Reptile & Amphibian Forums

let me introduce myself, my name is Ezme and I own two very beautiful spotted pythons.
I am having husbandry trouble with them at the moment. The male is having trouble with his sheds, I have tried raising the humidity, providing a large water dish, providing a moist hide, and soaking him. The humidity and large water dish arent helping, and he doesnt voluntarily go into his moist hide (which is the most hidey area in his enclosure). forcing him to soak for hours seems to do the trick, but i dont see why he needs it.
Both my beauties have a rough patch of skin on the same place of their neck.
I have treated them for mights, cleaned the enclosures, and kept the humidity up.
The temps are a range between 75 degrees farenheit with a basking spot of 90 degrees farenheit.
I would dearly like to know what I am doig wrong that is causing this trouble.
thank you

are they in? Glass tanks with screen lids are famous for being hard to maintain humidity.
-----
phflame
kingsnake.com host

They are in a converted wooden shelving unit with small vents, and aspen shavingsm, a large water dishes, moist hides, and uth.

Measure it with a hygrometer. You said you raised it, but it still might be low.

I would provide a moist hide on the warm end, and one on the cool end. In case temperature is a reason they are not using the moist hide.

The humidity was fifty, I have it up around seventy right now. I just made a long moist hide out of moss and plastic tubing that runs from the warm end to the cool end, I'll see if he uses it more than the two seperate moist hides. I also changed the mesh around the light to a plastic cfoated one so that they cant rub themselves raw on it.

remember that those little hygrometers that you stick on the glass do not give an accurate reading very often.

If you can keep it 60 or above for regular times, and then increase it for shedding times, it might help.
-----
phflame
kingsnake.com host

You are going about this all wrong. Childrens are from arid areas of australia. They do not need or like humidity and you will never see one enter a sopping wet hide of its own accord. Too much humidity can have just as bad effects on skin condition as too dry. Drop you humidity, increse ventilation, and give a small water bowl. If you still have problems with shedding, soak them for a few hours just after they go blue for a shed. But I don't think youll have to once your husbandry is corrected.

I had the humidity low and a small water dish, and thats when the shed problems started. Is there something else I'm missing?

I keep mine in well ventilated sweaterboxes on aspen. They each have a resin log for hiding, which also has some rough spots for rubbing during a shed. Small water dishes are all I provide as far as humidity. They never soak, and the only increased humidity is being a little "messy" about water changes when blue. I know it may seem obvious, but do you have something for them to rub on during a shed?
Mike

I have branches, rocks, and logs that he can use for shedding purposes, its really quite a naturalistic set up. The problem isnt so much that he wont shed, his skin just wont come off unless I soak him. The female is kept in the manner and she never has trouble, but she has some rough scales on her neck like he does.

My adults kept year round in a 3' neodesha, with aspen bedding, cork bark hide, and 5" clay water dish. Never had a problem with skin sheds. Sometimes a piece of the tail is still on, but it comes off easily. UTH heat in back of cage so they can bask if needed. My humidity level is low to medium, it varies.
As a precaution, next time they go opaque try putting them in a wet paper towel container for a few hours. This will help them slough off the skin later on. You can repeat this in 3-4 days.

Mike

I'd take the advice of the earlier post which told you to drop the humidity. Both my snakes had perfect sheds last night at 35% humidity. You obviously have enough stuff in there to start a shed. Drop the humidity and see what happens
mike

Well hes just pre shed now,so I'll see how he does and report the results. He now has a dry hide and a damp hide on both sides of his enclosure, so he can pick what ever he wants,a medium sized water bowl, and many things to rub on.
Wish him luck!