Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my '10 Thayeri experienced a bad shed on 10/30. The first half of it came off in pieces and I believe one of the eye caps was retained. The reason I say that is it appeared flatter and lighter in color than the other. I tried soaking the snake but it was only partially successful. It allowed the latter half of the snake to shed in one piece, but still no luck with the eye cap. I thought about trying to remove it with a small tweasers, but there really wasn't anyhting to grab onto and I just didn't want to risk damaging it's eye.

To make a long story short, that snake shed again today (in one piece), only three weeks from last time. I've never had a snake shed so soon again. Do you think it happened because it's body was trying to repair itself from the last shed?

Anyway, I'm glad!

"Do you think it happened because it's body was trying to repair itself from the last shed?"

Yes, that is exactly what happened. When snakes have skin problems of many types, be it mites, stuck sheds, injuries, etc..they can typically shed soon afterwards again. I have a young tricolor hypo Honduran that I didn't notice a shed problem on a while back when the humidity was very low here, so I put it in a small container of VERY moist sphagnum moss overnight. The next day the entire rest of the shed came off without incident, and the snake was glowing in it's new bright colors. Only several days after this, I noticed it was becoming opaque, and going into yet ANOTHER shed..LOL! This was definitely due to the initial stuck shed it had earlier.

That shed went perfectly too, and it is back to it's good ol' normal self
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

You might want to make the moist hide a standard addition to his cage. It seems that this time of year humidity is a problem usually due to heaters being turned on for heat. Unfortunately it also dries the room air, by quite a lot. I notice I have to fill water bowls much more frequently.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Good advice. I bought a small humidifier for that room.

That's a good idea too. If you get an inexpensive hygrometer, you will see that most snakes tend to have better sheds when the air is above about 40% relative humidity. I have found that too much below that is when most shed problems start to occur.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I have never heard of the repair shedding Doug and you all are talking about, but I guess it makes some sense.

I do know that my young snakes shed every 20 to 30 days here all the time.....Not because they are repairing themselves but because they are eating & growing like they should be.
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com