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How do I put this...

C

Celeste

New member
My friend in ninth grade, who knows absolutely nothing about snakes, decided to get a corn a few months ago. He got an adult normal and named him Fang and the snake's been feeding great. However, quite a while ago the snake grew dark and he knew that Fang was going to shed. He got all excited and called me night and day, but after at least two weeks he found that he hadn't shed yet. So apparently he ripped some of the old skin off Fang, which wasn't ready to be shed yet. Some of the scales are warped and shriveled and show white flesh underneath. The snake at first cringed whenever you touched the spots, but now he isn't in pain. However, there are a few spots on him that are messed up where Brian ripped the dead, drying scales off before it was shedding time all the way. She had an eyecap on too, and a bit of tail skin, but I got those off him when Biran called me to freak out about it. I warmed the spot on her tail with a little warm water and gently removed it, and actually managed to take off the stuck eyecap with one of my longer fingernails without hurting her eyeball.
What should Brian do? Should I tell him to take Fang to the vet, or wait until the next shed to see if those messed up scales and tiny patches of skin heal on the next shed??? Please help. Fang is a real sweetie and I know it's disheartening for Brian to see his first snake fail in health.
(Oh, and I gave him a proper scolding for going and buying a snake when he doesn't know anything about him.......I think he's still a little ticked at me, but his pet's crisise is making him forget that part.)
 
yeah

You are right. Your friend needs to learn that "helping" a snake like that could really harm it.

The white patches are skin that is now harmed from the pulling off of the skin. He should put some polysporin on the white areas a few times and keep the cage very clean. He should also raise the humidity when the next shed comes along as it might be a hard one as well due to the injuries he gave it.

Eventually, the white should be alright and turn to scar tissue and if its not that bad then eventually he probably wont even be able to tell, if he lets it heal correctly as well.

bmm
 
Well done for giving you friend a scolding. There are many books to purchase and read up on before getting a pet such as a cornsnake, I suggest to your friend he gets The Cornsnake Manual by Bill and Kathy Love, and have a good read.

I suggest you tell him next time if he is worried the snake is not shedding on his own to give the snake a bath in luke warm water even if the snake does not like it the skin will need to be softened up first. Secondly, wash a towel and add no softening agents and dry it so the towel is rough to the feel, and let the snake fight his way out of the towel while you are holding it. This will hopefully shed the skin naturally and painfree.

Good luck to your friend.
 
hey im glad you managed to sort the snake out but your friend really needs to do atleast some research or hes going to have one really unhappy snake.
 
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