Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, I thought I knew the answer to this but now I'm questioning it. Since I've had my bairds (a little over a month now I think)the female has soaked in her water on several occasions. I've seen the male do it also, but not as often. I've checked them thoroughly for mites several times and have yet to see any sign of them. The male recently had a hard time shedding and got a nose rub trying to break the old skin. I had to hand shed him the last time because he was having some trouble and even in my hands his skin broke several times especially near the tail. It was just difficult for him to shed in one piece. The female was coming out of the blue phase last weekend and has still not shed a week later. Her skin seems dry and wrinkled where she bends. I soaked her in warm water to try and help and put 2 rough stones in with her to help her break the old skin. I thought perhaps she was somehow dehydrated as well, because she just didn't look good but she never tried to drink at all while soaking. I've misted her cage to increase humidity. Have any other baird keepers had shedding problems? I assumed being from rocky areas in Texas, they wouldn't need very high humidity but I'm seeing evidence to the contrary now.

When there eyes clear up I just mist them a couple times a day till they shed.As for humidity mine are just kept at whats the norm for my room.40-60 percent.My male only soaks when he gets hot.He seems to like the spot that is around 70-73 degrees.My new female seems to like the heat a little more and she hangs near her heating pad.My corns dont get any special attention and they shed just fine.

I am having the same prob. with my female. She started to shed Thursday(just like you said Jimmy) anyway she has only shed a little over 1/4 of her length. I soaked her for about 10 or 15 min tonight to see if that would help. She ate fine on Thursday, but she has always been less active then my male, don't know if she just needs to be going in,around, and through the rocks in the terr. How long do you wait to try to hand shed them?

Mick

I do the same thing Paul except I start misting them when they go into blue eye. I mist them once in the morning and once at night and they all seem to shed fine. I've been doing this for several years. The Mexican bairds don't seem to need the misting.

Terry Parks

I keep my bairdis in the same type of setups as my corns. I do not know the exact humidity but I can tell you they have water bowls large enough for them to fit in and 3/4 of the top of thier enclosures is covered.
The large water bowls and mostly covered tops do the trick. They never have problem sheds.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Well I currently have them both in a small rack since the male escaped from my adult rack and I'm a little worried about putting them back in there. There isn't a lot of ventilation in this small rack, just a few holes in each end so it should be humid. They also have water bowls large enough for them to curl up in. The important thing is that I put the female in an old nest box I had made for my corn females which had old sphagnum peat moss in it. I mixed warm water with it until it was very warm and humid inside, covered the hole, and left her alone in there. After about 15 minutes she had loosened some skin from her neck, but it wasn't coming off all the way around. She had definately been plowing through the stuff trying to get it off. I soaked her in warm water while hand shedding her at the same time.

It was very difficult to get it all off, but I'm pretty sure I got the last of it barring any small flakes that might still be on her neck. I think the old skin was just too old and dry at that point to come off easily. I have corns the same age as the bairds in the same rack with even smaller water dishes and they all shed fine. From now on, I guess I'll just give them some substrate and/or increase humidity when I notice it's shedding time. Once they're in the bigger rack I can give them permanent humid hides too.