Shedding Questions

Elizabethlea27 · #1 (**permalink**) 09-06-2010, 07:13 PM

Hi!
My corn snake Buddy has been through five sheds now. Three were perfect and all in one piece, the other two came off in pieces and left a piece stuck on the same spot on his neck area. I had great difficulty helping him get it off with luke-warm water rubbed onto it, etc. This last shed was the last time that happened, and the skin did come off one day later by itself, but left a light grey/white mark on his scales where it had been. Is this a worrying sign? Should I be trying to rub that with warm water too?

I've noticed that the times he sheds well are when I mist him pretty much directly every day once a day, even though the people at the pet store said they never mist their corns. That's why I'm a little concerned that I'm overdoing it, and I backed off on it a couple times, hence the bad sheds. HOWEVER... Can he get skin problems from me directly misting him, since he's a corn and shouldn't need the humidity of, say a Boa? And can his cage get mildewy or gross from that kind of moisture every day? I do change and disinfect it...but anyway these are just the questions that bother me.

Thanks for any input!! It would be much appreciated! I don't want to be injuring him with not enough moisture or giving him problems with too much.

P.S. I directly mist him because I find that misting the cage almost instantly makes the humidity go up by 10% or so for 5 minutes, then dissipate back to 30%, so I figured the best way to make a difference would be to actually mist him.. any inut on that also appreciated....lol

Sorry this is so long!

Snake18 · #2 (**permalink**) 09-06-2010, 07:20 PM

Can you describe the setup or show a pic? I havent heard of anyone misting a corn everyday. Also do you have a pic o the spot on his neck?

Snake18 · #3 (**permalink**) 09-06-2010, 07:26 PM

Do you have a hide with moist moss in the cage ?

Elizabethlea27 · #4 (**permalink**) 09-06-2010, 08:00 PM

I'm in process of uploading pics, no I do not have a moist moss hide. If I get one set up should it be on the warm side? Or neutral?

Snake18 · #5 (**permalink**) 09-06-2010, 08:04 PM

I put mine close to the warm side but not all the way on. There is a pretty good care sheet on here for corns. I dont know how to post links though.

Elizabethlea27 · #6 (**permalink**) 09-06-2010, 08:13 PM

Here is my attempt to show his setup and his scales. If they come out huge I apologize, I am new to forum posting.

EDIT: THE LAST TWO PICS OF HIM ARE TO SHOW HIS HEALTHY SCALES IN COMPARISON.
And The setup has no thermostat today as it got covered in accidental terro so I have to go to the store and get a new one. And a hygrometer as he's been tearing his off the wall. Right after I finish here we are going to the store (i will post after pics if you like lol). But I wanted this question answered so if you yell at me for not having a thermostat in the pic then ok.

Snake18 · #7 (**permalink**) 09-06-2010, 08:29 PM

The setup looks good. I personally would stop misting and add a humid hide. I dont know about the skin though. I will let someone more experienced comment on that.

Elizabethlea27 · #8 (**permalink**) 09-06-2010, 08:35 PM

Ok Thank you so much! I read through the corn care sheet... I'd actually never heard of a moist hide in any of the other care sheets I've read online, or been told about it by anyone at the pet store etc. So thanks so much! Hopefully he'll be able to regulate his own humidity levels that way without me overdoing it. And less stress on my end!

Now to deal with the skin... :/
I think if it doesn't clear up with water rubbing I'll go see a vet. Thank you again!

Snake18 · #9 (**permalink**) 09-06-2010, 08:39 PM

Also if you are having trouble keeping humidty you can cover part of the screen lid.

Elizabethlea27 · #10 (**permalink**) 09-07-2010, 12:15 AM

So I went to the store, got all my moss and thermometer/hygrometers set. One last question on this - I have butter/yogurt containers for the moss, do i keep the lid on the bottom? I assume so, it's hard to imagine moss growing on plastic though. I suppose moisture is the main nutrient for the moss.. and letting all the moisture leak out the bottom without a lid is not a fun sounding plan, big mess and all, so I assume the lid stays on, but I'm such a darn newb

I just wanted to ask. Thanks!

