Mila is having her first shed (since she is with me). That is incidentally one of the reason why I am not posting any pics yet..but..something is wrong.
It is the first time it happens to one of my snake, Thamnophis or others, and what happens is this: Mila, the garter female, started shedding this afternoon, and proceeded to remove the first inch and a half of old skin. Then stopped.
The skin looked not perfectly shed, did not have that "whole" look of all the previous sheds I have assisted to.....and in fact, after one hour of going around the enclosure, she managed to rip the shedded skin, and now she has her front half shed, and the bottom half unshed.
The rip is not even clearly seen...and the shedded skin is not whole, rather in two pieces.
The enclosure humidity looks right to me, there is one pothos, and one fairly large water dish....so what's wrong? What did I do wrong, or the seller, for that matter, and how can I correct the issue, if it is possible, even!
Thanks for any reply, I deeply appreciate advice and help.
Nothing probably wrong other then a bad shed. Happens sometimes.
Get a container(not too small) take a dish towel and run warm water over it, soaking it. Place that in the container with the snake. Put a lid on it. Check every 30 minutes but you should have a shed snake soon. Or you could run warm water over the area of the broken shed. This will usually give you an edge to work with. Keeping the water flowing on the edge of the shed should make it come off with a gentle pull. Keep us informed on your progress. Cheap shed box.
Thanks guys!
I will surely try it out tomorrow morning (it is night now, and both garters are sleeping)....and of course I'll keep you posted. Eeven better, I'll see if I can do a whole pics show..
I know...
I should have done it immediately, but the time was late, and my mind was a bit confused, so I chose to wait until morning.
And I did it.
The container is a clear plastic 35x25x20 cm, with lid, I have used a heavy cloth, soaked in warm water, and I have introduced some pieces of flat bark, soaked into warm water too, thinking that the movements of the snake sandwiched between cloth and rough bark would help the shedding of the skin.
And it happened exactly as forecasted. Mila, after few minutes spent searching for an escape, started drifting lazily into the container, flicking her tongue and trying every fold of the cloth.
It did not happen in 30 minutes, rather there were about 2 hours from beginning to tail shed.
The last part happened into my hands; noticing she had stopped moving, I took her gently into my hand, and when she moved again, the skin finished shedding from her body onto my palm.
The skin was in tatters, but at least, she is now covered with brilliant black and yellow stripes (apart for the small scar she has on her neck, pity I did not see it when I bought her...)..
Many many many thanks to all of you who contributed decisively in solving this issue (first time for me)...and...here are the pics, you hav earned them all!
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Originally Posted by kibakiba
