| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| elament |
Posted - 31/01/2010 : 18:03:50
Well its official Xena has gone into shed. Checked on her today and she is well pale and her eyes are completely clouded over bless her.
Given her shedding record I have my breath held and just about everything crossed (hope she sheds soon or extremities will start to go blue with her). As far as we know she has only shed once in her whole nine months and it was a terrible experience. Basically two layers of skin came off mainly in pieces whilst she was being bathed by the person that had her before me. Although I have to say she is a lot healthier and happier now so i am hoping this may have some baring on how she sheds. TBH given what she has been through in her short little life its nothing short of a miracle she is still with us.
I am going into town tomorrow to locate some moss and put in a moss box. In about ten mins another bigger water bowl is going in on the heatmat and in the morning I will start misting.
Question please oh fountain of knowledge...when misting do you mist the sides of the enclosure and avoid the substrate or mist the sub as well?
Sorry to be asking such daft questions but as some of you will know I took on a snake with problems and as colin has never given me any trouble I have never had to assist a shed before so I may be bombarding you with more stupid questions in the next coming days.
Thanks for all your help in advance.
Steve
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| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Kellog |
Posted - 05/02/2010 : 12:37:02
quote:
Originally posted by elament
Have added you to my yahoo Kellog. Hope to catch up soon
Add accepted!! Chat soon I hope.
xxx |
| elament |
Posted - 05/02/2010 : 12:31:21
Have added you to my yahoo Kellog. Hope to catch up soon
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| Kellog |
Posted - 05/02/2010 : 04:03:45
quote:
Originally posted by elament
Yes Kellog have a Freind with exactly the same I know what its like. Sorry to hear that have you managed to get DLA for it (assuming your in the uk)
Checkout my profile where you can get my email address and msn address....then we can continue this conversation without hijacking your thread on Xena!!
xxx |
| elament |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 13:40:48
Yes Kellog have a Freind with exactly the same I know what its like. Sorry to hear that have you managed to get DLA for it (assuming your in the uk) |
| Kellog |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 13:25:11
quote:
Originally posted by elament
Snake and pain handlers eh? If you dont mind me asking (if you do dont answer lol) whats your ailment?
I actually find my snakes really theraputic and love handling them.
Of course I dont mind you asking...it was me that brought my own situation up when I was empathising with yours  ! I have ME/Fibromyalgia, with very severe pain and fatigue. I am not sure whether you know anything about it or not...it is called the invisible illness, because on the outside I look absolutely fine, whereas on the inside I am a wreck  ! But you learn to live with it...you have to, especially when you have kids, an OH, a dog and 2 snakes  !!!
xxx |
| elament |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 13:16:37
Snake and pain handlers eh? If you dont mind me asking (if you do dont answer lol) whats your ailment?
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| Kellog |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 12:57:43
quote:
Originally posted by elament
Thanks Kellog. To be honest during the day no one would know there is anything wrong with me I can still walk (although not very far before it starts throbbing)Its during the night when I pay the price........ You get to a point when you have been living with it for so long its like whats the point.
I totally understand what you mean Steve, although I do admit that there are times when it is hard to hide the pain. Nights are the worst, when there is nothing to distract you from it...whereas during the day you can almost 'self-hypnotise' by keeping yourself busy and building a wall between yourself and the pain. But you cant let it rule your life and there are so many out there worse off...you need to feel blessed with what you have.
Back to Xena I was suprised she took two in one go which is more than usual so I am going to space out her feeds a little more .......Do you think 2 x small pinkies every 6 days is ok?
I think that it is best to keep her to every 6 days if you are going to feed her 2 small pinkies, but what is most important is to get her weight as that is the way to gauge what she should be eating rather than her age and length.
Poor Colin....watching 'his' food being fed to an intruder ! It is not surprising that he felt left out!! It is the good thing about having 2 snakes of different ages as invariably you have a snake to handle most days, although there are times when feeding days and no-handling days clash...and then you really miss that special time with them  .
It is great to hear how well Xena is doing. I guess it is hard to imagine the struggle it was to get her feeding when you now see her gobbling down her dinner as fast as possible! All good signs so far.
xxx |
| elament |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 10:25:52
He not due till saturday. He is on one small adult every seven days. I taking him up to mediums when the smalls I have run out. |
| n/a |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 10:23:07
LOL, that's great news hun, it's a good feeling knowing all is well with our babies.
When is Colin due a feed? at least having them feeding at seperate times means you always get to handle a snake. |
| elament |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 10:20:16
LOL. I checked on her this morning and she is curled up under her hide digesting her meal. I checked the whole viv for a regurg but nothing so it looks like they have gone down and are staying down. I will see how she is in five days. Funny thing last night though while I was feeding her I noticed colin was watching on intently from inside his viv and had that look on his face that said "where's mine?" LOL |
| n/a |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 09:56:45
Steve had 2x pinkies last night too, i gave him 1x1g and 1x2g pinkies he actually struck the first one which is the first time he has done that too which was great, the second one he took and gobbled up a lot quicker than the first.
