Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive got a pair of 03 northern pines now, and one of them had its first shed. The shed didnt come off very well. I helped her out a little but I wasnt sure if it was painful or not. I sprayed her with water a few times and now it helped but there is still a chuck of skin on her head that wont come off. You can see one eye scale left over, its bubbled off her eye but I think it may be in her way of vision. I misted her head, I tried to get the skin off but it doesnt seem to want to come off at all. Do pines need to be misted or be in a more humid environment? I never saw her sit in the water bowl, she stayed in the hide box until she was ready.

One of my cages rests on the floor. I noticed some ants so I raided them yesterday. Today more ants, and I noticed some inside of the cage. I held the snake while my girl fixed up another cage for him, and he seemed to be weezing. I thought at first he was going to hiss, and he changed his mind so it came out soft. But he continued, it sounded like he had a stuffy nose. I didnt find ants on him but Im worried that the ants (some were fire) may have stung him or that the fumes from the raid may be bothering him. He is in the another cage now but has still been weezing a little. So, what should I do about ants? And is this weezing something serious? We have ants all over the house, cant seem to get rid of them. We have a huge lot with tons of ant hills and there seems to be no way to keep them from coming inside, so I just need to keep them away from my snakes.

Thank You

You sure do have your hands full! I am no expert on fire ants, however I know that some of the roach breeders will use vasoline around the edges of the aquarium to keep the roaches from climbing out. Maybe you could use it around the outside edge of you cage and see if that helps keep the ants from climbing in. As for the Raid, that definately is not a good thing for anything or anyone to be inhaling in any amount. When you spray I would recommend at the very least moving your animal(s) to another room or possibly even a friends house until your house is aired out.

As for the wheezing, I would take it to a qualified vet (I know thats not always easy) and have it checked out. Good luck to you and Take care!

Jeremy
SHADE TREE EXOTICS

My other snake shed earlier this evening, it came out in one piece. Part of it is still on the head though. Both snakes have now had a shed since I recieved them and both have dead skin left on the head. What do I do about shedding problems?

I used to have problem sheds until I started placing a damp terry cloth towel in the hide box when the snakes were a few days from shedding. I also sometimes and an add'l water bowl. Now my snakes sheds are not only 1-piece but come off in a ball like a dirty sock.

For retained eye-caps try a dab of artifical tear ointment for humans (ointment - not liquid) sold at any drug store. Give that 24 hours to soften the cap and then roll up a piece of scotch tape, reduce the stickiness (by sticking it to your hand a few times) and then very gently apply to the eye cap and roll it from back to front. Don't pull hard, the eye can bug out of the socket a little, but not too much, be very careful as there are a few one-eyed snakes from less gentle methods. Don't use a tweezers (although I have but I have had a lot of experience). If that doesn't work, it may come off in the next shed anyway if you follow the towel/water bowl advice. The other skin issues may also be solved with the artifical tear ointment.

I generally try to avoid putting cages on floors, too many drafts, the floor is a heat sink/cold conductor. Try raising it up on 1" blocks of wood. I use horse stall mats but they are aexpensive. We have ants also, try using Combat or other granulated ant killer around the perimeter of your house. If you use a piece of cardboard as a chute, the Combat will go under the foundation and in cracks so the granuals won't blow away. Don't use Raid, it's useless. For a temporary solution near the cages until the Combat kicks in, get surveyers chalk and put a line (it's usually either blue or red so use newspaper if you have carpet) around the cage. Almost all ants (except army ants who have a higher ground clearance) won't cross the chalk line as it clogs up their pores. Ants are actully fastidious creatures, they don't like dust.

Let me know how it works.

Ken

Good information to have. Thanks for posting it.

Terry Parks

Thanks a lot! Ive used granulated stuff outside before, I think there are ant hills below the foundation. There seems to be no stopping them. There is also no central ac, so its really hot in the house during the day, so I had my pines on the ground to keep them cooler. At night, it only drops to about 70, and may reach 85 in the day, which Im worried is too hot for them. It works great for my kings, no heat source needed, but Im trying to keep the pines as cool as I can. They hiss a lot and dont like to be handled, I figured it was from heat stress.

Ill put your tips to use, I sure hope they are going to be alright. Thanks a lot!