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One of our baby florida kings seems to look almost shrivelled like a raisen. He is not really shrivelled as he still has all of his body mass but his skin has taken on the appearance that looks something like when human skin is left in water for a long period of time.

He ate six days ago, pooped yesterday and had a slight problem shedding a while back but all the skin came off with some warm water. The tank is kept at proper temperature...he always has water and he seems active still...Is this a skin shedding problem again or something more?

Any suggestions would be appreciated...
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Chris Vanderwees
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When ever one of our snakes takes on a "shrivilled" appearence we soak them in water for a couple days. That rehydrates the snake and usually cures the problem.

Your snake is dehydrated. Baby snakes have thin skin and dehydrate easily. Put a moist hide near the heat source. A great hide is a deli cup or plastic box with a hole, filled with damp paper towels or sphagnum moss. Alternatively, keep the snake in a deli cup at 78-80 deg with damp paper towels for 4-8 hours or however long it takes.

...Sphagnum because they treat it one, and two, the stuff is naturally very acidic. As far as conducting/holding water it's one of the best plants for this...period.

I remember getting a hatchling in the mail once that was wrinkled - the poor thing drank immediately when I took him out and put a bottle cap full of water in front of him...and he was just out of the box and totally unfamiliar with his surroundings so you know the guy was thristin'!

Good advice by the others!

-John

Ive used the stuff from Garden stores to incubate eggs with no problem (maybe I was lucky ?). Is all that stuff treated ? Where can I find non treated moss ? What do they treat it with ? pesticides ? Thanks for the info in advance plant man.

Keith
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basic dehydration if the skin is that wrinkled...I'm not saying you're depriving your animal in anyway. I'm no vet so maybe there is an underlying problem creating it. Sometimes parasites (worms I know) can cause problem sheds, etc. My guess is that he has a gut load that, at his size, is showing in a dehydrated look. I would get something to hit the parastites with...

Good luck.

-John

n/p
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Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
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1.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.3.0 South Florida Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Green Iguanas

Are you sure the snake has not started it's shed cycle and is too dehydrated to shed? This could lead to the snake becoming skin bound and possibly dying.

I lost a hatchling aru green tree python this year in a similar case. As soon as I got the snake and offered him water, he immediately drank...i then accidently let his water bowl dry out for 3 or 4 days and he became even more dehyrdated. He began to break the nose off of his skin, but could not shed it off, i soaked him for a day with moist paper towels in a deli cup and all appeared fine, a few days later he was again shrivlled up, i soaked him again but it was too late, he died from 1 of three causes. 1). Dehydration 2). Some sort of internal parasite or 3). Being skin bound.

I would either take your snake to a vet, or monitor him very closely and examine him to make sure his skin has not begun to break off in any place, maybe you missed the cloudy eyes...if the skin has started to come offf, esp on his nose then i would soak him and manually shed him...

Good Luck!
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