So glad Xena ate 2 for you its a sure sign she is settled and will now start to grow at a nice steady pace.
See how she is by day 4, Steve is usually out and about by the third day after his last feed and is on the look out for more food. (greedy guts!!lol)
If she is out and about and looking try her again on day 5 and see how she goes, you will know.
I'm no expert but i like to think i have got to know Steve now, although he totally shocked me this morning, i went in to check on him and normally after a feed we don't see him for 2 days, yet this morning he was out and about and was pushing at the roof of his faun as if he wanted to get out!!
Was funny watching him though as he was fine till he tried to move his bump part..lol |
| elament |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 08:31:26
Thanks Kellog. To be honest during the day no one would know there is anything wrong with me I can still walk (although not very far before it starts throbbing)Its during the night when I pay the price. If people could see me then letting out little involuntary gasps of pain everytime I move then they'd see the full picture but like I said I dont complain. You get to a point when you have been living with it for so long its like whats the point. This is your lot and you may as well get on with it. Fairplay I cant kick the side off a barn like I used to be able to (used to be a kick boxer) and we may be skint and struggling to pay bills coz I cant go out and do a regular job but my life is still full of beautiful things so I got no reason to moan. Theres worse off people than me like my freind who was in the same boat as me and went and had the op. Now for his trouble he has a ten inch scar up his back and is in a wheelchair most of the time.
Back to Xena I was suprised she took two in one go which is more than usual so I am going to space out her feeds a little more if she carries on gobbling two at a time. It is nice to see her wolfing down food so greedily now (compared with a couple of months ago when she was being force fed) she obviously has found her appetite but I am not going to overfeed her just to try and catch up. At the end of the day she is a small snake so I just going to view her as a snake thats half her age and treat her like that. Putting on too much weight over too short a time could overload her internals. I looked at her last night and proportionately she is fine so there is no need to power feed her she doing alright as she is.
Do you think 2 x small pinkies every 6 days is ok? |
| Kellog |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 03:52:10
quote:
Originally posted by elament
Ten years ago a disc prolapsed in my spine Kellog its unrepairable basically. ..... I will live with the pain. Just means I have to watch what I am doing and take a lot of painkillers. Its worst at night really. Anyway I have learned to live with it so I dont complain.
WHy should I wait a few hours Kellog? ...... its too early in the day lol
I do understand what it is like to live with pain...and why the nights are so bad, that is the reason most of my posts are done at silly hours of the morning like now (3.50am!!). To be honest, and a lot of people wont understand this, you do learn to live with it and often no one will even realise you live with pain every day of your life.
I do wonder whether after the next couple of feeds you could decrease the space between feeds to every 5 days. I think you are right in breaking her in slowly to feeding again....but it will definitely be interesting to know her weight and see what she should be feeding on (roughly, of course!!).
You are doing such a good job with her, and it is great that you can see the changes in her that you have brought about.
xxx |
| elament |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 20:38:42
Well I said that when she was ready she would tell me. Good job I had defrosted two pinkys. I have been told with her thats its always handy to have a couple of different items to offer as she can be choosy so I usually defrost a couple and throw the spare away. Didnt get much chance of that tonight. She struck the first one (so violently out of my fingers that i nearly become a proper snake keeper and got tagged) and gobbled it down really quickly. She was then properly on the hunt for more so much so she was like totally switched on so I thought while its there to offer it to her and see what she does. She even struck that one too. It took a bit longer to go down but not by much. I think she was hungry lol. |
| kdlang |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 20:07:14
So glad the shed went well, she really is a little stunner. |
| elament |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 14:12:56
The change in her is incredible. She looks so bright and alert and defo on the lookout for a meal. I may do every five days I just am a bit wary of overloading her. If she had eaten her whole life i wouldnt be concerned but like i said she only been eating since dec the 5th (baring in mind she was born in april/may) so I dont want to go mad just yet. Little and often is the key and I know she will tell me herself when she is ready for more. |
| n/a |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 13:38:53
Hi Stephen, yes she is a dead ringer for Steve. maybe keep her on 1 pinkie but feed her every five days, thats what we did with Steve and now he is on 2 pinkies, greedy guts, he has been out and about again for the last couple of days think he is hungry again!! lol but he has put on 1.5g in weight since last weigh in so really pleased.
Xena will get there and yes best not to over feed her, you are doing a grand job. |
| elament |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 13:25:21
Gonna stick with a 1 day old pinky at the moment I have just upped her to one 1day old every six days. I dont want to overload her system as its only been processing food since the 5th of december. When she gets a bit more weight on I may try seeing if she will take two every seven but for now I am sticking with little and often |
| lee2308 |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 13:22:39
panic over,just to have a bit left on is nothing,probably get a clean shed next time |
| Gaz_1989 |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 13:07:48
She might grow steady at first, Stella did. For the first 2 weeks she hardly grew. Then this last month she has just started rocketing. She has gone from 2 x 1g pinkies to 2 x 5g fuzzys in no time, and she has more than doubled her body weight.
Im sure Xena will have a growth spurt soon and she will be munching large pinkies in no time!
Wat you feeding her tonight?
Gaz |
