Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have three BRBs, two youngins (about 4 months old) and and an adult male. The adult male was a recent rescue from a guy who couldn't keep it anymore, and the two younger snakes are for a future breeding project. Recently all 3 have been in shed. The adult male shed just fine, but I noticed he has some dark spots around his nose area and his eyes seem darker than they should. Could this be leftover skin from a past incomplete shed, and is this dangerous for him to have? He is GORGEOUS otherwise and seems to be in great health, but I worry maybe he can't see, and sometimes he seems to sneeze a bit. Also, the female baby just shed, but it did not all come off. I sprayed her down and made the humidity closer to 95% for a couple days, but if it doesn't come off on its own, should I try to help her shed myself? The baby male is still deep in shed but hasn't done the deed yet, he also hasn't eaten for nearly 7 weeks now though he used to be a very very strong eater. Should I be concerned there? Sorry for the long question, I rarely have problems with these guys but a lot of stuff came up at once!

All three sound like possibly too low of humidity??

Adult male, retained eyecaps can be an issue, as well as the nasal passages being blocked. In the future, if you're not sure about the eye scales, unwrap the shed and check for them. For now look closely. I would NOT try to remove unless you're 110% sure there are retained eyecaps. For the nasal blockage, again, look closely and see if there is an edge you can get to pull the blockage out.

Female baby with stuck shed, raise the humidity and you can work the stuck but but be careful to not damage the underlying scales. One trick I; ve used is to tie up the snake in a damp bag. Either a snake bag or a pillow case. Place this in a warm cage with the snake in it for an hour or so. Slithering around in it can get the stuck shed to come off.

While they can go months without food, it's not common for a baby to go off feed like that for that long a time. Again back to hydration, or too hot, babies should be kept high 70's, not over 80.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks for the help. As to the humidity levels, nothing has changed since I got them, and neither has ever stopped eating or had an incomplete shed before this. They have identical setups which are 20 gallon aquariums. They have proper size heating pads on one side of the bottom of the tank, large water bowls on the cooler side, a climbing limb, coconut husk has bedding and an upside down flower pot with a hole cut in it that has damp moss in it. The moist hide (flower pot) is over the heating pad with a layer of bedding between. Both snakes used to spend most of their time in the moist hide, but the male who hasn't eaten has been in his other hide on the cool side all the time, but when I get him out he seems VERY cool. I have thermometers in each cage and they register around 74-79 throughout the day. Would there be a better way to set up the tanks? The room is constantly between 69-73 itself, so could I be overheating them? What would you suggest as an alternative or a better setup? I have lamps if that would be better, and I do cover most of the screen top of the cage with damp rags to keep humidity in. Thanks!

One suggestion I have is to replace the damp rags with a solid barrier. Damp rags will slow down the escape of warm humid air and will add a little humidity to the cool air replacing it but not nearly as good as keeping the warm humid air. A piece of plastic, cut to fit fairly closely to the lid/top would be best.

Temps sound fine. The heated room hels fix the other problem with glass tank - heat loss through the glass.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks again! Do you think taking the heat pads off and replacing them with lamps during the day and removing them at night might be a good idea? That would drop the temps down to the low 70's or very high 60's at night and it would give the snakes a hot spot if they need it during the day. I'm worried about it getting too hot with the lamp, but I'm afraid the snake that hasn't been eating is too hot with the heating pad as well. I'm just getting really worried about the little guy. Thanks.

Don't do lights, dries out the cage. If the heat pad is too hot get a dimmer. I've read lighting stores (or lighting sections in hardware stores) have in lind dimmer cords. Like an extension cord with a built in dimmer switch. Then you could turn down the heat pad a little.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

another thing you could do that would not negatively affect anything is to add a second humid hide but put it on the cool side. If the snake is getting dried out avoiding the humid hide(because of temperature) then this will give it a humid location at the temperature gradient it is desiring.

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
0.1 Pacific Gophersnake(unproven Hypo)
1.0 Amel Pacific Gophersnake
0.1 Striped Anery Pacific Gophersnake
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat