Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok so today I got my first baby ball python, and I haven't had him more than 12 hours. So he was climbing around the cage and knocked the humidly gage off of the wall of the tank. Then it got stuck to his tail. I soaked him in water and managed to release the adhesive back from the gage, but the stuff is still stuck to him. And I mean really really stuck, I tried to pull it off gently and it started to tear his skin, so I stopped. I have trimmed it down so it won't get stuck anywhere else on him, but I don't know what to do next anyone have ideas. Should I wait till he sheds it off, go see a vet. Damn my luck. oh and please learn from my mistake and watch the things in your cages.

ok so the vet got it off, and it didn't break the skin. So he should be fine!!! the day just got a little better, when in doubt goto the vet.

What did the vet use to get it off?

I had a corn snake get stuck in tape before (never use tape inside a snake cage, better yet don't have it in your snake room but that's a hard one). It's amazing how well adhesives stick to snake scales.

I've wondered if some Vaseline or Neosporin or some such "greasy" substance might be good to work around the edge of the tape and get it off little by little. It's been years ago but I remember the corn tore some of its skin trying to get loose and then I cut most of the tape off and some had to wait for a shed. It eventually healed with a nasty scar. One of those live and learn rules of snake keeping.

she used a citrus based product, similar to goo be gone I guess and she soaked him a bunch. I got lucky that it didn't really do damage to him, well other than him being really pissed off now (so much for a nice tempered snake). I am hoping he will calm back down in the next few days, I also got to learn what my first snake bit feels like. I will post a picture of him soon.

He somehow found a piece of electric tape and it got stuck to the underside of his head. Then he panicked and coiled up, getting it stuck to his entire body. He ended up losing several patches of scales and getting a scar on his neck, though it didn't get infected and he is fine now (several months later). Watch out! I have no idea where he found that piece of tape, but it really terrified me.