Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 4 month old ATB and he has just had his first shed with myself. I was quite pleased as it al went well apart from the last inch of his tail, i have tried spraying his tail but so far this has not worked, any ideas would be welcomed.

Sometimes you have to help.
CraigC

How do you help an ATB, they are not like a corn snake and will bite if they are being pulled around. What if increase the humidity, will this help?

Sometimes you just have to take one for the team : )

j

Hey ryan, I doubt if theres an atb keeper on here who hasnt gotten nailed a few times. i have 2 and they both have attitudes. Sometimes u just gotta suck it up if u wanna keep this species. Last month mine had stuck eyecaps. Needless to say i paid the price, but he was all set afterwards. Try soaking him if you dont want to handle him too much, but ive found if you use a hook and get him by the tail usually you can avoid a bite and still help peel those last few inches. And whatever you do dont yank your hand/arm out of his mouth if he bites! he'll let go soon enough, and it really isnt anything to cry about, but yanking can damage his mouth.

Mine had been sick and subsequently had a horrible shed. I manually removed the main body pieces (and got two nice bites out of it!) but the head and eye-caps would not come off. A week later I read a great idea tha really worked. Put the snake in a pillow case with a wet washcloth and leave him for 1/2 hour.

What if i try putting her in a small contico box with a wet towel, do you think this will work or has it go t to be a pillow case? how long can you leave them in there for? overnight?

Yes, put him in a plastic box with a few air holes and a warm wet towel, place the box where the temp is reasonable and let sit for around 30 minutes. If you can lightly drape the towel over him even better. To reduce the chance of being bitten and to lessen stress on the snake work with him wrapped in a towel with his head covered and just expose the parts you need to get to and gently rub any remaining shed off. If it does not come easily try more time in the box. You may have to pour in some more warm water during the process to keep the temp and humidity up in the box.
Kathy's idea is also great,next time you see a shed is coming on make a hide box out of a plastic box with a hole in the side and fill it with wet moss or towel and hopefully the snake will chose to go in for the extra humidity.

I just put a cornsnake nesting box in the cage for a couple of days. The ATB spent a lot of time there, and presto! - no leftover shed!