Trouble shedding out

DoctorJones · 11-15-13, 01:31 PM

I have an 8 month old BRB, and he's having trouble shedding all the way. The temps here dropped about 2 weeks ago, and he started clouding up shortly after that. He's shed his head and about the next 3 inches, but the rest of him is still cloudy and has some free edges. His humidity ranges from near 100% and ~70 degrees on the cool side and 70% and ~85 on the warm side. He spends most of his time either hiding in his hide or under his pile of moss, both on the cool side. He has two water dishes, one in the middle of the habitat and one on the warm side. He's not eaten in about 5 weeks too, and not for a lack of availability. He's shed twice since I've had him, both without issue at all. Should I be worried about him? Is there anything I can do to aid his shedding? Thanks for your help!

sharthun · 11-15-13, 03:35 PM

Hey and welcome!

Kera · 11-15-13, 04:00 PM

Try handling him wish maybe a damp washcloth or paper towel? I'm not sure. But good luck and welcome!

drumcrush · 11-15-13, 04:06 PM

Try giving him a bath, let him swim in nice warm water

Snakesitter · 11-18-13, 02:59 PM

I'd second the bath idea...just watch the water temps. Oddly, I've had a few animals with shed problems this year too.

DoctorJones · 11-24-13, 07:18 AM

Doctor Jones finally finished shedding! He's got a mound of sphagnum moss that he likes to hang out in, I kept giving that a good thorough soaking. This morning he looked like a shiny new snake, little bits of old skin everywhere. Now to see if he'll eat...

formica · 11-24-13, 01:46 PM

good to hear the shed came off - 10 days is a long time for stuck shed at the correct humidity, I think your hygrometer is not reading correctly, and for a rainbow, that is a big issue; how are you measuring the humidity? hopefully a half decent digital hygrometer, if not, and its a dial meter, you need to get a digital one asap

If you have a digital one, and its reading 100%-75%, I would suggesting doing ''salt calibration'', to check that its reading correctly, google has lots of links to how-to's, its a very simple process, works for both digital and dial meters - i'm betting the reading comes up way off what it should read

you did the right thing with the sphag moss, but you need to be sure the humidity is high all the time, its not just for shedding with rainbow boas, they can become dangerously dehydrated in low humidity

what kind enclosure is it setup in? is it fully sealed or does it have a screen top? whats the substrate and how often do you spray the enclosure? and how is it heated?

a photo of the setup will be helpful for us to give you pointers

sorry I didnt spot this 10 days ago, I'd have tried to help earlier, glad at least the shed is now done - have you checked there is nothing left? espcially check around his nostrils, edge of the mouth and tip of the tail

Mellik's mamma · 11-24-13, 02:21 PM

and eye caps!!

Lankyrob · 11-25-13, 05:25 AM

Lots of little bits of shed isnt good, your humidity is off, double check everything andmkeep the humidity higher all the time, fingers crossed next time will be a niceone piece shed.

DoctorJones · 11-25-13, 09:15 AM

He's had beautiful sheds before. It's like he started to cloud up right before the temps dropped, and then just stalled. He's in a 10 gallon glass aquarium, screen top lined with foil leaving just enough space for his heat lamp and fogger hose. Cypress mulch bedding, undertank heater on the warm side. I described the rest of it in the first post. I've got the fogger on a timer to run on and off throughout the day and night to keep it consistent. I'll try and calibrate the hygrometers when I get home, thanks for that tip. I had him out lastnight, he's completely shed. I'm tempted to bump up the amount of time that the fogger runs. Right now, it's probably 45 minutes out of every 3 hours or so, around the clock.

formica · 11-25-13, 04:56 PM

the heat lamp is the problem, they are really not appropriate for high humidity species like Rainbow Boa's, it is sucking all the humidity out of the enclosure, it doesnt matter how long you run that fogger, its not going to keep the humidity up.

Get rid of the heat lamp. A UTH/Heat Mat, assuming it covers half to 1/3 of the enclosure, will be more than enough heat for a brb - hopefully you have that on a thermostat aswell.

switch that heat lamp off, get a new lid (or for now, seal up the screened area) and use just the UTH - you will find that you dont need to run that fogger very often at all in a properly setup enclosure for a rainbow boa

Snakesitter · 11-25-13, 07:08 PM

^^ Wisdom ^^