possible shed issue

[crzymom2grl2by]

So Nagini has still never shed in my care and I've had her since Nov. 6th. Don't know when she shed. But her face looks weird, hope you can tell from the pix. The last one is just for fun cause it's cute ;)
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t313/crzymom2grl1by/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141203_194453328_HDR_zps0a3f2494.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/user/crzymom2grl1by/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141203_194453328_HDR_zps0a3f2494.jpg.html)
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t313/crzymom2grl1by/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141203_194654389_HDR_zpsf7884142.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/user/crzymom2grl1by/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141203_194654389_HDR_zpsf7884142.jpg.html)
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t313/crzymom2grl1by/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141203_194705461_HDR_zpsf604eae5.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/user/crzymom2grl1by/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141203_194705461_HDR_zpsf604eae5.jpg.html)
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t313/crzymom2grl1by/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141203_194333208_zpsec3ba2ae.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/user/crzymom2grl1by/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141203_194333208_zpsec3ba2ae.jpg.html)
I was concerned about whatever you call the skin around the eyes.

[crzymom2grl2by]

So I take it by the lack of responses she looks fine?

[HVani]

Holy crap that looks weird. I would say she has a retained shed or something going on. Does she hold her mouth open like the picture on the bottom often? Does she always look like this?

[crzymom2grl2by]

She always looks like this.

[crzymom2grl2by]

Since she always does this I didn't realize it wasn't normal to hold her mouth like this.

[HVani]

What's the inside of her mouth look like? Does she make any kind of noise when breathing? Could you get a few more pictures?

I don't have much experience with this kind of thing. Hopefully someone with more experience can chime in.

[HVani]

Here's picture of my okeetee so hopefully you can see what I mean about the mouth

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/Blue2Fyre/little3_zpsbccf557b.jpg

And here is the top of his head.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/Blue2Fyre/novbison2_zpsf7ae1c01.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/Blue2Fyre/novbison4_zps37f07050.jpg

[crzymom2grl2by]

How would I get a pic of the inside of her mouth? I will try to get more pix, what angle?

[sambobcat]

Use the stick part of a q tip to get her mouth open. Be very careful because she's really small

[crzymom2grl2by]

I couldn't begin to get her mouth open with the q tip, so resorted to my fingernail. Son took the pic, so not real clear, but as best we could get.
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t313/crzymom2grl1by/Mobile%20Uploads/MG_20141204_155449527_zpse153c63a.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/user/crzymom2grl1by/media/Mobile%20Uploads/MG_20141204_155449527_zpse153c63a.jpg.html)
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t313/crzymom2grl1by/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141204_155231299_zpsa55364de.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/user/crzymom2grl1by/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141204_155231299_zpsa55364de.jpg.html)
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t313/crzymom2grl1by/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141204_155325834_zpscb8c8433.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/user/crzymom2grl1by/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141204_155325834_zpscb8c8433.jpg.html)

[crzymom2grl2by]

Here's a couple from when I first got her.
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t313/crzymom2grl1by/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141106_173859498_zpsc15858b6.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/user/crzymom2grl1by/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141106_173859498_zpsc15858b6.jpg.html)
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t313/crzymom2grl1by/Nagini_zps5bed11bc.jpg (http://s163.photobucket.com/user/crzymom2grl1by/media/Nagini_zps5bed11bc.jpg.html)

[Todd120]

It is probably mouth breathing from shed plugging its nostrils. Try the warm wet towell and see if it comes off.

[Snow]

I've never seen anything like that!
It certainly looks as though she has 'shed' stuck on her head, but I'm no expert. I like the warm cloth idea.

[crzymom2grl2by]

How long should I hold her in the towel, and if that doesn't work should I maybe put her in a container with wet moss?

[crzymom2grl2by]

How long should I hold her in the towel, and if that doesn't work should I maybe put her in a container with wet moss? Also I have a feeling the humidity is too low, how do you check for humidity?

[HVani]

Here's what I did when I had a snake with a stuck shed. I filled a container with enough luke warm water to cover the bottom. Then I put a hand towel in it. I then added the snake and put the top on the container (it was a small cooler) I left him for a little while then had hide slide through the wet towel and his stuck shed came right off.

I'm not sure if it will work i this case. That looks like some serious scarring

[Todd120]

That's what I would do. And add a humid hide. Do you know what your humidity level is in the vivarium?

[crzymom2grl2by]

The front of her face looks like a fish that has bumped the walls too much and has scarred her lip. There's no color, it's just beige. Then the whole dent on top of her head. I wet down a towel with hot water and wrapped her in it in her feed container. Every time she wiggled out of it I put her back in and kept doing this for about 20min. Then I tried wiping off her head and neck but couldn't see anything come off. So I put a big bowl of water in her viv and covered the lid mostly with the wet towel to keep the humidity up. I'm sure it's very dry in there as winter in Iowa makes it super dry in the house and I don't have a humidifier. I will look at her tomorrow and try again with the wet towel in the container. I'm wondering if I should put a wet towel on Jafar's viv as well. She's never shed yet but I wonder if it would be a good idea or not.

[Todd120]

Just a humid hide should be enough. I will be adding one to Crush's viv tomorrow. He is due to shed soon too. Cover 2/3 of the top with a towel to hold humidity in more too.

[crzymom2grl2by]

I wish I knew how to tell what the humidity is. This morning I put her in the container with water and towel for 30 min. Then put some wet moss in her hide and the we take towel over her lid with a gap at one end.

[Todd120]

You can get a hydrometer for $4 on Amazon. Sometimes it is both that and a thermometer.

[crzymom2grl2by]

Ok, so what should the range be and how to keep it up if it's too low? Other than a damp towel on top and larger water bowl.

[Todd120]

You really don't need to do much. It just gets really dry where you and I are located, in the winter. Mine usually hovers between 40 and about 55% humidity. Try not to use a heat lamp this time of year. It dries the air in the cage out quicker than anything. A towel on the top, and a humid hide will do the trick. To get it up some, you could mist a couple times a day for a couple days. I wouldn't do that much though. You don't want the substrate damp. That will cause a whole set of new issues. His head should clean up over time. With future sheds. He looks really dry on his head. Like he has been sitting with it under a heat lamp.

[crzymom2grl2by]

He's never had a heat lamp in my care, but I assume they did at Petsmart. They never have correct care for their reptiles which is a whole nother story.

[Todd120]

The local Petsmart uses lamps here. The cages are tiny too.

[crzymom2grl2by]

She's looked exactly like she does now ever since I got her, except not sure about the part on her front of the mouth that looks rubbed off. But the dent in the head and the skin on the neck. I just didn't know any better when I got her. And I would never try to return or exchange her cause she's my little baby now, I love her. But it does make me mad that they don't care well for their pets.

[Todd120]

I hate even asking them questions at Petsmart. I tend to be very OCD about absorbing information. Almost every time you ask their opinions you get a bad answer. Hopefully your problems will work out soon so you can go back to enjoying them.

[HVani]

This is sometimes a problem when buying snakes from a pet store.


My very first corn was sick and I didn't even realize it. She kept regurging once I got her home and eventually passed away. Once I felt better I got another snake from a breeder and right away I could tell how much healthier he was. He's doing great and never gave me problems.

[crzymom2grl2by]

That's sad that your first snake was sick when you got it. Glad you've got a healthy one now.
My son's teacher that gave me Jafar and the two rescues told him that he should've done his research better so the little one that died would've made it. So sad, yes, you shouldn't be raising pets you don't know proper care for.