Sitting in a water bowl

[Alex Dew]

Hey all

My bp shed about 3 weeks ago and it was a bad shed. It took her 2 weeks to get the skin off and thats with help from me too.
Anyway, for th first time ever my 2ft bp was sitting in her water bowl (she has never down this before), but i know its normal if they are going into shed.

But isn't it a bit early to be shedding again???
Could she be sitting in her water bowl for any other reason???

The temp of her viv is 92F hot end and 90F cool end

Thanks

Alex

[Tim_Cranwill]

She's in there to cool off. You need to give her a cool side. Not 92-90. More like 92-80. She needs to have a thermal gradiant.

As for the shedding, next time she goes blue, increase the humidity in the enclosure. Then she'll have a chance at having a good shed.

[Alex Dew]

Hey Cranwill, it is 80F in the cool end, I just put 90F by accedent.
When she goes into shed I will put a second water bowl over the heat mat and that will produce humidity.
How often to 2ft bp shed??? (every 4 weeks?)

Thanks

Alex

[mykee]

Well, the first time my first two BP's ever went into their water bowls, they both had mites. Check for little black MOVING spots in their enclosure and around their head region, specifically in their heat pits and eyes.

[tHeGiNo]

Again, it might not be a big problem unless it is persistent. Depending on how much your feeding your bp, she could shed again two weeks later. This doesn't necessarily mean she has mites but its always a good idea to check.

[sapphire_moon]

You said she had a bad shed, check to see if there are any of her old skin still left behind.
What I do is.........when my bp's go into shed.
I keep them in a tank. Not the best for humidity animals. So I put a towl over less than half the tank. Keep the side facing inside the tank moist with a spray bottle and spray the enclosure about 3 times a day.
When the skin is finally loose and coming off , wait till they have shed the head area and eye caps off. Then take a rubbermaid container.....(with holes around the very top part, put the lid on) put warm water in there, put her in there, and let him sit for about 5 min. Rub her down a little harder than you would a cat or dog, but put your hand completely around her so you can get the belly skin to.
For me this usually works, and you have all your snakes old skin
floating around in the rubbermaid!

Or Put a damp towl over the UTH, and put a hide over the towl.
Or Put her in a rubbermaid with holes in it, and a damp/wet towl in there with him when the skin gets really loose.... hope that helped I know it's a long post sorry about that..........

And check for mites.......around the eyes, nose, pitts, and vent.

[mykee]

Sapphire, that seems like a lot of work to get a perfect shed. If you have a proper setup, and mist under the hide (assuming the hide is over a UTH or tape) then the snake will shed perfectly almost 100% of the time, without assistance. If you have to assist the shedding process, the problem is probably with the enclosure.

[sapphire_moon]

Actually it's more words than necessary. I also put other options on there.......such as a damp/wet towl over the UTH, or the rubbermaid and wet towl......you could also put in a humid hide. But both of mine refuse to go into one.......:)

[mykee]

They actually refuse to go into the hide if it's humid? That's funny, if that were to happen to me, I would just spray down the newspaper and allow the entire rubbermaid to get humid. I have one of my MANY balls in a 75 gallon glass aquarium, and put her in a rubbermaid for a shed, because aquariums are just so damn hard to maintain humidity in.

[elevation24]

I just use a humid hide (using just damp paper towels) and ever since I've put it in there, all of mine shed perfectly.

[imp_star]

Wow..with my snakes being in a sterilite..w/c holds humidity pretty well..I just put the heating pad underneath their water bowl to keep their enclosure moist..been working pretty well for me..and haven't had any problems with my bp's and my b.c.i. shedding..

[DarkHunter]

Alex

If you have problems getting the shed off go to your closest drug store and get some Mineral Oil...put some on the snake...it should really really help. My boyfriend had problems with one of his BP's shed too a few weeks ago and thats what we used. Make sure all the shed is off of him now though because that could cause problems. Your cool end should also be a little bit cooler than that...there isent too much of a diffrence between your hot and cool end, he might be trying to cool down. Next time you see hes going into shed try putting some more mineral oil on him then wiping it off with a towel.... Hope it helps!
~shannon

[Alex Dew]

Well I just checked her for mites and she doesn't have mites. Her overall colour has darkend a bit but she has not got blue eyes, but I thnk she is going into shed. How shall I make the cool end cooler with out making the hot end cooler as well?

Thanks

Alex

[BoidKeeper]

All you have to do if your snake doesn't shed in one piece is wrape it up in a damp towl and place it inside a rubbermaid container. Place the container back inside the cage over night. The next morning you'll find a clean snake and a dirty towl. No need to stress it out by tugging at the skin or covering it in oil or letting it swim. This way the towl inside the container creats lots of humidity and also provides a surface for the snake to rub itself against to remove the skin. This method has worked for me for over a year with out fail.
As for the snake soaking. Double check your temps and look for dead mites in the water bowl. If you have that's where they will be.
Good luck,
Trevor

[Jazz6279]

From my experience if they're spending more time than usual soaking in their water bowl its usually a sign of mites, but as Trevor said you will see them in the water bowl, maybe just one or two, there's not always lots to be seen. When one of my snakes got mites I only noticed a couple of mites in the water bowl and when I inspected the snake I couldn't actually see any on it, but nevertheless there was a mite infestation which thankfully I managed to get rid of straight away. Hopefully though she's just preparing to go into shed again?
Good Luck.
Fiona.

[daver676]

Don't force the skin off the snake by soaking and pulling. Use the towel trick that BoidKeeper suggested. My bp just had a perfect shed, and all I did was make sure the humidity was at least 70%.

Dave