Strange...one baby sick =(

[DEKAN]

So last week all of m babies were healthy and round

But today I saw one of them almost in bones, barely moving, I grabbed her and was like a rock then I saw the belly and looks like the top skin is a transparent layer...Uhmm, I don't know if I explained right, only on the belly, the rest seems to be fine, she ate only one piece, I thought she was thirsty but no luck.

It's only one with this problem, the rest is fine and eating very well (eartworms & fish) with calcium and vitamins

[Loren]

Hard to say, but if they are all together I would separate it from the rest- in case its contagious.

[Cazador]

Robert,

Immediate steps:

This sounds very much like a failed shed. Babies are very susceptable to them. Personally, I'd soak the snake in tepid water (~85F or 30C) for a minute or so, and see if you can pinch a little of the skin and pull it loose/backward. If it's a failed shed, the skin should separate fairly easily and become transparent again, but when it dries, it will re-harden. If you choose to peal the old skin away, you should periodically re-wet the snake. It becomes difficult to peel when the skin dries and hardnes. If you don't want to peel the skin, you might try the wet bag trick. I'm not sure how effective that is for very young snakes, though. Even if you try the wet bag trick, you should give it a soak to make the old skin more supple.

If it's a failed, hardened shed, the snake will have difficulty moving, so you might need to support its head while it's soaking. Keep us posted, and in the meantime, hopefully James (or others) will chime in with details about what types of fabric work best for wet bagging a snake.


Curing the root cause:

Lack of humidity in the enclosure probably contributed to this type of failed shed. Be sure to wash the water bowl thoroughly and add fresh water. It often promotes drinking, but this will not help the youngster's current situation. It will only help the others, and will help this snake in the future. Secondly, you raise the humidity by misting the tank once a day while it remains dry. You can also move the water dish under the heat lamp or over the under tank heater (whichever you use) to increase the humidity. Finally, you can partially cover the top of your enclosure to help it retain moisture. Doing one or more of these things will help to prevent this from happening to your other snakes, but you need to deal with the one with symptoms soon. Best wishes,

Rick

[zooplan]

I think you should follow both advice and try to feed it seperatly.
If sheding help is a success, you can put it back to the others.

[DEKAN]

Ok...thanx your help, and for the detailed explanation of the problem

I'm gonna try it, and definitely put more water to the enclosure. I'll let you know what comes out with the baby.

[DEKAN]

WOW....you totally rock Rick!

Thank you so much for your help

It took me almost an hour to soak the snake, then I saw a lot of pretty small bubbles, when she was more calmed my father took a needle and very carefully started to scrape a little, then a piece of shed came loose, with my fingers I took almost half of the skin, the difficult part was the head but then I saw that the snake was pleased to get rid of the problem now she moves normal and its very active

Thanx again

[Lori P]

WOW!!! Good lesson learned here, and what a great call Rick!! Great to have a happy ending. :-)

[adamanteus]

Good call, Rick! Welcome back!
By the way, I find cotton to be the best fabric for 'wet-bagging'.

[Cazador]

I'm glad it all worked out, Robert. Two words of caution, though. 1) Be sure not to add so much water that the substrate becomes soaked. That can lead to other problems. You want to contain the water in a dish, so there is a wet part and a dry part. 2) Look carefully at the shed skin to make sure the scales covering the eyes (spectacles) came off. If not, it can cause blindness over time. Congrats again,

Rick

[anji1971]

Glad everything worked out!! I learned something from reading all this too!!