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too MUCH soaking?

T

tstrenuous10

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would soaking my snake in the tub for around an hour once a week be too much? i know a shed is coming soon, i saw the grey skin coming and they eyes are a bluish grey right now but after i raised humidity to 50-60 range and soaked in the tub once last week and today i only see they blue/grey color on the eyes and the rest of my snake looks nothing like a shed is coming.



also,side question i was just wonder, would soaking the snake every day for lets say 30 minutes be harmful to my snake?
 
tstrenuous10 said:
would soaking my snake in the tub for around an hour once a week be too much? i know a shed is coming soon, i saw the grey skin coming and they eyes are a bluish grey right now but after i raised humidity to 50-60 range and soaked in the tub once last week and today i only see they blue/grey color on the eyes and the rest of my snake looks nothing like a shed is coming.
Click to expand...

Not unusual - as long as you are maintaing the humidity he/she will be fine.

I don't usually do anything pre-shed to assist my animals except to maintain adequeate humidty levels.

If I have an animal that has a bad shed - then I would consider soaking for 30-45 minutes in lukewarm water.


tstrenuous10 said:
also,side question i was just wonder, would soaking the snake every day for lets say 30 minutes be harmful to my snake?
Click to expand...

Not something I would recommend.

Too much moisture CAN be a BAD thing!

As in scale/belly rot.

It sounds like you have a handle on where your humidity levels need to be.


Is your animal having shedding problems?
 
no no problems. i just thought it semi odd that it had that greyish color then soaked and the skin didnt come off but still retained the coloring around the eyes. maybe im just trying to rush my snake shedding, dont know how i could do THAT.


i also figured soakin every day would be a bad thing, its a reptile not a fish
 
tstrenuous10 said:
no no problems. i just thought it semi odd that it had that greyish color then soaked and the skin didnt come off but still retained the coloring around the eyes. maybe im just trying to rush my snake shedding, dont know how i could do THAT.


i also figured soakin every day would be a bad thing, its a reptile not a fish
Click to expand...

Give it a couple days and the shed cycle should be complete.

Nothing wrong with babying your snake or worrying about them for that matter.

In this case - there is no cause for concern.
 
A hint for you on shedding. I soak my snakes every thursday for 10minutes to keep them hydrated and well they actaully like the water. Shed Ease is a good thing to invest in, it really works. When I notice that my snake has gotten 'cloudy' eyes we spray 2 or three sprays of shed ease in the water and soak them for 10 minutes. Then when they 'clear' that is when the grey leaves their eyes, we soak them again with shed ease for 10 minutes. All our snakes shed in one peice and dont have a hard time at all. :) Hope my advice helps you.
 
yeah. not sure if my snake really likes water. he seems like hes trying to get out every chance he gets. he doesnt swim around. usually curls up around the pulg and sits. which is fine since i guess hes still soaking.
 
lol, yea mostly its our females that like the water, the males think we are drowning them or something.
 
We don't soak Abby at all..just maintain 50-60 humidity and keep a bowl of water in her tank. She's never had a problem with shedding..and it always comes off in one complete shed..eye caps n all. It's pretty neat actually :) We tried putting her in the tub once and she seemed to freak out..musta thought we were drowning her or somethin lol When she's ready to shed to crawls into her den and doesn't emerge until a few days later when the shed is complete :)

Lisa :)
 
not to bring up a dead topic but k2gsnakes mentioned soaking his snakes in shead ease......i soak my ball in a tub about twice a week (he is in there right now) so i was wondering if that would be too much water to put 2 or 3 sprays of shed ease in.


also, WHEN should i use shed ease? when i start to see the eyes change colors and continue once a week until a shed?
 
My opinion is the least amount of chemicals you use the better. Your snake knows what is best for them, so if they enjoy soaking in plain water and it helps their shed why switch?
 
I agree about the chemicals. I have used shed ease for tough sheds, and I have found that About 1 tbs to a medium sized mixing bowl for about 20 minutes works well, and is a good thing when you absolutely have to assist a shed. (retained eyecaps, around the cloaca, tip of the tail, yada yada yada.)
Melissa
 
I have retained eyecaps now so thats why I ask. Not sure of when the next shed is coming and I'm really worried about his eyes. I tried to soak him and rub them off with a towel or even my fingers but they did not want to come off and I did not feel comfortable rubbing any harder then I was. I was thinking of using it for the next shed to possible persuade the eyecaps to come off.
 
If it's only one shed don't worry about it, but don't rub with a towel (lint) and keep your fingers out of there (germy). There is a lot of information on here about how to get rid of retained eye caps.

Best of luck
 
What is your humidty level normally at? If you aintain a proper humidity at all times, you shouldn't have to worry about soaking them to get a good shed EVERY time. ;)
I had a female come in and shed within a couple of days, retaining her eyecaps. They came off cleanly with the next shed once she was kept in proper humidity.

I've never had the need to use anything but a water soak, but I don't THINK that the shed-ease has any actual "chemicals" in it, I believe it's just some natural emollients, so I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to give it a try if you feel the need.
 
i try as hard as i can to keep the humidity around 40-50% but its hard right now with being forced to have the tank against an outside wall and the day temps around here keep going up and down from 60 one day to 70 the next then badk to 50 or lower. Because of this I have to have a heat lamp which pulls out almost all of the humidity and drops it to 30% or so. sometimes lower
 
Yikes, even 40-50% is low!

Have you tried putting some Reflectix or something at least between the wall and the tank? That would at least help stabilize the temps so you wouldn't need the light, or hooking a ceramic heat emitter up to a thermostat would even be be better than the light, it could turn on and off as needed to keep the temps up, and the blinking light wouldn't drive him crazy.
 
Thats what I have, must not have explained it well. I have a ceramic heater that turns on at 86-88 and turns off at 92 (I check max and min temps all the time).


I thought 50 was high. What is a good range for humidity for my ball python to have consistantly good one-piece sheds?
 
I try to keep mine around 60% in general, but raise it with daily light misting when I see that they are going into shed.

When you said "heat lamp" I assumed you meant the red lamp/lights, sorry. But at least if you tried using some Reflectix or some other form of insulating material around the tank, it would keep the heat more constant, and the heater wouldn't need to run as often, therefore not drying it out quite as much. Do you have most of the tank lid covered as well?
 
I cover the tank with soaked paper towels on one side. Cover that with plexi glass and then i have a blanket to block off the other part of my lid (screen). The blanket probably works the best since I use to have a couple of thermal shirts.

I checked the box for what I have......"Infared heat lamp"

Guess I should go buy a "Ceramic Heat Emitter" I just never thought they would fit in my zoomed light.
 
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