Family snake-sitting; need help!

[jlindp]

Howdy!

I've been lurking this website for the past month and it has come as a tremendous source of help. Well, I finally got my first snake, a pastel motley corn, Taibhse on July 30th. He's already eaten 3 times with me and I believe he's about to go through his first shed. His eyes were cloudy for 2 days and they went clear today. I've upped the humidity by giving him a larger water bowl, a humid hide, and draping a towel over 1/2 his tank. Temperatures are also controlled at 75 on the cool side and never more than 86 or less than 80 on the warm side.

So, I'm going to extreme measures because I fear he won't shed before I leave next Tuesday. Call it a hunch, or poor luck, which is the name of the game in my case. But I'm trying to give him every opportunity to shed nicely in case he does so when I'm gone. I've a very worried momma! I'm afraid he'll have retained eye caps or a piece left on his tail and my poor parents won't know what to do...

ANYWAYS! I guess I should stop with the backstory and lay out my problem. My parents, who have GRACIOUSLY agreed to watch him for the week and a half I'm gone, would like to handle him as little as possible. I've already established feeding him in a deli cup inside his cage, so that my mom won't have to carry him any distance. I just know she'd drop him at the first squirm! But he eats frozen/thawed veeeery nicely, so I don't think that'll be an issue. What I'm worried about is, if he sheds in my absence, how can I make it easiest for my parents to find the skin? I was thinking of completely cleaning his tank and then laying down newspapers and shredded paper towels (for burrowing), as well as his hides. That way, they don't have to try too hard to find him.

Current set-up, sans humid hide:

Taibhse:

Sorry for the insanely long post and any help will be greatly appreciated! I think I fret too much. x___x

 

[bitsy]

I wouldn't worry your parents with looking for the shed skin - if it's an incomplete shed, they won't be able to do anything about it, and it will have to wait until you get back anyway. Could get them all stressed for no reason.

Rather than upping the humidity in the whole tank, try putting a humid hide in with him. That's a plastic sandwich box with a small entry/exit hole cut in the top or side. Pop in something damp, like kitchen paper. He can then use it if he wants to and it can stay in the tank while you're away so your parents don't have to be concerned with managing the humidity.

By the way, a week and a half without a meal wouldn't be a terrible thing for a healthy hatchling. If your parents are very worried by it, just give him a meal before you go and be prepared to feed him when you get back. If he's a reliable eater and has no other issues, he'll be absolutely fine.

The main thing is that he has clean water.

 

[The_Thunderer]

Sounds like good advice from Bitsy. I'd go with that.

 

[Marica]

Only things I can think of are that spotting a shed skin would be difficult for the untrained (parents) eye on white paper towel, especially if it's shredded, so that may be a hindrance, and if he doesn't shed before you go I might ask them to remove the draped towel post-shed so it doesn't get too humid in there. I also second bitsy's feeding advice, again even if he hasn't shed as some snakes will still eat in blue. Oh, and one more thing, don't worry

 

[jlindp]

Thanks, everyone!

I'm not worried about feeding, per se. My parents don't have a problem with doing that. They'd just like to hold him as little as possible.

I already have a humid hide in there. I put one in when I first noticed him in blue. The humidity is only at 50% with the large water bowl, as well as the towel. Pretty dry here. I'm just worried about retained skin stuff. But if y'all say don't worry, I shall try my best not to.