Quote Originally Posted by Garter_Gertie View Post
Speaking of this...

Last Sun Ripley had an incomplete shed. On his back, down from his head a bit. I mentioned to Dave we needed to soak him and get that off. Dave said this had happened before, it was no big deal and Ripley had been soaking in his water dish. So, I kept my mouth shut.

Dave's on vacation today and when I got to the park, Ripley looked HORRIBLE! The incomplete shed was worse and he was just laying there, lethargic. It was Sun and he wasn't snooping around for his bunny! Not good.

I told one of the interns I wanted her to soak Ripley, since he's not that fond of me and I think she's more of a snake charmer, at least with Ripley, than I am. I filled Ripley's betatine tub full of cool water - hotter'un hell today, in the 90's and the AC hadn't been turned on yet. I was thinking being too hot was also contributing.

So, I filled the tub while she tried to get Ripley out of his tank - he was at the other end. He did something he's NEVER done - went whacko and was hissing as though he was going to kill someone. I told her to be careful, I was not going to give in to Ripley, and she eventually got him out.

You would NOT believe the skin we got off that poor snake! And how quick he calmed in the water; Jo's excellent with him - very slow and deliberate. He hunkered down in the water, one time going under!, and let her rub and rub and rub. Even rub his chin and his nose! I'd told her I'd read about the bath on here and that we would have our old Ripley back as soon as that dead skin came off. That that was why he was grumpy, plus prolly being hot.

She must have worked on him almost an hour, rubbing, pulling, rubbing, pulling - always being careful to not pull too hard or too much.

And his head? We got a complete 'cap' off the top! Complete with the skin off the eyes! No wonder Ripley was unhappy!

Once all the skin was off him, that was it. He wanted NOTHING more to do with his bath. She dried him and cuddled him, never putting him back in his tank until after the presentation and it was time to feed him. We'd gotten him a really small rabbit
..and that's the precise moment when I finally realized you weren't talking about a garter.