Humidity and Shedding

[Hankj]

I've read several care sheets and they all say you need some humidity and that your snake will shed (duh) but there are no specifics?

I can't find how high I need to keep the humidity or how it's achieved. Just a misting bottle? Do you try to avoid spraying the snake?

From being on this forum it seems like shedding is an accomplishment. Does that mean shedding does not happen often? Do you need to pay extra care to your snake when it is shedding?

[gregmonsta]

Snakes will shed at regular intervals throughout their lives. The frequency decreases with age.
Personally I don't pay any attention to humidity. My waterbowls hold a fair amount of water and this seems to provide all the humidity required as the water evaporates naturally.
If a snake has shedding problems I either use the pillow technique (place snake in damp pillowcase in the warm part of the tank) or a wetbox (plastic box with a lukewarm damp towel.

[guidofatherof5]

As a rule shedding is a walk in the park for the snakes. From time to time that walk, can have its share of problems.
I keep the humidity in my snake room at around 50%. Even with that some of my snakes have difficult sheds. http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husbandry/6344-deadly-shed.html
I use large water dishes(1 gallon of water) in most of my large enclosures. This keeps a good amount of water evaporating all the time. I don't mist as it would ruin my substrate(compressed aspen pellets).
I do have to be vidual since I do have a large number of snakes and the occurrence of incomplete sheds is increased by those numbers.
I have toyed with the idea of putting a shed box in the enclosures but think it would add to my work load and the incidence of incomplete sheds are far and few in between.

[Hankj]

Is it safe to spray the eco carpets?

[guidofatherof5]

Not a question for me to answer. Don't use them.
Best of luck.

[gregmonsta]

Is it safe to spray the eco carpets?

Do you mean synthetic cage carpet?

[Hankj]

Zoo Med ECO CARPET 15/20 Gallon

This stuff.

[gregmonsta]

I don't see any problems with that . But remember that the substrate needs to stay dry for the most part. Keep the misting until you know the snake is coming up for a shed. But, I'd be inclined to wait for the first shed to see wether you need to mist at all in the future.

[Hankj]

What are signs for an upcoming shed?

[Stefan-A]

Duller, darker colours. A few days later the eyes turn bluish grey. If you look closely at the face of the snake, you may notice it looking "bloated".