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Help Please :(

Rachelbaby
07-07-2009, 12:32 PM
Ok so i have Sidney a four year old yellow rat snake, (I know he isn't a corn but i didn't know where else to go for help.)
He recently went "blue" eyes ready to shed which i got all excited about because i only purchased him 6 months ago and haven't seen him shed yet, he did all the regular snake things, didn't want to be held, slept in his cave alot, then came out onto his heat mat to warm himself up ready to be shed... but then two weeks went by, i kept checking the viv everyday to see if his skin was there.. but it wasn't. His eyes started turning back to a normal colour, but his skin is still dull and crackly with a clear coating over the scales.
I thought nothing of it and thought he was ok because his behavior was the same as always..
I fed him yesterday and he seems to be eating fine, but then i noticed when he was breathing he seemed to make a "pfffft" sound (the best way i could put it in text) like a steam train ready to take off. And it seems he is having trouble breathing.
Now i typed in "breathing problems" into google and saw that other people's snakes were having the same thing, expect one thing that didn't match, all their snakes weren't eating so therefore it was respiratory problems. BUT Mine is.. so therefore i am worried and don't know what's wrong.
Of course i am i suppose he is my pet and i don't want him to be sick.

So to summarize it:
1. He didn't do a full shed.. Infact i didn't see any skin ANYWHERE And his eyes just went back to a normal colour, even though his scales are dull and have a clear coating on them still after two weeks...
2. He is making an odd sound when he is breathing like a "pfffft" sound every 30 seconds or so.

I am so worried about him, i am hoping someone can help :(

His viv is set to 80 degrees on the hot side..
and i have everything in there that i am supposed to, e.g. water bowl, heat mat, something for him to rub up against, wood chippings (i did go to a proper reptile place and purchase all the stuff for him)

Sorry about me blabbing on, but i thought i would give all the facts first..

Thanks for reading and i hope you can help me.

Regards Rachel xxx :bird:

LBoz
07-07-2009, 12:57 PM
Hi, Rachel! Welcome to the forum!

I've only personally dealt with a bad shed once, and it was pretty easy to fix in my case. I'm going to guess that the noise you're hearing is him trying to breathe through the retained skin, but after he DOES shed, if you still hear it, I'd take him to a herp vet.

You can take some moist paper towels and place them in a tupperware bin and close him in there for a few hours. (Make sure you place lots of air holes first!) or you can try letting him rub through a wet washcloth to see if that helps loosen the shed. How big is his water bowl? You want it large enough that the snake can coil up and lie in the water if he desires. This will also provide humidity to help with their shedding.

Remmy
07-07-2009, 01:02 PM
Hi, He wont shed whilst his eyes are blue, once they turn back to normal colour then it could take a week or maybe a bit more before he sheds. As for the breathing,just because he is eating does not mean it is not a respiratory problem. If it is that bad and it sounds like it is i would take him to a vet.

RobbiesCornField
07-07-2009, 01:04 PM
I'm gonna go with what LBoz said.

The noise you're hearing is most likely air whistling by a piece of skin in the nostrils.

I would also try misting for a few days and see if he sheds then. Just a light misting in the evening should help out a bit if he's having an issue shedding.

Good luck!

Rachelbaby
07-07-2009, 01:16 PM
Hi guys thanks so much for your reply. His water bowl is a good size not to big and not to small, he can wrap himself in it if he chooses to, but i have never seem him do it fully, just his head goes in for a swim now and again.
I will try the misting thing tonight. All i can do is wait i suppose.
Also i did not release that when his eyes went back to a normal colour after he has blue eyes that he is due to shed, that's my fault for not reading up on snakes.
If he does not shed in the next week i will take him to a vet and get him checked out.
Thanks so much. xxxx

Rachelbaby
07-07-2009, 01:21 PM
Ah ok my mistake i am going to sound dumb here, what exactly is misting?
i thought it was when you made the snakes substrate damp.. but i had a look online and it seems it is something you have to buy?
any ideas guys? x

RobbiesCornField
07-07-2009, 01:23 PM
Ah ok my mistake i am going to sound dumb here, what exactly is misting?
i thought it was when you made the snakes substrate damp.. but i had a look online and it seems it is something you have to buy?
any ideas guys? x

The only thing you'd have to buy would be a squirt bottle. Put it on the mist setting, and spray your snake to get him nice and damp.

danielle
07-07-2009, 01:26 PM
Get a spray bottle and mist the sides of his tank with water 1-2 times a dy to make the cage more humid- you can also take a towel and cover half the tank. It sounds like he is flaky from your description though so I would go with putting in a bowl of water with a washcloth in there and allowing him to swim supervised- not too deep by the way, make sure the container has holes, and a lid to keep him in. If he retains shed for too long it can be bad but do make sure the water isn't hot and more luke warm.

Rachelbaby
07-07-2009, 01:27 PM
Ok thank you like i said i will do that and wait for him to shed, thank you so much for your help x

Asbit
07-07-2009, 05:25 PM
Hi Rachel I had a snake here who had a genetic problem but it caused him not to be able to shed on his own and I had to help him shed each time.

As the others said shedding happens in a cycle

first preshed - they get dull looking, not slick and shinnny (roughly a few days)
then "blue" phase -the eyes turn blue(roughly a few days)
then "clear" - the eyes clear up to normal and the skin still looks dull and depending on the colour of your snake, their colours make look slightly altered (until the shed is complete, varies depending on age, size, health of snake and viv conditions, could be couple of days to a week or more)

With my guy, the only way he was able to shed off was in the locked container insid his viv. If you offered him a large water bowl (like your guy he would not soak in it), ifyou offered him a shed box with a hole so he could freely go in and out, again he would not use it. Therefor the only way to ensure he would use the box and be able to shed was to get a plastic box, that was securable, drill holes (or melt with soldering gun) add damp paper towels or towel and trap him in it, in his viv.

Misting did not work with him either as it just did not moisten him enough as he just could not seem to produce enough of his own natural moist lubricant to do the job.

The shed box is great for problem shedders, I just want to give you one warning, be sure your viv temps are correct and that you do not put the shed box under the heat lamp (if you use one) because if your viv happens to be to warm on the hot side and then you put the shed box there and if by chance you are using a heat lamp you stick it under the heat lamp, the combination will make deadly temps in the shed box. I speak of this from an similar unfortunate experience that happened to my guy who had the trouble shedding and it ended tragically in his death.

If you wish to read what actually went wrong with his shed box and viv here is the link http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=875553#post875553 , you will see that the box was actually doing what it was supposed to do and perfectly with no problems, until I the "human" made a fatal misjudgment.

Good luck, I know you can help him through this, just make sure when he does shed, you check him very carefully esp, his tail tip. If there is any unshed skin you have to help him get it off because if it is left the dead shed can cut circulation to the area and kill it, if that was his tail tip in time many dead sheds will build up and cause his tail tip to die and fall off.

Tisha