Stuck shed patches.

[TeamSlitherin]

Hello, friends! So, my beautiful new Tanimbar python had a rough shed last week, as well as a bad one at the pet store on July 31. He allowed me (mercifully) to soak him and remove his skin from behind the neck down. Unfortunately, he still has a few patches of stuck shed that remain on his neck. I thought they might just come off on their own, but that doesn't seem to be happening. They're also starting to darken and almost look burned. Any tips on how I should treat them? Or should I just hold off until his next shed cycle, since they seem to be so close together? It's really hard to photograph because of his iridescence and his restlessness, but I've attached some photos for you to peek at, nonetheless. Thanks for the advice!

[dannybgoode]

Damp towel - let it slither through a few times until it's off. Prepare to be tagged a few times!

Scrubs often shed has until you get the humidity dialled in.

[TeamSlitherin]

Damp towel - let it slither through a few times until it's off. Prepare to be tagged a few times!

Scrubs often shed has until you get the humidity dialled in.

Surprisingly, he let me do that to remove the skin over 2/3 of his body without a fuss! He is shockingly good-tempered (when outside the viv). He just tagged me for the first time last night, and to be fair, I was being disrespectful. On the note of humidity - which is most assuredly not dialed in - how high do you think it should be for him? I'm having the hardest time getting his 36x18x12 enclosure above 55%. I'm using a jungle mix substrate, tons of sphagnum moss, a big water dish under the CHE, covered 85% of the screen top...I mist 3x a day. It just dries out so fast!

[Scubadiver59]

What substrate are you using? A mix of something like coconut husk (ZooMed EcoEarth) and cypress (ZooMed Forest Floor) can be dampened well due to its mold/mildew resistance and this will provide extra humidity. Also what are you using to seal the screen top with?

Surprisingly, he let me do that to remove the skin over 2/3 of his body without a fuss! He is shockingly good-tempered (when outside the viv). He just tagged me for the first time last night, and to be fair, I was being disrespectful. On the note of humidity - which is most assuredly not dialed in - how high do you think it should be for him? I'm having the hardest time getting his 36x18x12 enclosure above 55%. I'm using a jungle mix substrate, tons of sphagnum moss, a big water dish under the CHE, covered 85% of the screen top...I mist 3x a day. It just dries out so fast!

[TeamSlitherin]

What substrate are you using? A mix of something like coconut husk (ZooMed EcoEarth) and cypress (ZooMed Forest Floor) can be dampened well due to its mold/mildew resistance and this will provide extra humidity. Also what are you using to seal the screen top with?

I'm using Jungle Mix and lots of sphagnum moss. And, oddly, I covered the screen top with packing tape. Someone on the forum mentioned doing that awhile back, so I tried it with my Dumeril's enclosure and it fixed our initial humidity problems. Think I should try something else?

[TRD]

Where are you measuring your humidity? Hot end, cool end, middle? What temperature is it where you measure your humidity?

About the sheds - if it doesn't want to come off with gentle rubbing, do not force it to come off as you may pull off the underlying skin as well. If it's not on the eyes or the tip of the tail, just leave it be.

[TeamSlitherin]

Where are you measuring your humidity? Hot end, cool end, middle? What temperature is it where you measure your humidity?

About the sheds - if it doesn't want to come off with gentle rubbing, do not force it to come off as you may pull off the underlying skin as well. If it's not on the eyes or the tip of the tail, just leave it be.

Right at the hot spot. Around 90-98 degrees. I should probably measure it elsewhere as well. Maybe the numbers would be more promising! And yes, it doesn't seem to want to budge with a damp cloth, so I think it's best to leave it.

[TRD]

And it's 55% humidity at 90-98 F? That's ~equal to 88% humidity at 80 F, Dewpoint is just 5 F lower. This also explains why you can't raise the humidity past 55%, basically the air is saturated and can't hold more...

That is really VERY humid.

The correct place for a humidity meter is at a space in the terrarium where ambient temperature is the advised on for that species. Not the hot spot, or the cool end. This is the only place that will also let you measure the correct humidity requirements as well.

For example if the advise ambient temperature for any species is 81 F and 50% RH, then one should measure the RH at a spot that is most consistently 81 F, not anywhere else as hotter air can hold a lot more water than colder air (and as such the relative humidity, as in relative to temperature, will show much lower than you think it is).

