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ceruleanspiral · Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Florida

I went and got a snake from the flea market. Embarassed

Ugh, I know. I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl, for convenience I say "he/him". This is my 3rd week with him.

Ok, so I have the snake now, and he was a good solid color, thick and no visible mites or anything. He didn't have a hide and he was in about 1/4" sand in this tiny plastic aquarium. He seemed fine holding him- some hiss breathing because he was scared but alert looking around and tongue-flicking when I was carrying him (he eventually curled up in my hand and I assume slept since he stopped the hiss-puffs relatively quickly).

There was an impressive brown poop, a separate firm urate, and he returned a small shriveled mouse, due to the stress, transport and handling I'm sure, the day after I brought him home. I figured I'd try a feed after about a week left alone. We got the frozen fuzzies and he ate one even though he was showing signs of a shed soon.

He was wrinkly, dry, and ended up shedding in patches last week- not many. The first 2 pics are from yesterday- full head shed with a ring around his neck where it stopped with a few little pieces hanging. I determined the humidity was too low and tried the damp towel trick last night. He shed a bunch more, but not complete (see hide photo) and I'm re-wetting the towel today to help it along. I bought some Repti-shedding aid spray oil and had sprayed him with that last week, and rubbed him gently near the dry patches- but that was before I started reading here.

The other thing is the sand. The guy at the pet store said I could use reptile calcite sand. I was worried about not having anywhere non-sandy to be, so I only put it in half (the half with the UTH). I would say there is a good almost 2 inches in there. The guy said he might like to bury himself in it. As you can see in the pics the cage is due for cleaning again.

The first things I'm going to buy this weekend is a thermometer that hooks to the heater and I'm thinking about different substrate and some plants. Right now the heater is on a timer, set to be on for 3 hours, off for 1. I didn't even know they had ones that can go by temperature. The thermometer/humidity gauge I had in there were the sticky ones up high. One fell off anyway, so with that and the high ones not giving a good reading for snake-level, I figured to replace them.

I am feeling good about the successful feed though Very Happy

arlynos · Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 562 Location: whitney point, ny

Is that Sand in the tank?

ceruleanspiral · Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Florida

arlynos · Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 562 Location: whitney point, ny

I would suggest against the sand because of ingestion could cause impaction and it is bad for there skin as well, go with aspen shavings or other substrate to allow the snake to bury itself.

Monty is my Python · Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 116 Location: Vermont

not good at all, that set up needs some serious re-working and that snake needs to lose that shed ASAP... I can tell you do care and I'm glad you came to the right forum to get you started on what you'll find to be a wonderful pet owning experience. Read ron's blog and you should get a lot of your husbandry issues worked out. otherwise, NEVER be afraid to ask advice from more experienced members, we are all here as snake lovers and I know everyone is willin to throw in their pieces of advice.

good luck! Very Happy

ceruleanspiral · Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Florida

I will see if the store has aspen. I was worried about the sand in his eyes or getting under his scales, but he seems ok so far. I wasn't too worried about ingesting because I fed (and plan to continue to feed) him in an empty box, but now I'm worried- would he eat it?

As for his shedding, I just checked on him a few minutes ago and he's almost all clear! He has some flakes around the side edges of his belly and one patch on his back. I'm going to take a damp cloth to him after dinner if he needs it but he's out and slithering around on his tree, so I might not need to if it all scrapes off in the next couple of hours. The damp towel really seems to have helped. Poor thing was all dried out Crying or Very sad

arlynos · Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 562 Location: whitney point, ny

good to see that he is doing better with the increased humidity, but if he doesnt lose the shed soon I would put him into a bath of warm water for 10 minutes or so and it should loosen the skin and come off easier.

PlayBall · Joined: 11 Feb 2008 Posts: 371 Location: Chicago, IL

ceruleanspiral · Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Florida

RonCrawford · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:39 pm Post subject: Re: New snake- w/pics

SheilaR · Joined: 07 May 2008 Posts: 144 Location: New York

Buck_99 · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:17 pm Post subject:

I could sure use a little breather...

deborahbroadus · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:49 pm Post subject:

What show is that, Ron?

RonCrawford · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:27 pm Post subject:

deborahbroadus · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject:

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