Cuddles!

[EasternGirl]

What an adorable pic! You may want to try to make the light/dark more consistent for him if you can. It will be better for him. I completely understand the insomnia thing and the odd hours...don't get me wrong. Try to make his light and dark mimic the daylight hours outside though. When it is light outside, have his lights on...and when it is supposed to be dark...if you can't make it dark in your room for him...maybe put a towel over part of his enclosure to make it darker...as much as you can cover while still giving him air circulation. It helps them to regulate their cycles and be healthy and active when they should be and get rest when they should.

[acovert]

I try to keep things regulated for him. I'm attempting to get back into a normal pattern myself. I'll try covering his tank with a towel. Since I have to stay in my room at night so I don't make noise for all the working people in the house who are sleeping, it's hard to not be in here with the light on!

I'm noticing some dry, flaky skin on him this morning and I'm worried. It doesn't feel any different from the rest of the skin, but it almost looks like a shed. There's a spot near his head and a spot near his tail. What could it be?

[acovert]

It seems to flake off when I touch it, but I'm still worried. It doesn't seem normal to me.

[EasternGirl]

Could be some retained shed...those are usually areas where some can easily be retained. Can you post a pic? Best thing to do is put him in a shed box and then see if it comes off...let me find you a link for Steve's shed box video...

[EasternGirl]

Here...it's on this thread...I'm not sure how to repost a video...just scroll down on the thread, you'll see it: http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/urge...ough-skin.html

[acovert]

I haven't been able to get a good picture. It's so faint and hard to see, and when I touched it to check if it was rough or felt different from the rest of his skin a lot of it flaked off and now I can't see it at all anymore.

[EasternGirl]

Hmm...I would try the shed box just in case...it can't hurt him.

[acovert]

Yeah. I may do that. He might hate me for it, but it won't hurt him.
I want to feed him tomorrow so I'd like it if he was nice and healthy.

[kibakiba]

Instead of trying to just turn out the light on nights you cant sleep, perhaps you can cover his tank with a towel. It'll keep it nice and dark for him, so he can get his beauty sleep.

[chris-uk]

If if flakes off I wouldn't be overly concerned. I'd check there isn't any more patches, and a shedbox wouldn't do any harm.

As far as light is concerned (from earlier in the thread). I'm sure there are many garters kept in rooms with us where the room lights are on for our convenience. I know our guys in the livingroom don't seem too bothered, we turn off their viv light so it's not as bright for them, but they seem to be more active in the evening when we're around (quite how I know that is a mystery, if we aren't around we don't know if they are having a party behind our backs) but when we are nearby during the day they are less active than the evening.