Hey I'm New Here And Need Help!

[BabyRedTail]

I Have a Baby Columbian redtail about 7 mos old. she isn't any bigger around than two of my fingers and about 18-22in long she hasn't grown much even though i feed her two healthy sized mice a week. My biggest problem right now is her shed, she has never shed whole and recently she hasn't been shedding hardly at all. Her eye caps had gotten stuck on her and the skin from her nose had stuck folded over her eyes!!! i had to soak her and get all i could off. but now it seems like her eyes are real sunk in and dry, the rest of her skin hadn't come off, So what should I do????
Please help any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Matt_K]

First of all, welcome to the site. What may i ask are you housing your RTB in?? How are your temps and more importantly how is the humidity? During a shed you should definatly raise up your humidity!!! Also, is there any specific reason you are feeding mice? Will she not eat Rats?? I think that the majority on the site will agree that you should really switch your snake over to Rats asap.!! Hope this answered some of your questions!! If not, im sure someone else on the site will!!

[stretch]

Yes Matt k basically summed everything up. You need to make sure the humidity is up. If you want you could soak the snake for a couple minutes a day in warm water after the snake eyes clear up. That would help along the shed process pretty well. Oh welcome to ssnakess.com

[BabyRedTail]

I am housing her in A 20 long and the temps stay around 95 and 80 on either side i have a cover over the warmest side to help keep some humididty, i spray the tank with water to keep it up.
and no she won't eat rats, my albino burm does but she won't for whatever reason. thank you for trying to give me some advice but i really need to know how to help her from going blind because most likely that's what will happen am i right?

[stretch]

That hot side should only be at around 88 degrees. Do you have a hygrometer to measure humidity? You can also use aluminum foil to cover the screen that holds in heat and humidity well.

[Matt_K]

okay, you said you got the shed off the eyes, but now her eyes are sunk in?? That would be an indication of low humidity. You can try misting the crap out of the tank with with warm water and then covering about 3/4 of the lid with a damp towel, this should help to hold the humidity for a while. A Large water bowl under your heat source or over your heat source depending on what you are using for heating purposes will also add some humidity to the tank. Im sure more people will be able to help you with some tricks they use to maintain a nice humidity level..

[BabyRedTail]

thank you so much i will try that and i will lower my heat down a bit i had read that 95 is about ideal for redtails on the hot side. thank you again

[sSNAKESs.com]

Welcome to the community!!

[doenoe]

Welcome to SsnakesS. Hope you have a blast here

[Shane Tesser]

Wow...the intro becomes a how to...lol...you came to the right place for information...welcome to the forums..see you in chat :D

[Edwin]

Welcome to ssnakess, glad to see that your questions have been answered.

[reptile gallery]

Hey...
One great solution for the problem you describe is to place your boa in a 10 to 15 liter 'rubbermaid'. Place 1/3 over a heat pad on low. Cross drill ventilation holes in THE SIDE of the container, and place a water dish inside as well. Use newspaper as a substrate and place some damp paper towel inside. Close the lid and your done!!! This type of enclosure will place the humidity upwards of 80%, and the snake will use the damp paper towel as an aid to remove the shed. Not a perminent enclosure, but a low stress effective solution to your problem
Good luck!

[Thomas]

Hey and welcome to ssnakess

[Beejay]

Hello BabyRT! Welcome to SsnakesS! Hope you solved your humidity problem. Nice to see you're jumping into the forums with both feet!

Bj

[eyespy]

It's not a bad idea to get a fecal exam, either. If she's ever been fed live or fresh-killed mice she might have pinworms or other parasites that are contributing to the growth problems.

Welcome to the site, hope you like it here!

[Darlene]

Welcome Baby red Tail. I hope you have your solution. I'm a corn snake gal , well so far !! So not much help to you but hope to 'see' you around , none the less !!

[reverendsterlin]

make a moist hide, I use a rubbermaid with a hole up in the top third and half filled with spagnum that I keep very damp. I still get some animals with broken or torn sheds, but they always get complete sheds.

[SCReptiles]

If the shed problem continues, get a small plastic box you can lock the snake in. Make sure there are air holes. Mix some mineral oil in with warm water, I would say about 10% oil and 90% water. Leave enough room from the lip to the water for the snake’s head. Let the snake stay submerged in the water/oil for about 2 hours. This should bring off any remaining shed skin. We developed this method for our venomous that have trouble shedding; it’s a lot more difficult to peel it off of a pit viper. Do not expect great growth, these things are not burms and will not grow like them. However, if you continue to power feed and you see no weight gain, I would strongly suspect parasites.