

If her skin is dry and almost cracking, but not actually coming off yet, its most likely the beginnings of a bad shed. Maybe by the time you read this, it'll start coming off. An ideal shed should come off in one piece and be moist. A bad shed will come off dry and in small pieces. This is where soaking comes in. It will help to loosen the retained shed, and then it can be gently rubbed off.

If you determine that she has a retained eyecap, don't worry about it until the next shed!!! I've seen awful advice given to new snake owners about how to remove retained eyecaps that could lead to a blind snake! Just leave it alone, make sure you get your temps and humidity up to par, and it will come off with the next shed! These snakes have amazing senses of smell, and an even more amazing ability to sense heat, and don't rely on sight the way we do!

Hope this helps!
Steve

[frankykeno]

Welcome to the world of snake keeping LOL. It's just about as scary as bringing home a new human baby isn't it and they can't cry to let you know they need something. First bit of advice...don't panic. You've done a smart thing joining here and you're not the first person to get a snake and need information on care.

First off, read our caresheet thoroughly. Then start reading husbandry threads on temps, humidity, substrates, heating and caging. If you are concerned that stuff might be off that way, just start a thread, describe what you have in minute detail (pics help) and we'll help you tweak it so the snake is comfortable. As you read make note of anything that you think you need to change or something that doesn't make sense to you....do NOT worry about multiple questions or posts. Better you care and ask than you don't and the snake suffers for it.

As far as the shed, remember even if your stuff is near perfect that snake is coming out of perhaps an imperfect situation (if you got it from a pet store) so that will affect this shed and even the next one sometimes. It takes their bodies some time to adjust to new husbandry.

Big breath, no panic....you and your snake will do fine if you just work each problem as it comes, or make changes if required to avoid problems.

Welcome to BPNet!

[rabernet]

raise the humidity... what are you keepingher in... how is your husbandry?...sounds like its bad

Joe, that's a pretty big assumption to make. Often new snakes in my collection have bad first sheds - it's not an unusual thing to happen, and I know my husbandry is spot on. Once they've settled in, they shed fine, but very rarely with their first shed.

[rottendj]

i took this just before soaking him before his first shed with me last weekend, immediately after he returned to his hide he shed absolutely fine.
i was very worried and it sounds like your scenario is similar? his tail was exactly how you described, his appearance was very dehydrated but after he shed he looked perfectly normal !?!?!

im also not sure it this was normal as he was VERY dry and didnt appempt to shed before i soaked him.

Mike...

[Shedevil]

ok this is what I have and whats going on ....
just got the ball python 5 days ago (Sunday afternoon)
she is 2-3 months old got her at a reptile show so she had a big day when i got her.... she is very dry and doesn't seem interested in soaking she has rough spots almost like she is cracking but when I got her they had her in a small round container with aspen shavings and I didn't notice there was a larger chunk that I would have taken out if I would have known myself I think it might have been irretating her under her chin she had a mark by the time I took her out to put in her new tank (if that has anything to do with anything)

she is in a 15 gal long tank with heat pad on one side with a lamp on top that is set up that day its on night its off .... tank temp is 80-85 on one side 75 on other side she has a snake tree stump on cooler side with exo terra jungle vine that goes on both sides a larger dish with inch of water that is half on one side half on other side so its about 80 temp I have seen her snag a drink as she went over it first day .... aspen shavings (yes I have a feeding tank besides) I also added Premium repti bark when I noticed her belly for extra shed help not sure what the humidity is but I have been misting the tank 2-3 times a day since I noticed her being very dry ... she has a house on both sides of the tank . I did try to feed her day before yesterday but she wanted nothing to do with food which was hopper mice slightly warmer then room temp (she thought it made a lovely pillow) which was gross because then she wanted out and curled up on my hand ....


how she looks..... she has slightly pink belly her eyes were clear when I got her but after could days of pink belly her one eye was bluish lastnight but other one looks to be turning now ..... I was told to put her in container lastnight with damp paper towels which I did for 20 minutes she seemed to like that she did a lot of moving around and she didn't try to strike at me but I made sure to move on her good side (like I would want done myself)


anything I should be changing up to this part? PLEASE let me know I would rather be corrected so I can fix what I don't know I feel like the worst snake owner in the world

[dr del]

Hi,


Well here's the link to the caresheet in case you haven't been given it yet.

There also a nice sticky on setting up glass tanks that might help you adjust your setup to make it easier to keep the temps and humidity at the right levels if you need to.

I wouldn't worry about not eating while shedding - some do some don't. Main this is to check everything and watch to see if he is just going into shed or if you missed it and he has a retained shed. If you search for shedding on the forums there are quite a lot of pictures that should help.


dr del

[frankykeno]

Absolutely no need to feel that way. If you were the "worst" snake owner you wouldn't be here trying so hard to give this snake a proper home. In a perfect world you would have done all this research beforehand, but many don't and with some help their husbandry and their snakes are just fine in the end.

Your temps are a bit off as you will see by the caresheet so that needs attended to and an Acu-Rite to get a real fix on temps and humidity would be an immediate thing I would think. Not only to get that fix but also to help you to worry less if you know at a glance exactly what her environment is doing.

Even if her shed goes wrong it's fixable. See the sticky re bad shed help for a perfect walk through on that (thanks again Christie!).