Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I picked up a new butter corn about a month ago. He came with shredded aspen already in his deli cup AND i had already been toying with the idea of switching to aspen (from shredded coconut husk) because of all the good things i've read about aspen on various forums.

So i bought a bag of aspen when i picked up the snake, and a couple of days ago, my new corn had the worst shed i've ever seen a snake have. There were patches of skin all over him. I soaked him for a bit, used some wet paper towels and got all the skin off, but i still feel horrible for letting that heppen to him in the first place.

I'm assuming (and hoping) it's a husbandry issue...probably humidity.

1 - I guess my main question is how to increase humidity using aspen. I've been reluctant to spray the aspen down, because i'm worried that the aspen might get moldy and smelly if it doesn't dry out correctly. is this something i should be worried about? The liked the coconut husk because it would hold humidity very well, but then again, i may just not be used to working with aspen. If anybody has any tips or tricks that they've discovered during their experience with aspen bedding, i'd love to hear them.

2 - Along the same line of thinking, i was also toying with the idea of switching to just plain old newpaper when i finally get my rack built. How would a person increase the humidity in an enclosure using newspaper as bedding? just spray water on the newspaper?

sorry for the long post
thanks in advance for any replies,
tony

I use aspen for some of my snakes, newspaper for others. Babies are mostly on paper towel or napkins.

I also have some glass aquaria and some plastic boxes.

With my plastic boxes, the humidity usually seems to stay high enough that sheds are seldom a problem. In my aquaria, I often cover most of the screen with something when a snake starts a shed cycle.

If your home/area is very dry in general, one nice thing about newspaper and/or paper towel is that you can "spill" a little water during the shed cycle and then easily (and cheaply) change bedding afterwards.

I keep about 50 adult snakes and hatch out quite a few babies. Where I live it is very humid in the Summer. Irregardless of this, I occasionally have snakes that have a hard time shedding. This doesn't make much sense to me, since the snake in the next sweaterbox is living under identical conditions and has no trouble at all shedding.

I've learned to keep an eye on snakes going through a shed cycle and if they don't shed within a specific timeframe, I'll put them in a container with a damp towel and this usually does the trick.

In my experience the best snake keepers check on their animals every day and are "tuned in" to what their animals are up to. I've learned that across-the-board solutions like increasing humidity or changing substrate, don't necessarily work for all snakes.

Just something to think about!

Tim

Third Eye

Wow! Is that snake really in a knot, or is it just an optical illusion?

Yes, yes! "Back in the day" I was a Boy Scout and I'm teaching them what I know. Next up "Wilderness Survival Skills." Ever see a snake with a Merit Badge?

Tim

Third Eye

No, but I once saw Stephin Merritt play "Badge" by Cream.

I think the easiest thing to do is when you see the snake is blue or ready to shed, move the waterbowl to the warm end of the tank. This will up the humidity. For my younger snakes which shed much more often, I just keep the water on the warm side all of the time.

I also cover 3/4 of the screen top with plastic to keep the humidity in when shedding. Never had a problem since doing this.
-----
3.1 Corn (Anery Stripe-Ripple '06/Amber-Jack Straw '06/Snow-Casey Jones '06/Amel Motley-Cosmo '03)
0.1 Baird's Ratsnake (Sugaree '04)
1.0 White Oaks Grey Rat (Tennesse Jed '04)
0.1 IJ Carpet Python (Cassidy '04)
1.0 Western Hognose (Samson '05)
1.1 Shepherd mix (Dylan 8yrs, Porter 3yrs)

Just take a damp paper towel, wad it up and stick it in one corner of the container. That way all of the aspen doesn't get wet as you described, but the snake can crawl across the damp parer towel and the overall humidity will go up without having the whole cage wet.

P&S Pituophis

Thanks for all the suggestions. They are much appreciated. I'll experiment with a few of the ideas mentioned and take it from there!

Take a container with a top, cut a hole in the side, fill it with moistened spagnum moss, and put it in the cage. Spray it as necessary. That way your snake can choose to go in there, and it will keep the aspen dry. Remove it after the snake sheds, toss the moss, and reuse it next time.
-----
phflame
kingsnake.com host

I feel that the aspen is not the problem at all, and I don't see aspen being a key component in your humidity issue.

The air simply could have been drier than normal, too much heat and not enough humidity, etc..

I keep everything on newspaper and paper towels and have perfect sheds just about all the time. The last time I had a snake with an imperfect shed, the water bowl was lower than normal.

Simply put, I believe that if you have your water dish full at least half to 75% full, your humidity should be fine. I would not promote getting the aspen wet to promote humidity.

Take care!

Billy
-----
Genesis 1:1

OK, this is more on my knowledge of woodworking. The aspen we get appears to be kiln dried. Meaning moisture level "should be" 6-9%. But Kiln dried SPF pine/spruce/fir is also kiln dried and should be the same, but is rarely below 20%. Lumber co. hype this,, as dry is more stable. That said, aspen is not as wet as pine as a wood. Aspen is a moderate hard wood. Long story short, the aspen I see does seen very dry.

So, if you have a heavy layer of aspen, the moisture level under the aspen may? be considerable lower than just above it. The aspen will want to become static with its environment. So in a humid tank, it will start to take on moisture.

I personally to not have a good humidity gauge. Maybe someone can test this.

Also to make it more confusing. In MY Opinion, the bulk aspen now that is cut like the standard pine is a little wetter than the older across grain planed wood. Most people call that shredded. Sun seed had a great aspen product and was cheap. It now is planed with the grain just like the pine and I hate it. There are a couple of place you can still buy bales of "shredded" aspen on the web. But you have to buy a lot and be in an area where they have distributions.
-----
Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.herpzilla.com