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Hanging Skin...the surprise shed

D

daisy

Snow! Snow!
Knowing that Chester is probably ready to shed soon, I've been waiting for him to go blue....
As I watch him right now, he has skin hanging off of his back...apparently I missed the blue part. (I'm assuming it was over the weekend when I wasn't here).
I have read thru a few strings to see what to do (obviously he's having troublesince it's just hanging...he's crawling around alot right now and rubbing up on stuff...the usual things). I did notice on a few strings the suggestion that he may need help if he doesn't get this over with tonight.
Is this true? How long do I wait before I give him a helping hand?
Obviously I have a humidity issue that I need to address, but for the moment, how do I address the surprise shed?
Thanks for the advice :)
 
It's important that all the skin come off, esp the eyecaps and the tip of the tail. What you can do is add a humid hide in the tank, or put him in a container with damp paper towels for half an hour or so. If that doesn't work, you can handle him with a damp cloth and let him pull his way through that.

Always inspect the snake after a shed though... I find it easier to check the shed for eyecaps than the snake, but it's important to check both. Good luck. :)
 
Thanks Spirit,
Seems as tho the humid hide and the wet towel rub-down worked. Eye caps are definately off and I don't see any sign of bits that are still stuck to him.

NOw to address the humidity issue...I am using newspaper as substrate. Does newspaper tend to dry out the viv more than say aspen? Or is there no difference? :shrugs:
 
Not much differance i think (anyone else?). I use aspen and sware by the stuff, but i also mist when my snakes are "blue". You may want to try this as it does help, my amel used to have problamatic sheds but since misting, he does really well.
 
Corns don't need high levels of humidity, but during a shed it can sometimes make a world of difference. Most people love aspen, but if it's left wet (ie water spill), it can mold rather quickly so misting is not a good idea (and plain out not neccessary). Just put a humid hide in there during shed week, or keep a "semi humid hide" in there all the time, and just add more water to it during that week.

My corn has always refused to use the humid hide when I used forest bed, but now that I'm using aspen, I can't get him out of it... so I leave it in all the time and just make sure it's not wet (don't want scale rot). The humidity in the tank is 20% but is about 40 in the hide. Higher when he's in shed. He seems to be happy with that.

Now that the eyecaps are off, make sure about the tip of the tail. That's very important.
 
Actually MISTING aspen shold not cause it to mold. Especially if it is only onece a week or so. It will mold when soaked, IE due to an overturned water dish, but not from just misting.
 
It's okay to mist aspen, so long as the aspen doesn't get wet, and has proper ventillation (dries fast). The downside with misting aspen is that because it can't get wet, it doesn't help keep the humidity up at all (in my experience). And of course it will have to be changed more frequently.

IMO though, it should not be misted at all... if you're having humidity problems, use a different substrate.
 
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