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 #2086712


Snakesgalore
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 Pine with a bad shed

finally after along time of not shedding my pine begins to shed and its the worst shed ever i placed some new things in her tank so it might come off faster but i feel so bad for her
10/21/09  12:06am

 #2086741


JackAsp
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   Message To: Snakesgalore   In reference to Message Id: 2086712


 Pine with a bad shed

Try a bowl of moist sphagnum moss.



10/21/09  01:05am

 #2086850


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Snakesgalore   In reference to Message Id: 2086712


 Pine with a bad shed



Some shots of my gophers and their moist sphagnum moss hides. I cover the hides with a cardboard flat. The snakes like to crawl into the little tubs, or lay on top of them.

Like Jack said, a bowl of moist moss works, too. I put their water bowls in an aluminum pan of sphagnum moss to catch the water that they slop around, as they like to crawl around in that moss as well.

Our homes tend to get dry in the winter because of the heating of the air.



10/21/09  10:18am

 #2087629


Snakesgalore
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2086850


 Pine with a bad shed

ok almost all the shed is off but her head is still have a bit there i plaved a big heavy rock in her tank and she has been using it to get the shed off but she seems to be pushing it around
10/22/09  08:12pm

 #2087844


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Snakesgalore   In reference to Message Id: 2087629


 Pine with a bad shed

They do like to have a rough rock to start their sheds on. I give all my snakes a big decomposing granite rock to scratch on.

To help her get rid of the rest of this old shed you could put her in a container with some moist moss or wet paper towels to soften up the dried shed. Leave her in this for maybe an hour. Be careful about her spectacles; the eye caps of the shed. If they are still attached don’t try to pull them off or you could damage her corneas.
10/23/09  09:21am

 #2094776


Kalleigh
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2087844


 Pine with a bad shed

my gopher snake wont go into the moss hide, i put some into its favorite little cave and it didnt go in it for 2 weeks untill i took him out again, he likes the same places over and over, he goes in his cave and sleeps behind his flower pot, he also likes to climb to the top of the tank and hang out in the cracks at the top. he never does anything new and his last 2 sgeds were really bad. i bought some moss but he doesnt really go in it, he will climb over it a bit bit wont hide in it or anything
11/12/09  04:19pm

 #2094852


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Kalleigh   In reference to Message Id: 2094776


 Pine with a bad shed

A thing I do to prevent water from the drinking bowl from getting sloshed into the substrate is I put the bowl in an aluminum baking pan full of dry moss. As time goes on the snakes get the moss wet when they slop around in their bowls. Your snake might get some use out of moss that way; something he can crawl over instead of having to go inside a container. Be sure to check the moss on a weekly basis for poops. Mine like to poop in it.
11/12/09  08:22pm

 #2095091


Kalleigh
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 2094852


 Pine with a bad shed

i heard that when a snake is not eating for some reason it might work to feed it live pinkies, my snake isnt about to shed and hes just not eating, hes active and looks healthy but not eating, he has been a great eater and has had thawed pinkies for the last 6 month, should i try a live one? will that help you think?
11/13/09  06:11pm

 #2095231


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Kalleigh   In reference to Message Id: 2095091


 Pine with a bad shed

Almost all my pituophis and all my kings have gone into brumation. Anybody that did not eat for a month this fall was put in the brumation room for the winter. I have five August hatchlings that are still eating live pinks, and one enormous Pacific gopher and a pair of year old Pacifics who are still eating, so they are not being brumated. It is normal for pituophis to stop eating in the fall. In the wild they would den up and brumate themselves, and come out in the spring ready to eat again.

Here is an excerpt from another site, forgot where I got this:
Brumation
I prefer the term brumation to hibernation because pituophis don’t actually hibernate. They stay somewhat active during their winter recluse. I find that it’s more of the light cycle they react to than temps. so I keep my pituophis in total darkness during their whole brumation cycle. Our brumation chamber is basically a large wood crate lined with 1 inch styra-foam that has a heat element in set up to come on when the temp dips below 46 degrees. We place our breeders in plastic containers with ventilation holes and a small dish of water. To save space and give them the feeling of a more natural like den you can put several males in one container and females into another. Also place an extra amount of bedding in the container, as the snakes will like to burrow into it. We stack all these containers in the chamber close it up, only opening it to check the snakes every 3 weeks. To actually start the brumation cycle I drop their temp a few degrees each day. I don’t allow their temp to drop lower than 46 degrees, 51 being ideal. I keep them down in this range for ten to eleven weeks. When I bring them out I gently increase their temps a few degrees each day until they are back to about 73 to 78 degrees.

If the snake is not eating but is kept at summer time temperatures it will lose weight but if it is brumated it’s metabolism will slow down and it will conserve weight. Of course do not try to brumate a thin snake. Make sure the snake’s gut is totally empty of food before brumating, like at least two weeks to let all gut contents pass. I weigh my snakes before putting them in the brumation room, then check their weights every few weeks.
11/14/09  09:30am


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