Definitely raise the temps. Keep in mind you only need to have that heat pad under about 1/2-1/3 of the enclosure so that you have only a portion of the cage at about 80-85. As far as humidity, you can use glass or plexi cut to size to lay on a portion of the screen but don't forget to leave enough open to keep a decent airflow in there. You should probably shoot for a relative humidity of around 40-50%. In all honesty, it shouldn't be that much of a factor until shedding time and then you can just mist once or twice daily near the end of the shed cycle. Speaking of which, since your snake has by now lost all or most of it's natural lubrication to get the skin off, you will have to make it a priority to get it off ASAP, especially around the eye caps and the tip of the tail. To answer you question about the pillow case, yes, put her in it and tie the top. Before you do that, soak the pillow case and then wring it out so it's very damp, but not dripping. This will give her a nice wet surface to crawl around in and hopefully get that skin off. If it does not work, you will have to do it manually. Don't worry about her little teeth, even if they break off on your hand, they will grow back. The alternative could be devastating if you don't get that skin off of her head. If you have to resort to this, a method I have used with success in the past has been to restrain the snake under running warm water. As the warm water softens the skin you can roll/rub your thumb along it and it should catch a little and start to peel off. Once you get a section of skin coming off, the warm water will get under the old skin and help facilitate the rest of the manual shed. Again, make sure you get it all off the head (especially the eye caps) and the tail tip as these two areas are the most prone to permanent damage if old skin is left on. Good luck and let us know how it goes!! Billy



>>Thanks, I'll do that. That means that I can move her out from under the vent. Maybe that will allow a more humid environment. I'll play with the heat a little too.

>>I have an idea of putting the soaking bowl directly over the pad to encourage evaporation. Is this a good or bad thing? I had only turning the pad to high for the first couple of days after feeding to help with digestion. I hope it wont hurt anything to leave it on high for 4 days. I just opened a couple of very expensive laboratory thermometers (taxpayer money)so I now have one one each end and I can moniter the cage much more effectivly now.

>>

>>Another thought. glass planes will fit under the screen top. They will slide right over the lip at the top of the aquarium that I am using. Could I regulate humidity and temp by finding the correct size of glass cover and keep using the screen to cover the rest since it will fit over the top?

[ Show Entire Thread ]