Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HI again. I posted a few days ago about an adult 4 ft BP(i have 2 BPs now) i took in who appeared to have VERY dull skin, a few old scrapes, a pink belly,whistling nose,retained eyecap and what looked to be mouth rot. Well, luckily most of those things just turned up to be nothing. The mouth rot was dirt in his mouth,and cleaned up after a bath. The whistling nose was him hissing,he just sounds funny when he does it,and only does when agitated. BUT, he still has a pink belly and his colors are really dull. ive had him 5 days now,and assumed he had milky eyes before i brought him home, but he still has yet to shed. hes been soaking hisself the entire time hes been with me,and i change the water regularly. he looks to be a normal, but where my two year olds black is,he is brown(this mean anything,or is it suppossed to turn brown?) I have him in a 150g wooden cage in quarentine on newspaper,a water bowl he basically lives in, a hide box he doesnt touch, and a branch he sleeps on,or climbs all over. 90 one side, 75 other, 75 nighttime temp. What can i do to induce his shed?(if there really is one) I want to try to feed him,i am not sure how well it will go, he could pound a medium rat easily, but i dont want to bother him if he is going to shed! So confused,i dont know what to do! i dont even know if he eats well. Also, today i found a small what looked to be a tick in his nostril. it was very tiny, big abdomen and brown. pinpoint tiny, but i got it with a Q-tip after a bit of a struggle with the snake and killed it. I havent seen another one on him,and ive been monitoring the water bowl very well,and have found no others. i am going to pick up some Reptile Relief, anyone have instructions on how to go about doing this? i want him clean,clean. Sorry my post is so long, just want to check out what you all think before i worry! Thanks in advance!

Also, this question has been driving me nuts, the claw-like hooks near the vent, do both males and females have those? i am not sure of the sex of either of my snakes, but both have those.

I think that I can help you out a bit. It does sound like your snake is going to shed soon. It also sounds like he may have been dehydrated in his former home. I say this becuz they need to be pretty well hydrated (drinking often) in order to form the liquidy substance that forms between the new and old skins and facilitates shedding. Maybe it is just taking him a bit longer to shed because he is newly rehydrated in your care? it sounds like humidity is not a problem, since your guy is soaking himself so much. I'd use a light-colored water bowl if you haven't already, so you can more easily monitor for ticks. Ridding your snake of these little bastardese is a really tough thing, as I am finding out. I'd recommend buying some prevent-a-mite and stripping the cage down. it may be a problem if the cage is wooden, since I believe the ticks can hide in wood? I had to ditch some really nice half-log hides once I found out that my boa had ticks.
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And humans are supposed to be the world's most intelligent, civilized, and refined species, eh? Have you ever been in a crowded discount store?

Both male and female bps have "anal claws" by their vent. They are remnants of the claws, on the toes that their ancestors used to have. Since boas and pythons are "primitive" snakes, they still have these remnants. They are used in mating.
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And humans are supposed to be the world's most intelligent, civilized, and refined species, eh? Have you ever been in a crowded discount store?