Dehydrated or shedding?

[maroongrad]

We bought a black racer snake online and paid $50 for shipping...only to have it sent US priority mail, no markings for Fragile or Live or anything. The box showed up partially crushed and the snake was pretty badly battered.

She's been to the vet a half-dozen times, including yesterday when we really thought we were about to lose her anyways! Vet tube-fed her, gave her a vitamin B shot, hydrated her, etc. She's already on injections of Baytril for blister disease. (Yes, we DID turn in the seller to the Post Office and his local authorities!!!)

She's still lethargic, TOTALLY unusual for a black racer, and her skin wrinkles up whenever she bends. I'm not sure if she's simply about to shed, or if I should be worried. Her skin was VERY patchy when she arrived four weeks ago. Her eyes milked up three days ago, but were clear the next day. Little bits of skin are flaking off, but we can't tell if that's remaining damaged skin from before or if she's having a hard shed now. I soaked her for 15 minutes today, 15 minutes last night, and a few minutes yesterday afternoon in lukewarm water. Three days ago, she took a big, long, neverending drink from her water dish.

Any advice on this? Her cage is warm but humid, there is a room-temperature area and a "hot" corner with a heat lamp shining on the bottom of it, she's on shredded paper with two sticks (baked and sterilized) in it plus a hollow log "hide" that provides rough textures to shed with. She's got fresh water in a clean bowl every day.

Any ideas on this? I am HOPING that it's just residual damage from the breeder and the shipping and that she's about to shed, but has a little of the old layer still left (and I know there is some!). Or is she dehydrated? She's much too small to do the "pinch test" on but she gets wrinkly ridges on the inside of any curves when she bends. Her tail no longer looks "hollow" underneath.

She's my first snake and I'm doing my very best to nurse her back to health; I intend to have her another 15 years or more! She's about two feet long, thickest part of the body is no bigger than a pinkie finger. Long, thin snake. Any and all advice is appreciated!

[maroongrad]

It's shedding :) She's still underweight and still has bits of the old skin left, but she's about to shed this layer. And the blisters are dried up, too.

She's drinking on her own, crawling through the water dish, watching the back yard through the window, and otherwise being much, much more active!

Whew!:D

[formica]

good to hear shes doing well :) sounds like she went thru quite an ordeal getting to you :( but sounds like you are going in the right direction with her, i dont have any black racer specific info i'm afraid, but some general thouhts...

give her a good check over once she has shed, to ensure theres no skin left, bathing can help remove any last bits if there are, stuck shed can cause other issues, espcially if it builds up over several sheds

is there just one hide for her? she should have at least 2, one on the cool end, one on the warm end, an additional humid hide is often a good idea, at least during shed, stuff a hide with damp spag moss

little concerned that she can see thru your window from her enclosure, sunshine even on what we would consider a cool day, can build up heat to fatal levels inside an enclosure, its essentially a greenhouse inside there when sunlight hits it

[maroongrad]

There's no direct sunlight that can come in the window. Late in winter it might be, and we'll move her, but it's a west-facing window with a VERY shaded yard. We picked that window because it has a view, but no sunlight.

She's got one big hide, thank you for the information about two. Half the hide is in the warmest area, and by the end of it the temperature is down to lukewarm. The rest of the cage, she's just been burrowing but we'll get her another hide soon if you recommend it.

Right now, she's in a thirty-gallon transparent plastic tub. The heat lamp is under one corner, and it partially heats the water to luke warm (and humidifies the cage) and gets the edge of the cage nice and warm. The temp quickly fades off over a few inches, and I've raised the cage over wood so there's air circulation carrying the heat back to make a "warm" tunnel between the blocks holding it up. The hide is over half of it, lengthwise, so she's got warm outside and inside the hide. The other half of the cage gets no heat from the bottom, and that's where her branches are.

Generally she sleeps under the hide near the warmest part but not directly on it; she's got a range of temps to pick from and she's pretty consistent about how warm she wants it! As for the humidity, she's got a half-log hide that's pretty long. Should I make sure that the paper under it stays fairly damp? I'll change it out to avoid mold issues. I can also dampen the inside of the log with a mister, which I'd prefer to do.

She's an awesome snake and I feel like I'm mother-henning her, but after the trip here I think she deserves it!