Ps. Since you have such high humidity in there, and shedding issues, I think it may be too high for your snake (which would also lead, among others, to shedding issues surprisingly). I don't have a caresheet at hand for this species, so I don't know how much they require, but you may wish to review the setup of your tank.

[TeamSlitherin]

And it's 55% humidity at 90-98 F? That's ~equal to 88% humidity at 80 F, Dewpoint is just 5 F lower. This also explains why you can't raise the humidity past 55%, basically the air is saturated and can't hold more...

That is really VERY humid.

The correct place for a humidity meter is at a space in the terrarium where ambient temperature is the advised on for that species. Not the hot spot, or the cool end. This is the only place that will also let you measure the correct humidity requirements as well.

For example if the advise ambient temperature for any species is 81 F and 50% RH, then one should measure the RH at a spot that is most consistently 81 F, not anywhere else as hotter air can hold a lot more water than colder air (and as such the relative humidity, as in relative to temperature, will show much lower than you think it is).

Ps. Since you have such high humidity in there, and shedding issues, I think it may be too high for your snake (which would also lead, among others, to shedding issues surprisingly). I don't have a caresheet at hand for this species, so I don't know how much they require, but you may wish to review the setup of your tank.

Thank you very much for your help, TRD! It hasn't consistently been that high; I adjusted because he had such a poor shed. However, he did shed so soon after I brought him home that perhaps he hadn't gotten used to his new digs yet? He went blue 2 or 3 days after he came home. I am unable to find specific humidity requirements for scrub pythons online. All I can find is references to them liking "high humidity," which is obvious, as they are native to island rainforests. But it is maddeningly non-specific!

Thanks again for your help! I'll definitely re-adjust his setup.

[TRD]

I think they need about 70-80% humidity at or around 28 C / 82 F if I read the weather readings of their natural habitat correctly (Banda, Indonesia, for your species).

They have a wet and dry season, where the wet is a bit higher humidity (90%-ish with tons of rain) and dry a bit lower (70%-ish). Temperatures are stable all year around with ambient at about what I stated above. You won't need that strong of a heat lamp for this species as it's mostly cloudy where it comes from, if you could raise a sufficient big place for your snake to 31 - 32C (88 to 90 F) ambient temps this will likely be enough. Likely the cooler end should be about 26 C (76 F) or so. When I was in the tropics there wasn't much temperature difference between area's as temperature doesn't fluctuate much, if at all, during time of day (day or night) and seasons (as they don't have seasons as we know them..).

I would start off by providing the correct temperature as ambient, and match the humidity during the day to about 70%, then at night spray the place to raise it. In the morning spray it again and let humidity naturally drop off during the day. Reptiles need dry feet (or belly in this case). You do not have to keep humidity at a single high value, that is not healthy without good ventilation (which would make it impossible to maintain unless you raise humidity in the room you keep the snake high enough). Monitor how much humidity rises or falls after spraying so that you understand what you are doing.

For reverence I can give some idea about my crestie that I keep. It is actually fairly similar to husbandry as it shows... it also need similar temps and humidity but when I spray the place in the morning and let it drop off during the day... by the time I spray again in the evening my humidity dropped to 50-55%. This is fine and nothing to worry about. After spraying it raises again to 80-90%. It's important the place can "dry out" and ventilate between spraying.

In any case, observe what your snake is doing - always on the warmer end, always on the colder end, and adjust slowly until you find a sweet spot. Ie- if snek is always on the hot end that either hot end is too cold, or cold end is too cold, and vice versa.

Keep in mind that I don't keep this species, but based on the information I could gather now, this is how I would start off. There don't seem to be any good caresheets online, but perhaps you can ask around here and/or on FB if anyone is keeping this specific species for better details on its care. Beautiful snake though.

[TeamSlitherin]

Thank you very much for the insight, TRD! I really appreciate it. I'll make some tweaks and see how it goes!

[TeamSlitherin]

Yaaaay! I woke up to a present from my little one! A vast improvement from his last shed, of which 80% had to be removed by hand and left him with much more stuck shed than I even realized. Now he's more beautiful than ever! And, he measures at an intimidating 42 inches ;)

[TRD]

Happy he's improving :)