Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey Everyone,
Recently my semi new pueblan milsnake began to molt for the first time (since I've had him). I went away for the holidays leaving him under the care of my roomate. Unfortuately, when I got back I found him pretty much half shed. His whole head and neck is pretty much through, but he missed large portions on his back. What do I do? Should I soak him? Bring him to a vet? I am at an extreme loss, please help.

Thank you much,
Nick R

This is an easy fix, soak him and gently rub the loose skin off. Be sure you get the eye caps and the tip of the tail. In the future you should add a liquid multivitamin to his water after feeding like Reptisol or Avitron. In my experience this works best as they usually drink within 48hrs of eating. You will have to change the water after two days. You'll see the difference in color and sheen of the skin as well.

One other thing you may want to do now as a preventitive measure is this:

When you mist your tank, if your heat source is inside the tank (especially a light)you can spray this too. It help greatly to spead up the humidity, especially if you have a screen or well vented top which allows the heat to escape. You should try to duplicate its natural habitat as best as possible. If you are using wood as a hide wet it down, since in nature they are commonly found under rotting logs and such. Though with this type of snake you will need to probably clean the cage once a week.
Python Palace

I have a sinaloan milk who is notorious for awful, patchy sheds no matter how much humidity I infuse into his enclosure. I find that when he is getting ready to shed, and his eyes go back to clear from opaque; I wait a day and then give him a good soak for a couple of hours. Usually this hydrates and loosens the shed skin, resulting in a much better shed. Hope this helps.

regards,
althea