Snake18 · #11 (**permalink**) 09-07-2010, 01:23 AM

I leave the lid on. You have to change the moss out anyway so dont worry about nutrients. You arent trying to grow it. Anyone have an opinion on the white spot? Chime in.

Sliding Scales · #12 (**permalink**) 09-07-2010, 04:28 AM

I have the same problem with my Milksnake and posted a thread on it. However I will show it here too.

Is that what yours looks like?

SS

Snake18 · #13 (**permalink**) 09-07-2010, 04:47 AM

They kind of look like a “scar” from a bad shed to me. I havent seen this in person though. That is why I was hoping my posts would entice some experts to post. I f not you cant go wrong with a vet check up for atleast a piece of mind. I am not a vet so my advice is just personal opinion. The only sure advice is a herp vet.

Sliding Scales · #14 (**permalink**) 09-07-2010, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snake18

They kind of look like a “scar” from a bad shed to me. I havent seen this in person though. That is why I was hoping my posts would entice some experts to post. I f not you cant go wrong with a vet check up for atleast a piece of mind. I am not a vet so my advice is just personal opinion. The only sure advice is a herp vet.

Yeah I sent an email to my niece who is a Veterinarian in hopes that she can help. I sure can't afford a Vet visit right now. I value the opinions of people on RTB and always ask for opinions.

Later

Elizabethlea27 · #15 (**permalink**) 09-07-2010, 09:09 AM

Thank you so much for posting that pic sliding scales! I don't feel so weird now! Yeah it does seem to be some sort of residue from shedding. On one spot it's almost on top of the scales, as if not fully shed yet, but mostly it's exactly like that.. just a coloring from where the stuck shed was.
Let's hope someone can give some advice eh? I'll wait until later this week because I have to go to some people doctor appointments, and if I can't find any info or if nothing has improved I will definitely be calling a vet.

I hope your niece responds!

Thanks again for the helpful pic...Good luck to everyone and their babies.

EDIT : you can see what my snakes' problem looks like in the pics in the second or third post by me, they are the first two pics of him. Click on them to enlarge and click again to get them into a new tab and click them a last time to see them really huge.

Sliding Scales · #16 (**permalink**) 09-07-2010, 06:30 PM

I usually get really perfect sheds but this last time I had his cage torn apart, and so I put him into a different cage. Low and behold he went into shed. He had a tough time and I eventually put him into his hid with moistened bedding. Then I needed to help him a bit as it was not coming off very well, but it did come off cleanly. I so hope my niece responds but I had to send the email through my brother and he does not pay attention to emails. I am hoping that he doesn't get all weird on me about asking her for information. You and I have to hope for some good news and a clean shed.

Bluerain · #17 (**permalink**) 09-10-2010, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snake18

Do you have a hide with moist moss in the cage ?

Instead of the misting id go with this choice!
You just need a tupperware container filled with moist sphagnum moss, and a hole cut or melted...big enough for your snake.
Place it in the warm side of your viv..but not directly on a heat source...or it will just always dry out. This will give your corn a nice humid place to go when he/she is about to shed!
Mine use them even when their not!

Sliding Scales · #18 (**permalink**) 09-10-2010, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluerain

Instead of the misting id go with this choice!
You just need a tupperware container filled with moist sphagnum moss, and a hole cut or melted...big enough for your snake.
Place it in the warm side of your viv..but not directly on a heat source...or it will just always dry out. This will give your corn a nice humid place to go when he/she is about to shed!
Mine use them even when their not!

Actually that is just what I did, and the patches developed right after that. Lava has pretty much lost the patches after a few days, so I figure it was a bit too humid in the box and he got a temporary reaction to the humidity. The next shed will tell for sure.

Thanks for the comment.

Elizabethlea27 · #19 (**permalink**) 09-10-2010, 08:44 AM

I've got the moss hide set up, and I've been keeping it nice and moist on the warm side, but Buddy shows absolutely no interest in it haha. His scales are getting a little on the dull side now, so I guess I'll just see what happens this coming shed. I do think that the container I used (only one on hand at the time) was a bit small. So I'm going to re-make it bigger. Also I've noticed the general humidity since I've put the hide in has been better (my house tends to be really low), which is great. So even without him visiting it, it must be producing some helpful moisture generally I guess.

We'll see how he does! Thanks for the help again

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