Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My anery is in the blue eye phase of his shedding. I held him last night and noticed this, he doesn't seem aggitated (other then it was two days after the feeding and I had to rush him back to his cage as I noticed he was getting ready to poop his meal on me) should I not hold him until he's finished shedding, I already planned on holding off feeding him till it's done but didn't know if I should just leave him alone all together (I like holding my Popcorn ).

Also there is a good possibility I will be getting two more corns here in the near future and planned on housing them in 66 quart clear plastic bins with locking lids (with air holes of course and every thing else the normal cage would have in it). Where my problem lies is in heating them. I know that most UTH's warn not to use them on plastic enclosures OR to to place them on the carpet (two things I had planned on doing). Overhead lamps are out due to the lid being plastic and melting. I was wondering about human heating pads on low placed inside the tubs? Would those work ok? Most new ones have a good waterproof plastic on them because they are used to apply moist heat and I can also attach them to a thermostate to keep the tempture regulated. That's about the only option I can come up with considering I heating tape is no where to be found (I called several hardware stores, they only carried insulating tape not heating). Any other ideas here or would my idea work?

Thanks
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Chantel a.k.a. sillygirl
"I came, I saw, I adopted"

2.4.0 green anoles
2.2.0 green tree frogs
0.0.3 D. tinctorius (Cobalt froglets)
0.0.1 Anerythristic 'B' (Charcoal)corn snake
2.4 Domestic house cats
1.0 Rottweiler
1.0 Husband (who loves all my critters too)
AND I play foster care for 3 homeless kittens & their mom for a few weeks for the shelter.
(and not even going to count what I raise as food for all these guys)

First of all I use human heating pads on a couple of my snakes that are in plastic bins. I keep them on low in the warm months and medium in the cooler months. I've never had a problem. I've had on heating pad that's been on for 7 years straight. About putting a light on the plastic bin. Ok here's what I've always done.

1. Decide where you want the light on top and draw a square big enough that the light can sit in it with about a half inch of space between all sides of the light fixture.

2. Cut out the square using basicly anything that will cut it. I use an ordinary had drill. Just drill a hole and keep pushing the bit in the direction you want to cut. It's like a hot knife through butter.

3. Cut out a piece of screen(like from an ordinary screen top) or any extra screen you have laying around. Make sure it is bigger than the square that you cut out.

4. Hot glue the screen over the square hole. Make sure that it is glued very well everywhere.

5. Trim up the extra screen that is not glued down. You can cut it with regular scissors.

Don't use the idea if you don't want to but it's worked like a charm for me. None of my snakes have ever rubbed their noses against the screen trying to get out either. I guess because I always put my lights in the middle. Hope I could help.

People will probably tell you different, but as long as they haven't just eaten, I think handling during a shed is fine so long as it doesn't appear to distress the animal. Frankly, my corns are very cool during sheds, and I do handle them gently while they're blue. If they start crawling away, I put them up. Since this is probably them telling me they are tired of being touched, I try to be polite. Mostly, they tolerate it with good grace.

So don't worry. If you listen to the animal you shouldn't have problems. As for the heating/lighting thing, sorry I can't help.

Best of luck! Love your animals hard, every day!

--Naamah

Your snakes going through enough stress with the shed going on.I would just wait till it's over to handle unless it's an emergency.

In regards to handling, I try not to handle my snakes if they are in shed if at all possible. Though I've never personally seen any harm come from it, I would rather err on the side of caution.

In regards to heating the plastic tubs, I was recently directed by a net-friend to Ultratherm heat pads, designed for use with reptiles inside the cage. You can find them at www.beanfarm.com under the heating supplies section. They seem to be pretty cost effective and my friend has used them for some time with good results. Beanfarm & Big Apple Herp both carry the flexwatt and what you need to use it, if you would rather go that route.

Raven