Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a young alterna (not yet a year old), and she has an incomplete shed of about 8 scales, the only problem is that we didn't noticed it until about three weeks later, so now the underscales have gone back.. oops! Any suggestions would be awesome, so far I'm just going to watch it and make sure it is fixed in the next shed cycle. Is this the thing to do? Oh, and no herp vets in Montana .

Soak her in a tub with a very wet towel, the water will soften the old skin and her movement on and around the towel will help remove it gently without added stress.

Lance
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Herp Conservation Unlimited

Where are you in Montana? I second the suggestion for a soak.

-Cole
Billings, MT

Well, I guess I'm not that far from Billings... I asked around and looked online just in case but I was unable to find any vet in Bozeman. I also couldn't find any retailer of live feeders around here either, though that was just a precaution, both of my babies eat f/t.

I'm unsure about live feeders - you may need to travel to Billings or Missoula for those.

Re: herp vets, check out these guys:

Karyn Cook
Shari Skifstafd
All West Veterinary Hospital
81770 Gallatin Road
Bozeman, MT 59718
Tel: (406) 586-4919

I've had no personal experience with them, but they can and do work with herps.

For a simple incomplete shed, I'd recommend doing a soak before seeking medical help.

-Cole

Thanks a lot for the info! Do you have a shop in Billings?

There are 2 shops I'm aware of here in Billings that sell live feeders. However, you're unlikely to find anything smaller than 1/2 grown live mice at either of them. Both sell frozen, also. Feel free to PM me for any further info... don't want this post to turn into an ad... LOL

-Cole

Giving her a bath and taking her to the vet are good ideas, but you also may just want to wait until the next shed cycle. I'd at least wait on the vet visit until one more shed, unless you think she has some other problems. Every once in awhile they can have a bad shed. I wouldn't try peeling anything off since it has been three weeks. Leaving the remaining unshed skin will not hurt anything and it is very likely she will shed it all off the next time. When she goes blue the next time, soak her for twenty minutes once a day and I'll bet she'll have a perfect shed

Just another suggestion from my own experiences and from Mader's Reptile Medicine and Surgery...

Max

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Snakes to the Max