Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My red-tail recently went througha shed. I soaked him almsot daily for about the last week before he finally shed. However, there is one patch which seems to have formed an cone of scales sticking out of his side, which I cannot seem to get rid of. Should I just keep on soaking him, and try to work it loose? The rest of the skin came off as one piece, except for the eyecaps which he removed a couple of days prior to the actual shed. Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks.

I'm concerned about a couple of things you said. When a snake is blue and getting ready to shed the eye caps clowd over. They go clear a couple of days before he sheds. It's not that they are shed first and the skin second, they just go clear. If your snake shed in one piece and there were no eye caps on the shed then they are probably still on the snake. I would double check that to make sure.

Most snakes don't require extensive soaking before they shed. If you know you have a problem shedder you can raise the humidity in the cage by spilling a little water or putting a large water bowl over the heat source. A water bowl big enough for the snake to get in is a very good idea, then the snake can soak as he feels the need.

You didn't say how big the "cone of scales" is. Sometimes a tick under the skin will cause the scales to pucker into a cone shape. Look close for that. Other wise I wouldn't worry about it and see if it comes off with the next shed.
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Wade's Weptiles & Wodents

It is pretty small, sticking out several millimeters, but it is noticeable upon close inspection and to the touch. I did not notice a tick, and it didn't feel like anything was lodged under the skin.

He is probably okay on the eyecaps because they went clear about two days before the shed, like you mentioned. I did not check the skin, but rather noticed how clear is eyes seemed, and have heard of the eye pieces getting stuck during a shed. I thought perhaps it could happen the other way around.

He takes a few weeks to shed sometimes (which I've heard is normal and abnormal from various sources), although his eyes generally do not look real cloudy until 1 to 2 weeks before the acutal shed. He has a fairly large water bowl, but he isn't very fond of the water (the temp should be okay, I played with the location of the lights to heat it up more because I thought it might be too cold for him, but he still didn't seem to use it much, except for drinking) so I started soaking him myself, prior to sheds.

I generally keep the humidity around 55 - 65 percent in his cage. I have sprayed his cage down, in the past, but it didn't seem to work nearly as well as just soaking him in the bath tub for a few minutes each day before he sheds. Also, I am using shavings for substrate in his cage (which I think I am going to replace with newspaper, like I am using with my ATB) and I wanted to avoid peaking the humidity too high and ending up with wet shavings, harboring bacteria. Maybe this is a bit extreme, but it is sometimes easy to miss stuff spot cleaning, and I have heard all kinds of horror stories about nasal infections, etc, and I really don't mind bathing him for a few minutes at a time.

Thanks for the feedback.