Kellog
the nice one
United Kingdom
7308 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2010 : 04:39:08
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Firstly try dampening some kitchen paper or a small towel with luke warm water and letting Beetlejuice wriggle through it, holding firmly so that the skin left on his tail comes off. After running through it a couple of times the skin should have come off.
Quite often most shed can come off by themselves, another couple of days in the viv could sort it out. You could swap the usual hides for damp ones so Beetlejuice HAS to use them, then put the usual hides back in after a few days, if the retained shed has been resolved that's great, if not then the few days in the damp hides will have prepared him for a good bath. http://www.thecornsnake.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=3699
The bath can be done in a RUB, sink, washing bowl, bath whatever is a good size. Put a digital thermometer in it to make sure that the water is between 27 and 28 degrees. It should be deep enough that his belly can touch the floor in case he wants to rest. Let him swim in it for a couple of minutes or untill the temps drop to around 22 degrees. You can run your fingers gently down his body when he is having a bath just to make sure that the waters are really getting at the retained shed. The water should have helped to loosen and dislodge the skin. Beetlejuice wont want to be in the water and will try to escape as much as possible, so be prepared for a fast snake as well. When you get him out get a dry towel and let him wriggle through it but apply a bit of pressure to it - it usually helps to encourage the retained shed come off..
To help him out next time he sheds, once you see him go 'blue' (as in his eyes going cloudy and his scales dull) add an extra water bowl into his viv on top of the heat mat. Dont just move the original water bowl as he will not want to be drinking warm water. This only helps to raise the humidity in a wooden viv, as there is more ventilation in the fauns....so probably does not apply in Beetlejuice's case. I also mist my snakes' vivs once a day in the morning, nothing more than that as you dont want to cause the humidity to rise too much as this can cause respiratory infections. Once his eyes have cleared you can add a damp hide which will also help.
I do hope this helps and you can get the retained tip off, let us know.
xxx
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