stuck sheds & hots

[crocsnhots]

alright, I was thinkin bout this earlier after reading the articles in the hot issue of reptiles magazine I just got a couple days ago (which I really enjoyed reading by the way).....

(strictly refering to venomous here) ;)
How do you get the unshed skin off the upper 1/3rd of the snake?? The last 2/3rds I assume could be removed using a tube to restrain the snake, but what about the rest? What methods do you guys use?

:confused:

[Gary O]

MsTT has a great place to learn some restraint techniques
http://www.snakegetters.com/demo/

Also there is some good info here
http://novogate.com/exco/thread.php?forumid=4503&threadid=25951

[crocsnhots]

Thanks for the links, I would really like to remove it without having to restrain the animal from behind the head as that seems where most bites come from. But I have some folks telling me that's the only way to go, so I thought I'd post. :)

Anyone have any first hand experience that they could share? :)

[MsTT]

I mask the head in a short tube and peel the rest of the snake, after soaking. The short tube technique allows access to 100% of the snake without gripping behind the head. You can access the head and neck using forceps from the front or from the back.

Sedation is also an option depending on the risk of injury to the patient during prolonged conscious restraint, and it's a humane requirement along with pain medication during any painful or invasive procedures. Very few vets will have qualms about sending you home with enough Diazepam in a syringe to sedate even the largest venomous snake patient, because this is a non human abusable amount that you wouldn't notice even if you hit yourself up with it IV.

[BWSmith]

Wet bagging is always my first treatment and works most of the time.

[Gregg M]

BW, I was thinking the same thing....... Get a pillowcase and roll up a couple of wet towels or a bunch of wet paper towels..... Put the snake in and most of the time it will be able to shed just fine in there......
Restraining, manual shedding, and sedation should be the very last resort..... I have never had to manually shed a hot snake yet...... I do all the other tricks before thinking about shedding it myself and luckily I have not had to go that far....
Also balled up scotch tape on the end of a snake hook works pretty well also.....

[crocsnhots]

Oh nice, thanks, those are much better than manual shedding! :)

[MsTT]

I agree that hands-on techniques are not always necessary, but regular hands-on exam of long term captive snakes is something I feel is important in maintaining the health of these animals and getting an early warning if anything is going wrong. I like getting my hands on these animals and checking for lumps and bumps periodically.

Of course this should be balanced with the safety risk to the keeper and the stress level of the animal. Getting a snake in a tube is a fairly quick and simple procedure for an experienced keeper, but if I feel that the snake is stressing too much or at risk of self injury, I have safe and humane sedative drugs on hand that make the procedure a lot happier for the animal.

I would not sedate the average healthy snake just to peel a bit of shed. Actually I don't even restrain some snakes to peel a bit of shed, if they are long enough that I can work the back end without being too close to the front. I was in the shower yesterday peeling a large black mamba at 90F with no restraint at all. When their heads are buried in a pile of plastic plants in the tub, they are much more interested in wiggling away than in turning around. So I just helped work the shed off his back end while he enjoyed the shower and worked the shed off his front end by moving around in the plastic plants. No harsh restraint, minimal stress to the snake, and he ate a mouse this afternoon. He is rather a lot of mamba and even at a steamy 90F I have enough time to move him off balance if he starts coming around on me. I "ask" him to do that every few days anyhow so I can check his mouth without restraint, but it takes a bit of deliberate provoking to get a good open mouth display.

I don't hesitate to use sedative drugs if the patient is a stress puppy and the procedure is very lengthy or painful in any way. Working with venomous snakes is not about showing off my skills in a macho way; it's about making the best decisions for the welfare of the patient. Can and should are two different things. I *can* grab and brute force an animal into a restraint position that is safe for me, but in a lot of cases this is not the safest or most humane choice for the snake. So I am a great fan of sedative drugs when they are appropriate, and also of procedures performed with minimal restraint.

[BWSmith]

I am a great fan of sedative drugs
Bottle or can? ;)

[MsTT]

Mixing drugs and snakes the other way around is a remarkably good way to get a Darwin Award. That is definitely not my goal in life, so the snakes are the only creatures in my household who get sedatives. The keepers get O'Doul's. Boring I know, but we would prefer to leave the Darwin Awards for other, more deserving people to win. LOL

[BWSmith]

Too true TT.

The infamous words of someone about to get bit:
"Hold my beer and watch this!"

[Mustangrde1]

Unless your in the Deap South Brian, then its Hey Bubba Watch This. as he hold the hot and the bud at the same time.

[MsTT]

You mean like this? Click for the pictures.

http://www.snakegetters.com/hk/rastuslessons.html

[Mustangrde1]

LMFAO I forgot about that page. thanks Tanith I needed a laugh.

[Gary O]

LMMFAO. That was funny!

[crocsnhots]

LMAO! :p one question, what species caused that nasty bite? thats gotta be the worse one i've ever seen!

[MsTT]

Eastern diamondback. The physical damage they can do is pretty gruesome.

[crocsnhots]

Darn, I'd say!

[BWSmith]

And of course, you never know if you are going to get an EDB with a primarily neurotoxic bite.

[jtpRUGGER]

Just my $.02, but one of the most effective methods of helping a hot drop a stuck shed is a hide box with only one opening, approximately twice the diameter of the snake, filled with moist sphagnum moss. Every time I've had a problem with a stuck shed, this has worked wonders. It doesn't seem to add any stress to the snake, and it helps me stay away from the pointy end.