First shed, new snake owner

[Ranulf]

I'll try that out once I get another thermostat.

He is really active right now, moving all over his tank and rubbing wherever he can. Some more shed is coming off but its slow progress. We are going to check him tomorrow morning and see how he did, and do bad shed procedure if he didnt get it all.

He likes the new hide for rubbing against but as far as I can tell, he hasn't even peeked inside. I'm guessing its too late in the shed process for him to want to go in there and perhaps the temps aren't where he wants them.

He also has been checking out the new aluminum on top of his terrarium. He doesn't seem like he is trying to get out. I think he is hungry.

We got him 2 weeks ago yesterday so he was probably getting ready to shed shortly after we got him home, or even before, and we didn't notice because...well we didn't have time to evaluate his normal appearance. We fed him for the first time two weeks ago this wednesday, and he ate fine. Last week wednesday he didn't eat. We put it down as due to the new enclosure and potentially too early in the evening, but now its likely he was pre shed.

We have not handled him at all since we got him, so the first indication we had that he was shedding is when we came home late and saw shed on him when we turned on the lights.

Humidity has been a problem this entire time and I'm not sure how useful bumping humidity up to 70% + is *after* he already starts sloughing. Given the timeline of the shed, we should have probably had him at 70%+ since the day we brought him home.

I guess I can't really complain though, this whole experience has taught me a lot and he doesnt seem too stressed.

I think I am more stressed than he is!

[Ranulf]

Well, the shed came off this morning just fine after following the procedure laid out here on the forums.

He was a little tense when we first started handling him, but soon he was trying to crawl everywhere as we were running him through the washcloth. He didn't strike at us at all. We put him back in his enclosure, left for a fe whours, and came back to see him still roaming his enclosure and climbing his tree (which he really likes doing).

Ambient cold side temps are right at 78 and hot spot temp is at 90. Humidity is between 70-75 still.

Is he stressed and trying to get out after being handled for the shed, or is he just happy to have his shed off and is having fun exploring during the day?

He also seems hungry, so could this be a sign he wants food? We plan on feeding him tomorrow night since we handled him this morning.

[Ranulf]

Well, it won't let me edit any more so here are a few more details:

He is on top of the "leaves" of his favorite tree, just sitting there. Tongue not flicking, motionless, doesn't seem to have moved since we got home. Heh. As I am writing this he is starting to move again. I think he reacted to street noise as now he is motionless again.
His tail is below him gripping a protrusion on his tree.

Spanghum moss is scattered throughout his enclosure, and I didn't notice this, but there is a small flake or two of it inside his warm hide. I never saw him go anywhere near the spanghum moss thats in his enclosure before, is it possible he doesn't like it, and now that its everywhere, he is staying as far as he can from it?

We moved his humid hide and bowl to the center of his enclosure. His tree is now the farthest thing over on the cold side. We are trying this because he otherwise would never go in his cold hide. We did this when we put everything back into his enclosure after taking it all out for the assisted shed. Is it possible the change is too much?

[Zincubus]

Well, the shed came off this morning just fine after following the procedure laid out here on the forums.

He was a little tense when we first started handling him, but soon he was trying to crawl everywhere as we were running him through the washcloth. He didn't strike at us at all. We put him back in his enclosure, left for a fe whours, and came back to see him still roaming his enclosure and climbing his tree (which he really likes doing).

Ambient cold side temps are right at 78 and hot spot temp is at 90. Humidity is between 70-75 still.

Is he stressed and trying to get out after being handled for the shed, or is he just happy to have his shed off and is having fun exploring during the day?

He also seems hungry, so could this be a sign he wants food? We plan on feeding him tomorrow night since we handled him this morning.

Mine will only strike the food from WITHIN their hides ... maybe worth waiting till he’s awake but UNDER a hide then dangle the mouse in front of the hide entrance...


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[Ranulf]

Sorry for the grainy image, I don't want to disturb him. Currently he is like this in his tree. He peers around at the ground every now and then, and when the heat lamp comes on, he likes going up and seeing what the hell is going on. Otherwise, he just sits and stares at the ground. As I write this he is clinging to the tree with his aft end and scoping out his enclosure with the rest of himself.

He has been focused on his humidity hide, is it possible he is trying to hunt?

First thing I though was it was too cold, and he was trying to get close to the heat lamp, but the hot spot is on the right side and he is where the coldest temps in the tank are probably. Temp on the hot side is at 90°