A sign of shedding coming?

[Shadraak]

my RTB i've had for about a month now, his head is turning brown, like an earth brown, noticed alot more specs in him now, and his underbelly scales instead of white/yellow are turning grey, is this a sigh of a shed coming soon? i hope so i've kept the humidity atleast 60+ sometimes after a long day at work it's only 30's but usually just mist the top of the cage (i have papertowels up there) it jumps fast to high 70's. i got plenty of rough rocks and a big piece of bark for him to rub up on , hopefully will have pics of his setup tonight.

[AKAchris.]

he sounds like hes doing fine, most boas will get darker when it comes closer to shed time. soon im sure you'll start seeing his eyes getting blue and thats a definite sign of shedding. as for more spots, you will often notice more spots as the boa gets older.

Tip: if you put aluminum foil on top of the cage it will hold humiditiy and heat alot better and will not be such a fire hazard like paper towels.

Justin

[unluckyseventeen]

Another note to that, I use just a regular beach towel, and get it pretty damp during the day... my humidity holds at around 60-70% for 3 days at a time.

[Shadraak]

dont have a heat problem, got a heating pad under right side of the tank on high during the day and med-low during the morning, wet towels aren't a fire hazzard, only ontop light is a black light at night and a reg. bulb during the day in a hood, and that isn't even touching the towels

[AKAchris.]

o sorry i thought you ment you were using a bulb 24/7

[Shadraak]

i have a blacklight bulb at night just incace he gets too cold he climb up to a branch right next to the light and stay warm, but during the day i have a 100w bulb in there that goes when i wanna look in lol

[kenatk]

My boy is shedding too, his eyes just turned blue.

Here's an idea I came up with that helps my snakes when they shed ... you may want to try it.

You know how you can build a humid hide box, right? Well, in my never ending mission to get my snakes vivariums featured on MTV Cribs, I took the humid hide to the next level ... I made it into a jaccuzzi (of sorts). Here's how to do it:

- Get a tupperware container large enough for your snake, yet small enough for your snake's cage, and that's fairly deep
- Cut two holes in the lid, one wide enough for your snake, the other wide enough for a piece of air tubing
- put enough aquarium gravel (smooth aquarium gravel) into the container to cover the bottom, about a half inch to an inch deep
- cover the gravel with a layer of spagnum moss
- take an air stone and attach a piece of air tubing to it, and then bury it in the gravel
- run the air tubing through the smaller hole in the lid and fasten the lid onto the container. Fill container up with water, make it deep enough so your snake can submerge himself if he wants to
- allow for a small hole either in the side of your viv, or the screen lid, to run the air tube out of, and sit the jaccuzzi in the vivarium, and run the tube out of the viv through the hole
- attach a small air pump to the tube, and plug it in.
- the airstone will make nice bubbles in the water, and will provide for a luxurious, comfy, secure environment for your little one to shed in

Allister, my ball python loves it. When he's shedding I don't see him for a week at a time because he soaks in it. I installed one in Seymour's terrarium last night because he's getting ready to shed, this morning when I checked on him, he was in his, too. They love it, and I never have bad sheds when this method is employed.

[Shadraak]

sounds good but my RTB hates the water tried a soak to get him to use the bathroom after i gothim and you'd think i was trying to drown him lol

[unluckyseventeen]

I honestly think it's pretty rare for a boa to HATE water. Sure they will try to escape from time to time, but if you make sure everything is correct they will just sit there and hang out.

Make sure:

1 - Water temperature is correct. Don't even make it warm... that's too hot for a boa. It needs to be about room temperature. Even use a digital thermometer to check... it needs to be at 80F. Most people think it needs to be warm at put them in 90 degree water. No wonder! That'd be like asking why a human would jump out of a 140 degree pool.

2 - Water only needs to be about half the height of your boa. Most people put enough water to "swim" in. They shouldn't have to swim. They should be able to touch the bottom without having to puff up to stay afloat. I let my boa soak in about a half-inch of water, and he loves it. By the way, the bathtub doesn't work unless you have an adult. Get a rubbermaid tub or something.

3 - If you're soaking for extended periods of time (more than 20 minutes at a time), you need to find a way to maintain water temperature, without making it too hot. If I would be soaking for longer than that (which normally, you shouldn't need to), I would just change the water every 20 minutes.

Trust me, you need to assure that all of these are met, or your boa will "hate" the water.

[Shadraak]

Eyes are starting to turn color now getting hazier the more i look at them, still a sweetheart when will he start? when they're so he can't see anymore or what?

[Red-Tailed_mustang]

Where are the pics we wanna see pics someone post some pics. Ok..

[Shadraak]

oooh you asked for it now lol

[Shadraak]

Like i said you asked for it Attachment 4780Attachment 4781Attachment 4782