Troubled Shed (T. Butleri)

[guidofatherof5]

This evening I went to feed my Butler's (T.butleri) and found one of the babies with a retained shed.
Notice the dry look to the skin and folds of skin. I call this a crinkly look. She was also having trouble moving / bending.
I took a few photos and got her/him in a shed box. 30 minutes later I had to manually shed her starting at the cloaca. It was the only place I could get the shed loose.
The tail shed easily but the rest was difficult. I used a spray bottle to force water under the edge of the shed and peeled it backward.
After about 10 minutes I had her done and back in her enclosure.
I will keep a close eye on this snake to make sure she starts eating again.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/troubled_shed1.jpghttp://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/troubled_shed.jpg

[Light of Dae]

Glad you got the shed off :) Looks like that little one wants some worms lol

[EasternGirl]

Good work Steve...glad you were there to help that little snake!

[Selkielass]

This happened to Micro, or one of the other smallest of Sang's babies. (Maybe same individual- there was a secnd of Sang's litter that was pretty small.) Overnight stay in a warm acrylic tank with damp spaghnum substrate solved the problem.

I have a theory that the Butlers like more humidity at ground level but spend a lot of their time up in brush and branches sunning and airing themselves. (Places I've found them fit this profile- very wet ground w standing water much of the year, lots of thick brush at woods and ditch edge for sunning.) My captive individuals spend most of the day up and off the ground, but I've had trouble confirming this behaviour in the wild as they are just too well camoflaged for my poor eyes to spot in the brush.

[guidofatherof5]

I went to feed this group and found 5 of the babies with retained/tattered sheds.
30 minutes in the shed box solved the problem.
I found that the humidity level in the snake room had dropped to 30%.

[katach]

:eek:Yikes! Good catch Steve. I have trouble keeping our humidity low enough. It stays between 56-63 usually. We put a fan on them sometimes and that seems to help.