| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| ScarlettsCornSnakeScarlet |
Posted - 22/09/2015 : 22:45:32
Okay! so I brought my FIRST ever snake the other week.
Her names scarlet, she supposedly shed the week before she came into my care and recently came back into shed ( her blueing stage finished a couple of days ago) I was using a 23w bulb in her night viewing lamp, so the temperature wasn't too much.
Now my problem is that today i used her normal, standard Uv bulbs. I suppose it was too hot as she bathed maybe 3/4 times.
She was expected to shed today and i was wondering that maybe if i had raised the temperature too much the shedding process would possibly slow down ??
I'm very new to all this snake stuff  so everything she teaches me is new ( upon what I've researched )
I also wanted to know if you could make the humidity of her viv too high ?
I spray her viv 2 times a day at the moment, on top of that she has her water bowl incase she feels like having a soak.
i apologise for rambling on!! theres just so many questions!  |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Razee |
Posted - 24/09/2015 : 19:13:17
Excellent :-) the humidity was perfect, then :-) |
| Donnie |
Posted - 24/09/2015 : 19:01:57
Good news |
| ScarlettsCornSnakeScarlet |
Posted - 24/09/2015 : 14:19:24
JUST AN UPDATE!!
she completed her first shed whilst i was asleep.
it came off in two absolutely perfect pieces. ( i checked her over there's nothing left attached to her skin and her eye caps look as though they're gone too!! felt a little bit like christmas   |
| ScarlettsCornSnakeScarlet |
Posted - 23/09/2015 : 15:25:17
She has two ext terra electrical thermostats. the cool side is 21 oC and the warm side is roughly 27oC at day and 25 oC at night.
she's in a wooden exo 4ft viv and as i mentioned I've been misting her viv. theres no condensation on her viv and i do have a hydrometer in there so i can insure I'm not making her humidity too high.
at the moment I'm using a spot lamp with a daytime 25w bulb (she seems to prefer this to her uV ones as she doesn't feel the need to cool off in a bath. so i feel as though this is a safer move until her shedding process is complete )
but she has two larger UV lights that normally raise the temperature to 29 - 30 Oc.
as for her set up, I'm not sure what heat mat she uses, as when u purchased her it was a quick sale and the heat mat is fitted under some sort of kitchen lining? when i place my hand on the lining, its not too warm, however her spare heat matt is a 20w one? (I'm guessing her original is the same although not sure) 
Oh and more about her, she's roughly 3/4 and measure 4.5ft. she's 310g and shed the week before i brought her, so i saw this is slightly un-natural, however she currently has scale rot ( i took her to the vets to get treatment, though it has stopped as she's gone into shed i guess to fix the problem? ) when i did return her home i immoderately had to bather her because her tail was still entrapped in previous shed! (i presume her previous owners haven't taken such good care of her) 
|
| Razee |
Posted - 23/09/2015 : 11:46:38
http://www.thecornsnake.co.uk/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=37
that's the stickies - in General Keeping Information :-)
Hope it helps :-) |
| Razee |
Posted - 23/09/2015 : 11:12:51
Ok, wee will need more info to help...
Is she a hatchling, or an adult? How do you keep her - is it glass or wooden viv, I guess you heat it with bulbs?
The first, and most important thing - how do you monitor and control the temperature? You need to be able to measure the temperature on hot side ( under the bulb, where the snake would be on the ground ) - which should be around 28 - 31 C, and on cold side ( 21 - 25 C ). You will also need a thermostat to control the heat source ( dimming one for a bulb ). Without thermostat, if the viv overheats, your snake can easily die. Snakes can cope with lower than ideal temperatures with no problem for a short time (as long as you don't feed them ), but even a short exposure to higher than ideal temps can result in death, as they have no way of cooling down.
I'm guessing that you may have overheated yours a bit, if she has been bathing a lot, she may have been trying to cool down. You say you have UV bulb - these normally only produce a very little heat, unless they are the combined ones ( UV/ heat ) meant for bearded dragons - those are very strong heaters?
You can help with shedding/ humidity by making a humid hide for her. Just take a tub ( like a sandwich tub, or an ice cream or butte tub ), cut a hole wide enough for her to crawl in safely, and half fill it with damp sphagnum moss. You can use damp crumpled kitchen towels, or a damp face cloth if you haven't got any moss, just make sure it's clean, no chemicals or soap. Pop it in her viv, and she can use that as she needs to. You could also get a hygrometer ( I use just basic ones ) to tell you the humidity - but that"s not massively important. The only thing is - if you make the viv too wet ( you"ll know, as the glass will have condensation on it all the time ) and the temperatures are too low, then, in long term, your snake could get ill. Corn snakes really only need higher humidity when shedding, and the moss box and/or misting once or twice a day should take care of that.
It's very difficult to predict when they are actually going to shed - once they clear from being " blue", it can be anything from one day to over a week, and it varies with every shed, so don't worry about it too much. The most important thing is to get the temperature right, and stable, otherwise she will not only have problems shedding, but also eating and digesting her food `( you really, really don't want her to regurgitate ). Once you have the temps right, everything else should be easy :-) After she's shed, take a good look on the shed and check that everything is there - especially the scales that cover her eyes, and the very tip of the tail - these are the two places where snakes can retain shed, and this can cause problems. If that happens, let us know, we can help, but I'm sure she'll be fine.
If you'd like to, there's a Sticky section on here, these are some very useful tips that might help you as well, I think there's even one on shedding and moist boxes.
Good luck with Scarlet, and looking forward to seeing some pics of her when she's shed and looks all new and shiney :-) |
|
|
