few random questions

[donley]

I got my first bp about a month ago and have been following this forum ever since. I've never had a reptile before and I was raised to fear snakes (because all the rattlesnakes in AZ) so there is no way I coulda made it this far without the help of all of you. Victor (we named him after the brand of mouse traps) is doing great in his new home. We got the temps pretty steady at about 82 and 90 degrees. I'll see what I can do about posting some pics of him. Well, my first question may be kinda stupid, but I'm a lil' overprotective of animals. We feed him live mice and picked up a mouse for him a day early. It escaped during the night and had free roam of the house overnight. Luckily we found him pretty easily in the morning, but is it still okay to feed him this mouse? I don't want to give him any parasites or anything.
Also, he just shed for us for the first time and it wasn't a good one. very piecy and a few stuck pieces. We've figured out how to keep the humidity up since then and I'm working on making a humid hide (cant find that moss around here so I'm going to have to order some). I read the sticky about soaking him and we were able to get most of the shed off that way but he didn't seem to like the water (won't put his head or neck in it) and he balled up and hid his head. He also jerks back when we put the washcloth anywhere near his head. He has shed left on one side of his head, including one eyecap, and about an inch down the top of his neck. It looks like its coming loose, the edges are sticking up, but he is having a hard time catching it on something to get it off (he's def. trying). There is also a tiny lil' piece left around the tip of his tail that isn't coming loose no matter how long we soak it. I don't think it would be too hard to grab hold of the shed left on his neck and pull a little, but is this okay to do? I don't want to force it off if it will hurt him. Or should I just leave him alone and let him keep trying? Should I put something rough for him to rub on in his tank?
My last question doesn't involve my snake, but a "friends". He got his snake at the same time we did and just recently he tried to feed it a mouse (the same size it has been eating). The snake killed the mouse just fine but wasn't able to swallow it. He worked on it for about 30 min or so but just couldn't get it past its mouth and into the neck. The owner doesn't seem concerned but I am. Is this a normal thing? Could there be something blocking it? thanks for all the help!

[python.princess]

first of all, welcome to the site and congrats on your first snake! the runaway mouse should be fine to feed him. I doubt he picked up any nasty parasites or anything during the short time he was unaccounted for. as far as getting the stuck shed off his head, a good trick for the headshy ones is to soak him like you've been doing, but wrap him up in a washcloth before putting him in the water. that way his head is rubbing on it the whole time he's in there. this should do the trick. and since you've since figured out how to keep up the humidity now, you should be fine for the next shed as long as you keep it up.

i would guess that the mouse is a little larger than your friends snake is used to. i'd try again in a week with a smaller one. I've never heard of a blockage or anything that would stop the mouse from going down if it's the right size. your friend may have thought it was about the same size as before but just a little difference can make a huge difference! if that makes sense...

[starmom]

You NEED to get the shed surrounding the tip of his off!!!!!! This is really important!!! The shed skin will dry and constrict the blood flow to the tail tip and will cause infection and will result in the tip of his tail becoming necrotic and falling off
Hold your snake and let warm water run on his tail tip. Or, hold your snake and run warm water over your fingers and roll that stuck shed off. Keep at it until it is done. This is important.

Regarding moss, I got mine from here: http://www.tropicalplantproducts.com...?productID=500 This is premium stuff and is great!!! The brick expands when you wet it and ought to be enough to hold your snake over for quite some time-- awesome product. Just send them your check and they'll send you the moss. Check and moss cross in the mail!

Okay- stop reading and get the skin off of the tail

[donley]

Thanks for the help. I'm going to try the washcloth method in a bit. I just took another look at the tail tip, looks like it is all gone from there... He just has a "patch" around his eye and on the top of his head now.
As for the snake not being able to swallow, its def. not the size of the prey. When he first got it he fed him a small rat (looked too big for him) and he took it fine. then the next week he fed him a mouse that was much smaller than the rat but the same size as the one he couldn't swallow, maybe even bigger.

[starmom]

If you cant get it off the head it will come off the during the next shed cycle. Just watch the humidity

[m0esgirl]

about the stuck shed...i read somewhere that if your snake has stuck dead skin, then a good way to get it off (if its really bothering you or the snake i guess) is to get some SCOTCH tape(NO OTHER KIND, TOO STICKY!!!), wrap it sticky side out around your finger, and after you've run it over your hand a couple times, run it from front to back along the area of your snake where the dead scales are. and also i read that it is a good way to remove old eyecaps. i used it for one of my snakes a couple weeks ago, and after she figured out that i wasn't trying to eat her, she seemed to enjoy it. but im not a pro or anything, just thought it was an interesting piece of advice!

[dr del]

Hi,

You need to be really carefull using the tape so I wouldn't really recomend it if I'm honest.

A damp pillowcase is an all round safer alternative.


dr del

[donley]

Here is a pic of Victor when we first brough him home. I know it doesn't help with my question because it pre-shed, but just thought I'd add it anyways.

[hoo-t]

Victor is an AWESOME name! I love it!

I have to agree with Derek about the tape. In my humble opinion, tape has no business being anywhere near a snake!!! Especially with new owners that may mistake humidity issues for a stuck eyecap!

The only other thing that I would add is to be very cautious about feeding an escaped rodent if there is ANY possibility of it coming into contact with mouse/rat bait or any other toxic substance in your home.

Steve

[donley]

I have to give all the credit for the name to my husband!

We decided against the tape method as well. Don't want to risk harming him in our attempt to help so we are going to see what happens next shed. The humidity has increased a good 10% since the last shed, so I'm hoping the next one will go well.

As for the mouse, we ended up feeding it to him... There are no toxins around here that I know of, so I'm really hoping it will be okay. If there was something on (or in) the mouse, how long would it take to start affecting him? Also, is there anything we should watch for? We fed him on saturday evening and haven't noticed any changes in him yet.