havent seen slough yet....

Greetings,

I have just recently, as in 1 month, gotten my first best bud. In the past few weeks, I've been concerned for his overall health. I feed him 1 small mouse every Sat, and do so in a separate Rubbermaid container. I haven't weighed him, because I don't know what to use, maybe a food scale? Anyway, on to mental health. Long ago, i had a iggy. The people told me to keep his light on 24/7, but I think it drove him to the brink of insanity, because he REALLY didn't like me. A horrible incident with his light and my house came up, so we retuned the little demon. 3 years later, I bring Meatloaf into the household, and figured id better do the same with his light. Then my friend at this all-herp shop said that i should turn it on at about 7 AM and off at about 8 PM. Just wanted to clarify that, because now I'm thinking that if I left it on, his bio-clock in his head would be all screwy. But I've gone WAY off subject, excuse me.

As far as my herp knowledge goes, snake's slough their skin every so often. The problem is, I don't know how often, but his skin seems to be getting white, so I'm guessing its almost time. If he has any teouble getting it off, how would I assist?

Corns don't require any special lighting, so unless you just like the way it looks in the vivarium, I'd recommend turning it off completely.

As to the shedding assist, you might add a humidity box to the viv. You can do this by cutting a hole, large enough to allow entrance to your corn, in the top of a large butter container or something of that sort. Add wet paper towels inside the container, and then snap the lid down on tight. The snake will likely enter and slither around to use the moisture provided, but even if he doesn't, the increased humidity will help in the shedding process.

Good luck!

P.S. Don't blame yourself about the iggy's personality problems. Some of them just get that way as they age. That's why it is such a shame that so many of them are sold with no warning as to the "little darlings" they'll likely become as they mature!