Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, can anyone help me?

I bought my GTP from a local pet store (trusted, and their distributor is reputable) about 3 weeks ago and I'm having a problem. He's about 4 months old, they said, and is still red. When I brought him home, I put him in a 20g tank with a 75 watt heat lamp and a medium heat pad underneath. He spent his entire first 2 weeks coiled up under a plant, way in back, on the ground. I was disappointed that I seemed to have bought the only GTP who doesn't like heights. I tried lifting him slowly and gently with a snake hook onto a branch, and he coiled up on it, but 2 hours later he was back in the corner down below.

I fed him after a week at my home, and he actually took a warmed frozen jumper-size mouse immediately. He defecated a week later. Meanwhile, he had begun shedding. The shed has been awful: piecey, flakey, it's been taking about 10 days now I think, and is still going on.

I bought a new tank, a 30" tall, which I knew should be much more suitable for an arboreal snake. Well, he is now coiled up at the top, though not around a branch. He avoids wood like the plague, and is now sitting perched and coiled atop a fake plant suctioned to the top of the tank. He refused his last offered meal (7 days after the first mouse).

The worst thing is that he's got this terrible shed, and he's got what one local snake guy I know calls "elephant coils," meaning the skin where his body is coiled is all wrinkled and dry. Why?! I spray him down heavily once at lights-on and once at lights-out, and I have a bubbling bowl AND another bowl in back behind the tree just for more humidity.

The temp seems ok, it's about 83-85 during the day, and down to about 72 at night (I can't get it any higher, I live in Florida and like my A/C). But the darn humidity! When I spray, the hygrometer shoots up to 80%...but after an hour it's down sometimes below 45%!

Please help, I love animals (not to mention the arm and a leg this guy cost me) and I really want this beautiful snake to be happy!

Thanks,
Alex

What you are describing sounds like a dry shed. You need to put him in a container (tupperware,ect with a few holes in it). I would line the bottom with several saturated, warm, wet paper towels and a little bit of water (1/4"-1/2" at most, depending on your snakes size, you don't want him to drown). Leave him in there for about 6 hrs. or maybe overnight. The super high humidity will cause the skin to peel off as the snake moves around on the paper towels. Also be sure the container temperatures don't get too cool.
I had a problem with a dry shed last year when I missed the signs that a shed was coming and failed to get the humidity high enough. The unshed skin becomes tight and the snake began feeling stiff. After about 6 hrs of soaking the shed came right off.
Also, you should reconsider the aquarium setup, or you may run into this problem again. Hope this helps, Joe

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0.0.1 Green tree python (Aru LT)
0.0.1 Green tree python (Wamena LT)
0.1 Irian Jaya carpet python
1.0 Albino ball python
0.1 100% het Albino ball python
0.1 Normal ball python
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow boa
1.0 Leucistic Texas ratsnake
1.0 Albino cornsnake

Joe gives some good advice for dealing with the shed. My only input there is to make the paper towels soaked but leave no standing water depth. This will solve your immediate problem but there is much work to do.

The reason your humidity is a problem is because you are using an aquarium. Aquariums are no good, in fact, any open top enclosures are going to make it extremely difficult to maintain appropriate humidity levels. Here is a link to a great site that offers a lot of good husbandry information as well as information on making a neonate enclosure:

http://www.finegtps.com/Care_sheets.html
http://www.finegtps.com/cagingbabies.htm

Your temps need to be around 85 degrees for a neonate that young and temps should never fall below 80 degrees regardless of your love for AC. A temp gradient is recommended as long as you can maintain an area which remains around 85 degrees. Once you get the shed dealt with and get it into a more appropriate enclosure that better meets its needs, you will see an improvement in the humidity levels, temps, and the animal's behavior.

Bart

I might add that GTP's do spend time on the bottom, so Greg recommends horizontal rather than vertical space as they get a better gradient that way. You might want to think about getting a fecal done on your baby also when it's finally settled in as there's a good chance it's an import. Hope things improve for you.

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Thanks very much everyone. Well, I can see that as with saltwater fish (a side of the hobby I have more experience in) there are various and sundry opinions on care to be found among keepers on GTPs. I want to thank everyone for giving me lots of feedback.

First off, I'd be annoyed if he's a captive. G&G (a huge distributor in Florida) claims all their herps are farm raised.

First thing I did last night was try to carry out the plastic bin with water scenario. I had the bin ready, but when I got him in my grabber tongs, he started coiling up it towards my hand, which led me to give up after about 5 similar repeat tries. He just wasn't going to drop into the bin. However, I did happen to find a sheet of glass (the small shelf in my entertainment center that the DVD player sits on!) that I put over the screen top, leaving a breathing opening on one side, and to my delight, as I monitored him through the evening and into today, he completed his shed almost immediately, his skin is rapidly losing the crinkles, and he's much more alert right now. I'm also very happy that the humidity was at 80% after I placed the glass on and misted him at lights-out, and this morning it was 70%, and just now it's about 80% again, with no spray since this AM. The temp gradient is also closer to what you suggested: 85 during the day, and I didn't see it go below 75 last night. He seems to be doing a world better.

Again, thanks.

Your snake hiding on the floor in the back of the cage could be do to it feeling to exposed within your aquarium. It's best for you to keep it in a tub setup until 1 year of age. Stress will also cause him to stop feeding.
Also, If you don't already have "The More Complete Chondro" book, I would highly recommend it. It covers almost everything you need to know about chondros

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0.0.1 Green tree python (Aru LT)
0.0.1 Green tree python (Wamena LT)
0.1 Irian Jaya carpet python
1.0 Albino ball python
0.1 100% het Albino ball python
0.1 Normal ball python
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow boa
1.0 Leucistic Texas ratsnake
1.0 Albino cornsnake