shedding

amandamari · #1 (**permalink**) 12-28-2003, 07:36 AM

My sand boa shed about a week ago. She almost shed completely except for a patch under her head and it doesn't seem to want to come off on its own. I was wondering if I should worry about the skin coming off or not, or if it will probably just come off in the next shed. I tried placing a humidity box inside of the cage but the snake doesn't seem to want to go inside of it and to my knowledge, I'm not really supposed to mist the cage or anything because they aren't really supposed to have humidity. Anyway, any advice about what I should do would be helpful, or if I should just not worry and let it go on with what its doing.

Diablo · #2 (**permalink**) 12-28-2003, 07:49 AM

No you don't want to let it go, leaving the extra skin can be bad. What I do is soak them in the bath tub, for 10 min. or so. make sure the water temp is sitting at 85 or so. dosen't do them much good to stick them in cold water, right. then the skin will peel right off. I have never had a boa have a bad shed. what does the Humidity stay at in its enclosure. Pythons on the other hand, ( well they can be a pain in the ars.)

amandamari · #3 (**permalink**) 12-28-2003, 07:55 AM

Well its a kenyan sand boa so there isn't really humidity levels that its supposed to be set at..and apparently they don't need big areas of water because they don't soak...so should I just soak her anyway in a tub outside of the tank or something? I didn't try soaking her because they aren't normally in water so I didn't want to stress her out. If she is willing should I just try it anyway?

Diablo · #4 (**permalink**) 12-28-2003, 08:03 AM

i don't have any experience with Kenyans. I would just use a wet rag and rub softly over the unshedded area until the skin becomes soft. then assisit in peeling the skin. Trust me you don't want to leave that skin on there.

amandamari · #5 (**permalink**) 12-28-2003, 08:18 PM

what would happen if the skin was left on?

amandamari · #6 (**permalink**) 12-29-2003, 07:00 AM

Ahh..I tried soaking her and it seemed to stress her out and the skin didn't even loosen. She never soaks on her own so I'm thinking that that may not be something that she wants to do. I also did the wet towel thing and it didn't seem to help much either..should I just keep trying? I feel bad because my house is really cold so its hard to keep the water and the towel warm. What would happen if that skin wasn't removed?

amandamari · #7 (**permalink**) 12-29-2003, 07:50 PM

And I can get this stuff at a pet store or where?

p.s. I only soaked her for about a minute while holding her head out of the water and she seemed ok but didn't really seem to enjoy it.

amandamari · #8 (**permalink**) 12-29-2003, 08:04 PM

Yea, I know. The skin just isn't coming off so I tried it hoping that it wouldn't stress her out too much. Do you know what would happen if the skin doesn't come off? People always say how one shouldn't leave the skin on but I was wondering what the circumstances would be.

louise · #9 (**permalink**) 12-29-2003, 08:30 PM

my vet had be use olive oil and that worked. get it at a grocery store.

NicoleRussell · #10 (**permalink**) 12-29-2003, 08:36 PM

I use warm grapeseed oil...for about 5 days with a bad shed and it works wonders....
Nr

toker · #11 (**permalink**) 12-29-2003, 08:40 PM

I am going to take a guess here, but.... if you do put oil of some nature on the critter, you wouldnt want to have it on loose substrait? would you move to newspaper until its cleared up?

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