Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a monacle that is kept in a animal plastics rack set up, there are four tubs in this rack. I have an albino western, gaboon, edb, and the monacle. all the other snakes shed perfect as well as the rest of my collection. He eats everything in site and has the typical attitude of a cobra. The last time he went into the shed cycle i even soaked him for 20 minutes a day for four days as well as spraying him down in his tub. he is kept on dcl cage liners with a hide and water bowl, i just can't figure it out. I have never had a snake not shed perfect for me. Any ideas or comments would be great and sorry for the long post. Jason

Basic Husbandry 101: Don't soak your snakes so much! Over soaking can actually promote poor sheds. Snakes produce a natural "oil" to help them to shed their skin; even arid desert dwellers. Most of our water supplies are treated with chemicals that can actually have a dessicating effect if they are allowed to soak too much. I have gaboons and rhino vipers who've never been soaked in their life yet defecate regularly and always shed their skins in one piece? Why? It's all about the ambient humidity levels; that's what's most important. My cobras just get a little warm water mist towards the warm end of the cage to bump up the humidity during the shed cycle; and even then, it's only sporadically. For cobras that come from more tropical climates, I will provide a humidity box of slightly dampened spaghnum moss to serve as a humidity retreat that these snakes will actively seek out while leaving the rest of the cage dry. There's different things you can do but my first recommendation would be to cut back on soaking. If the snake has a bad shed, you'll have more success by heavily misting your cage with warm water and allow the ambient humidity to help with the stuck skin (and provide lots of rough surfaces). Soaking is okay for assisting with bad sheds but not the end all and oversoaking will do more harm than good.

I'll also qualify my advice in that if you are a minor, you shouldn't own a venomous herp....hopefully, that's not the case.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center

>>I have a monacle that is kept in a animal plastics rack set up, there are four tubs in this rack. I have an albino western, gaboon, edb, and the monacle. all the other snakes shed perfect as well as the rest of my collection. He eats everything in site and has the typical attitude of a cobra. The last time he went into the shed cycle i even soaked him for 20 minutes a day for four days as well as spraying him down in his tub. he is kept on dcl cage liners with a hide and water bowl, i just can't figure it out. I have never had a snake not shed perfect for me. Any ideas or comments would be great and sorry for the long post. Jason
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Rob's advice is exactly what I would have said.
Over-soaking does result in a "strip-shed" which can cause problems later on. Stuck sheds are also a breeding ground for bacteria. I couldn't have said it better Rob!

Randal Berry

get stuck skin off a cobra? I know how I fix the problem with my retic, but I bet that's not the safest way to do it with a hot.

RP

Stuck sheds do occur in venomous snakes. The best way I've found to deal with this issue (even in harmless snakes) is to bag the snake in a damp pillowcase and put it back into the enclosure. It sometimes helps if there is a wet terrycloth towel. The snake usually tries to get out of the bag and rubs against the towel. I've found this to be better than post shed soaking.

Again, this is for a snake who has already shed, but some is stuck.

This has worked for every species I've tried except a couple of really difficult copperheads that got retained sheds all of the time for some reason.

What did you do with the copperheads?

I don't want to derail too much, but I've seen three copperheads owned by two different people and they all would have terrible times shedding. Everything else in the room (temp and humidity controlled room) were absolutely fine...

We bagged them for a day or two and then actually ended up putting a big ol rock in the enclosure. It just got the shed off by rubbing against the rock on its own at that point. One person tried hand shedding and got tagged trying to pin it. This person had not been trained to pin... just want to point out. Even if trained, pinning is the most dangerous thing you can do (aside from free handling) with venomous, which is why I suggested the bag method.

The most foolproof way I have found of getting rid of stubborn stuck sheds is to get ahold of a few pieces of good old burlap (like they make burlap bags out of) and keep them on hand for these occasions. Than when you get something that has shed trouble put them in a can with tepid water more or less the depth that the snake is thick with a couple pieces of the burlap which provides ample rough area for them to rub against. I have never had this not to work except with a snake which is in such bad shape that it doesnt have the energy to move. Some times you might have to leave them in for several days but it will work eventually.

As an aside, if cobras aren't the worst they aren't far from it about shedding in bits. Im currently taking care of about 200-300 kaouthia and N. naja and very few of them shed in one piece. I imagine they normally shed in rat burrows and so forth and enjoy both more stuff to rub on and better humidity.

If something has skin stuck so badly that it has to be manually removed I suggest a restraining tube with a small slot cut into the side to allow one to access eyecaps without laying hands on the snake. There is nearly no (if not no) good reason to EVER pin a captive venomous snake for routine maintainance tasks.

Peter
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Peter and Sara
Beouf River Reptiles

I understand and never soak anything, I just thought i would give it a try. I have sprayed the back part of the tub the heated part and still no luck. This is the fourth time he has done this in a row. I have a pretty good size collection and have never had this problem. Thanks for all the advise and i will try a damp hide box next time, Thanks again Jason

I have an albino N Kaouthia that has never shed well on her own. I don't know why. All of my others animals (Naja and all) shed beautifully.

I have gotten in the habit of watching her after she blues. When she starts nose-rubbing I put her in a tub of tepid water. After awhile the shed seperates and I tail her and slide her out of it.

It's funny...she is usually pretty "uppity" but she seems to have become accustomed to this and becomes placid and calm throughout the whole thing, but returns to her [bleep]y self after I put her back in her enclosure and she dries off.

LOL

I have used the damp back method several times with good results. Tubing the snake is a safe procedure that should be done with an assistant.
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
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