As we are all interested in seeing our snakes have a good, long life, perhaps some of you can help me with a problem I had some years ago.

I borrowed an 8 foot, wild caught-as-an-adult male boa for an attempted breeding. When I got him home, he squirmed through my hands and a strip of skin an inch wide and 8-12 inches long peeled back showing the muscle underneath. I pulled the skin back into place, and he healed up before I had to return him six months later. Unfortunately he died less than a year after he went back to the owner. The carcass was discarded without any attempt to determine the cause of death, as far as I know.

I had never seen that problem before and only once since then, in a reticulated python.

I have never gotten a good answer for the cause of that weak skin problem. Have any of you seen anything like it, and if so, what is the cause?

One of the possible explanations that I have thought of was a stress-caused vitamin C deficiency, which could make it relevant to this discussion.

Paul Hollander

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