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RE: Pope Viper shed issue HELP!

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Posted by: conserve at Mon Oct 4 13:05:18 2010  [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by conserve ]  
   

Sorry to hear about your situation. I have experience with Pope's, and understand exactly what you are going through.



Most snake skin comes off relatively easily when you soak them, but Pope's are another story. The skin absolutely adheres like glue if they miss that critical shed window, and even after 24 hours of soaking, the best you can usually do is get one scale off at a time.



I tried looking into a commercially available product, with no luck. Maybe someone else has a water additive that helps. I even tried using a mild human skin moisturizer (Aveno) with no luck. My snake was a juvenile, and eventually the shed came off with the next shedding cycle, so that's the only advice I can offer. Feed the snake hard to induce the next shed ASAP, and keep the enclosure humid when the snake enters the final stages of the shedding cycle and hope for the best.



If you can remove some of the shed, maybe the ventrals, so the skin doesn't ring the snake, that may help.



The only other option I can think of is to find a herp vet that will see venomous, soak the snake for a day or 2, anestitize the snake, and then work on removing as much as you can while not worrying about a wiggly venomous snake.



Would love to hear about a good soaking additive if anyone knows of one.



Good luck.


   

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