Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. I rescued a male albino Burmese about eight months ago from a guy who had fed it one mouse a month. It is about three years old and at most about four feet long. His growth has not significantly changed since I've acquired it in spite of the fact that it is now fed appropriately-sized rats weekly. Althoug his history is flawed, that's not really the issue I've come to post.

Ever since I recieved this animal, his shedding process is almost nonexistant. What I mean is, is that when it comes time for him to shed, his skin simply peels off in ever which way, much like a lizard. If he attempts to shed it off like he is supposed to, it doesn't work. I find myself spending hours manually removing it. His skin is extremely thin, thinner than the skin of Burms I have kept previously (and I've never had any Burms with shedding complications). At least it seems like it is. He lives in a Vision 400 and the temperature ranges from 78-90 at different spots in the cage. The humidity is moderate, not very high but it's not dry either.

Do you think I should simply boost the humidity a little? I try to mist the cage daily, and I keep a large water dish over a portion of his heat pad. Would any of you recommend covering the screening with plastic to hold humidity in? The snake eats very well, has a great disposition and is very healthy, I'm just concerned about his shedding difficulty. Thanks in advance to any and all who help.

Joey
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2.2 Solomen Island ground boas
0.1 Solomen Island tree boa
1.0 green tree python
1.0 jungle carpet python
1.0 coastal carpet python
1.0 Boa constrictor imperator
0.1 Borneo short-tailed (blood) python
0.1 Savu python

You hit it on the head....albino burms are overly inbred animals that have many genetic defects (after all, from a purely "survival of the fittest" standpoint, albinism is NOT a good trait to have). Albinos typically have poor or incomplete sheds and we, too, spend a lot of time hand shedding our resident albino. We have a normal and albino in the same exhibit; the normal always has complete sheds and the albino sheds in a million pieces....so, there's my highly scientific observation. Your set up, temps, humidity all sound great so I wouldn't do anything. Sometimes, soaking too much can actually cause excessive drying of the skin (and with the chemicals added in our drinking water, it compounds the problem).

Hope this helps.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
Lake Forest, IL

>>Hello. I rescued a male albino Burmese about eight months ago from a guy who had fed it one mouse a month. It is about three years old and at most about four feet long. His growth has not significantly changed since I've acquired it in spite of the fact that it is now fed appropriately-sized rats weekly. Althoug his history is flawed, that's not really the issue I've come to post.
>>
>>Ever since I recieved this animal, his shedding process is almost nonexistant. What I mean is, is that when it comes time for him to shed, his skin simply peels off in ever which way, much like a lizard. If he attempts to shed it off like he is supposed to, it doesn't work. I find myself spending hours manually removing it. His skin is extremely thin, thinner than the skin of Burms I have kept previously (and I've never had any Burms with shedding complications). At least it seems like it is. He lives in a Vision 400 and the temperature ranges from 78-90 at different spots in the cage. The humidity is moderate, not very high but it's not dry either.
>>
>>Do you think I should simply boost the humidity a little? I try to mist the cage daily, and I keep a large water dish over a portion of his heat pad. Would any of you recommend covering the screening with plastic to hold humidity in? The snake eats very well, has a great disposition and is very healthy, I'm just concerned about his shedding difficulty. Thanks in advance to any and all who help.
>>
>>Joey
>>-----
>>2.2 Solomen Island ground boas
>>0.1 Solomen Island tree boa
>>1.0 green tree python
>>1.0 jungle carpet python
>>1.0 coastal carpet python
>>1.0 Boa constrictor imperator
>>0.1 Borneo short-tailed (blood) python
>>0.1 Savu python
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

I've never had a problem with my albino's....maybe some are worse than others.

You hit it on the head; I do have one albino that typically sheds in once piece but overall, they are more inconsistent than normally colored individuals. The key is to boost ambient humidity levels prior to the shedding process.

>>I've never had a problem with my albino's....maybe some are worse than others.
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

We have over 30 adult albino burmese alone and we never have any shedding issues. They always all come off whole and thick. And this doesn't even include the numerous babies which also shed complete and normal.
Our Website!

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David Beauchemin
High End Herps.Inc
http://HighEndHerps.com

Rob,

Thank you for your response. I don't post much but I do lurk a lot and I always appreciate the honesty and straight-forwardness of your own posts and responses. I'm guessing there is some type of skin deformity inherent in this albino. I too have seen some albinos shed with relative ease, but I have heard stories of other albinos experiencing shedding problems, whereas the vast majority of normals shed with no problems. It appears I'll just be busier with the tweezers!

Thank you, again.

Joey
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2.2 Solomen Island ground boas
0.1 Solomen Island tree boa
1.0 green tree python
1.0 jungle carpet python
1.0 coastal carpet python
1.0 Boa constrictor imperator
0.1 Borneo short-tailed (blood) python
0.1 Savu python

When you mentioned that the skin appeared thin... often this is a description used of a dehydrated snake. While this is only a possibility, which would relate to the shedding problems of course; I would suggest measuring the humidity instead of guestimating. A lot of enclosures are dryer than we expect.

Good luck with your snake, sounds like it's change in ownership was a huge step in the right direction

Ian

Ian,

You present an interesting point. I'll try gauging the humidity in the cage, although I doubt that's the problem. I have a Borneo short tail in the exact same setup below the Burmese that sheds perfect sheds all the time. Sooner or later, if the problem is due to some kind of minor enclosure imperfection, I'll nail it. But in the meantime, thank you for your suggestion, I'll always remember that.

Joe
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2.2 Solomen Island ground boas
0.1 Solomen Island tree boa
1.0 green tree python
1.0 jungle carpet python
1.0 coastal carpet python
1.0 Boa constrictor imperator
0.1 Borneo short-tailed (blood) python
0.1 Savu python