Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have a pet corn snake, Spot, who will be 16yo this fall. He has always been healthy but as he gets older he is starting to have problems with incomplete sheds. We've had him since he was just a few weeks old, and as he has grown so has his tanks.

For years now he's been in a 55-gallon aquarium with pine shavings as a substrate. He has 3 hides: a half log in the middle, he can get underneath his water dish at the cool end and also a large overturned plastic bowl with an access hole cut into the side on the warm end of the tank.

I lurk here on a regular basis and have attended each of the Chat Weeks since the beginning, but I very rarely post. Over the years you folks have helped me understand some of his behaviors, and when I wanted to change him from eating several live mice at one feeding to small F/T rats you answered my questions and helped in making the process successful. Thanks!

Every time Spot sheds I've always checked right away to be sure the end of his tail shed too. Whenever it didn't I'd just hold him with a damp paper towel around the end of his tail and the old skin would soon slough off. Where he's having a problem now, though, is around his neck on both sides just behind his head. I've just started spritzing him with warm water a couple times a week, but he hasn't had a shed yet since.

Is there anything else I can do? I have tried "swimming" him in the kitchen sink (stainless) but that's such a pain. I'm so afraid he'll get sick from something that I wash the sink out, then let water and bleach sit in it and then I rinse and scrub it again with hot water and salt. Then there's even more rinsing, until I'm positive it's safe for him. Then of course I have to do all that again when he's done!

He isn't too crazy about swimming, though I am very careful about water temp. I've also read on here about a method of using enclosed plastic containers with a small amount of water and the snake in a pillow case, but I don't want to do that. I tried it once years ago for a temporary problem and he thrashed around, scaring himself and me half-to-death.

I've thought about getting a plastic tub just for him for swimming, but I'd be just as OCD about cleaning it, and doesn't bleach soak into plastic? And I've already tried covering half his tank to keep the humidity up, but that doesn't seem to be helping enough.

In case it matters, I got him from a private local breeder ($15 in '92), the warm side of his cage is currently 82*, humidity is 60% in the middle. He's got a heat rock with a rheostat that gets checked regularly and also a 40 watt bulb overhead on that side. The cool end is the ambiant temp of the dining room. He eats when he's hungry (takes a break from end of Nov. to sometime in Feb.), and because I didn't know any different when we got him I swing the rat above his head by the tail until he grabs it. If I ever get another snake we'll do things differently! Also, every other rat gets his butt sprinkled with Reptivite vitamins.

I get him out about once every 6 weeks or so, and he is always calm and seems to enjoy being held.

I'll check back later for any responses. Thanks so much for reading. Appreciate it!

Ralphine

>>> "I've also read on here about a method of using enclosed plastic containers with a small amount of water and the snake in a pillow case, but I don't want to do that. I tried it once years ago for a temporary problem and he thrashed around, scaring himself and me half-to-death".

This method works extremely well for getting off stubborn sheds. I've NEVER had a snake freak out doing this, and I've done this on many an occasion over several decades.

I'm thinking that the snake was surprised(shocked) by either the sudden temperature change(too warm, or too hot), or you put too much water in the plastic container, and the snake thought it was going to drown.

The way to do this is,....moisten the pillowcase BEFORE you put the snake in,...then only put enough water in the plastic container to keep the bag good and moist, not to where the snake is virtually having to swim in the bag(1/8 inch or so) of room temp water. With a wet pillowcase lowered into maybe 1/8th inch or so of water, I don't think this would cause an alarming panic. Keep in mind,...warm water to us is EXTREMELY warm to a snake since OUR body temp is 98.6, the water has to be much hotter than that to feel warm to US, but a snake's temp being about whatever ambient temps are in it's surroundings, it takes a much cooler temp to feel warm to the snake(maybe 80-85 degrees). This is something that is often not thought about.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Thanks, Doug, for the suggestion. I'll think about it but his reaction at the time made a profound impression on me. I felt very mean!

Before putting Spot in any water I hold him for an hour or more to equalize his body temp. I learned a long time ago that water that is at my body temp is way too warm for him. So I use a thermometer and check over and over before putting him in the sink. That OCD again.

I'll give the every-other-day spritzing to the next shed to work. If not we'll try the pillow case method. I don't remember wetting it first, maybe that was the problem.

Thanks again!

Something else to try: get a rubbermaid container that is large enough for him, cut a hole or two for him to go in and out, and fill it with moist sphagnum moss. I use this for my corn snakes and they go in if they feel the need for the moisture. I only put it in their cages when they cloud up before a shed. (This is also what we do when we have a female ready to lay eggs.)

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Kent

My opinion is this: I would get rid of the lamp and heat rock, ( how are the temps in his cage without the lamp? would the cage be 78-82 without the lamp? ), as the lamp may be making the air a little too dry. I say this cause I had an older corn snake beginning in 1991, who was five feet at least, and I used the same exact type cage, and had a heat lamp on top, and he had the same dry spots of skin not coming off in sheds, much like yours. The moment I stopped using the lamp, when I found out my temps without it were just as good, he once again had complete and full sheds.

Sometimes when we make the temps higher using heat lamps, we do risk making the air too dry as well. I would also stop spraying him with water a few times as well, as he needs to be dry all the time.

He sounds like a great snake in great hands!!! Keep us posted and post a pic if you can.
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Genesis 1:1

i read in the sand boa forum that you could drip a drop of vit E on his food and that helped with them (liquid vit e sup capsule you get at the store) i was curious because my female hates getting wet and it worked on her made her look good

Sorry I haven't been back sooner, was under the weather for a couple of days. I really appreciate all the help, both here on the forum plus through emails. Thanks!!

Spot shed the other day, a very disorganized shed, the worst it's ever been. I put him in warmish water for half an hour and got most of it off. I always hold him for a good hour before, so it's not such a shock. Now the only skin that is still attached is on his throat.

We're going shopping today, so I'll be able to pick up a plastic shoe-box w/ lid kind of container to put damp Bed-a-Beast in so he has a place to go before he sheds.

I have a couple of questions. This is long, again. Sorry! It's a combination of worry about my old pet snake, I like to talk, and 2 years of typing in high school that I've used in all the years since.

Anyway... How long before I should worry about the retained shed on his throat? It's been 2 days since he shed. Someone posted a question about Vitamin E in/on the food, and I wondered, too, about that or something else, like a wee bit on the dried skin.

Also, how in heaven's name do y'all fit all that furniture in your cage set-ups??? Dog dish sized bowl at the cool end, which is a hide underneath, a large pass-through half-log in the middle, and an upturned bowl over a part of his heat rock at the warm end.

This is a 55-gal aquarium with a screen & plastic top. It's almost 12 1/2" deep, and 48" wide. In order to put the shoe-box in with the Bed-a-Beast, something's got to go, I guess the bowl.

This is the first shed I can remember without any lead-up-to warnings. Usually he starts getting dull, then his eyes cloud over for a couple of days (and clear); from beginning to end the process takes about 10 days. This time it was BANG! no warning.

I've got most of the top covered, I took away the overhead 40w bulb a couple of days ago, so all he's got is the hot rock w/ rheostat right now. Though there's no air conditioner in the dining room, we do a/c the downstairs, I might have to put the o'head light back. We'll see.

I'd appreciate any comments on any part of this, and will check back later. Thank you ALL!!