Humidity and Shedding

[Hankj]

I've read several care sheets and they all say you need some humidity and that your snake will shed (duh) but there are no specifics?

I can't find how high I need to keep the humidity or how it's achieved. Just a misting bottle? Do you try to avoid spraying the snake?

From being on this forum it seems like shedding is an accomplishment. Does that mean shedding does not happen often? Do you need to pay extra care to your snake when it is shedding?

[gregmonsta]

Snakes will shed at regular intervals throughout their lives. The frequency decreases with age.
Personally I don't pay any attention to humidity. My waterbowls hold a fair amount of water and this seems to provide all the humidity required as the water evaporates naturally.
If a snake has shedding problems I either use the pillow technique (place snake in damp pillowcase in the warm part of the tank) or a wetbox (plastic box with a lukewarm damp towel.

[guidofatherof5]

As a rule shedding is a walk in the park for the snakes. From time to time that walk, can have its share of problems.
I keep the humidity in my snake room at around 50%. Even with that some of my snakes have difficult sheds. http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husbandry/6344-deadly-shed.html (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husbandry/6344-deadly-shed.html)
I use large water dishes(1 gallon of water) in most of my large enclosures. This keeps a good amount of water evaporating all the time. I don't mist as it would ruin my substrate(compressed aspen pellets).
I do have to be vidual since I do have a large number of snakes and the occurrence of incomplete sheds is increased by those numbers.
I have toyed with the idea of putting a shed box in the enclosures but think it would add to my work load and the incidence of incomplete sheds are far and few in between.

[Hankj]

Is it safe to spray the eco carpets?

[guidofatherof5]

Not a question for me to answer. Don't use them.
Best of luck.

[gregmonsta]

Is it safe to spray the eco carpets?

Do you mean synthetic cage carpet?

[Hankj]

Zoo Med ECO CARPET 15/20 Gallon (http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=2599)

This stuff.

[gregmonsta]

I don't see any problems with that :rolleyes:. But remember that the substrate needs to stay dry for the most part. Keep the misting until you know the snake is coming up for a shed. But, I'd be inclined to wait for the first shed to see wether you need to mist at all in the future.

[Hankj]

What are signs for an upcoming shed?

[Stefan-A]

Duller, darker colours. A few days later the eyes turn bluish grey. If you look closely at the face of the snake, you may notice it looking "bloated".

[guidofatherof5]

The snake will start to look dull, faded out. The eyes will start to turn cloudy and eventually have a milky white look to them. As the shed process progresses the eye will turn normal looking.
At this point your snake could shed any day. I've had them take as long as a week after the eyes cleared up.
From beginning to end the process can take 1 to 2 weeks.
They shed as they grow. During growth spurts I've had snakes shed every 3 weeks. This lasted 6 months.
I have adults that shed 2-3 times a year.
Hope this helps.

[Hankj]

Yes it does Thank you very much. Except I don't know if my snake even has one eye.

My friend is on his way and he has a nice camera on his phone I'll take some pictures of this little guy and you guys might be able to give some diagnoses =).

[Hankj]

Ahh.. never mind about those pics, for today, at least.

We got side tracked. This man I live by had an aquarium sitting outside for a year and I finally decided to go try to buy it off of him. He gave it to us for free. So we spent a few hours melting away a 29 gallon tank filled with ice, fish accessories, and gravel hahaha.

[guidofatherof5]

Photos when you have time.
Nice score on the tank. Free is good, even if it does require a little work.

[Hankj]

Haha yeah. We melted it all away, and scooped out the water and gravel. Looks to be crack free tho. The hood is a little morphed but and surely the light won't work any more but we will probably use it for a reptile anyway and have to buy a screen. No use for it at the moment but we're always bringing home some kind of animal =p