One of my Night Tigers has always had an issue shedding with 1 out of every 3 resulting in a bit of stuck shed however this time around she had a bit of a nightmare of a time due to me not being at home to bump up her humidity (usually a much larger water bowl in the enclosure she can soak in). Following on and taking inspiration from an excellent thread by Rob - https://aussiepythons.com/forum/showthread.php/190702-BHP-assist-shed-Pic-Heavy I decided to do one myself showcasing a Night Tiger as from my experience and personal opinion, colubrids seem to be sightly more susceptible to bad sheds due to humidity issues.
This isn't something to just be done lightly as it does stress the animal and whilst I know some folks don't follow this method, some just ignore the shed until the next one and others disagree with doing this however I choose to address stuck sheds within a couple of days to avoid complications. I also recommend that if you have never done this before, see if you can pester or talk to someone else with reptiles to run you through the sequence of doing it.
Note: Yes I am "free-handling" a Night Tiger and understand all the risks associated with doing so however it is my personal choice and something I weigh up doing every time I remove any of my colubrids from their enclosures. I would not do this with any other ven.
Without any further rambling... Here are a couple of pics of her with the stuck shed.
First thing I do is get a container with a lid that has decent airflow and fill it 3/4s full with room temperature water (ie: same temp as the ambient temp within the enclosure). I always check and highly recommend that the water is checked with a temp gun or otherwise to ensure it is no warmer than the ambient room temp prior to popping the snake in.
Once that's done, carefully pop the snake in and secure the lid. (Bad photos sorry)
I leave the snake in there for no more than 10 minutes before getting a wet towel or facecloth and allowing the snake to move through my hands while making sure I firmly hold the snake enough to ensure the old, wet skin rolls off cleanly. Make sure you take care around the tip of the tail with these guys as it is very narrow and susceptible to breaking before it all rolls off and that final centimeter is an absolute pain to remove.
Quite often the head scales and eye caps remain which is a bit of a concern as they can have long lasting effects if left in place on the snake. In order to remove the eye caps in particular I use cotton buds soaked in water to gently run over the eye caps and any head scales to slowly peel them off. The hardest part of this is that the eye cap edges actually extend into the eye cavity and it requires some firm but very gentle persuasion to get them to break the bond between the new scales.
Once done I always return the snake to their enclosure and leave them be for a minimum of 48 hours before bothering them again with a feed.
Anyway, that's not a perfect write up and I do apologise for the poor quality pics however it is the way I do it and it has worked well for me in the years I have kept these colubrids. Situations vary though and even though my steps work for me its usually for the best that you always ask as many questions as you can or even seek help if you have any doubts.
If anyone has other advice or experiences or can point out where I can better the technique I use, please share and let me know.
This isn't something to just be done lightly as it does stress the animal and whilst I know some folks don't follow this method, some just ignore the shed until the next one and others disagree with doing this however I choose to address stuck sheds within a couple of days to avoid complications. I also recommend that if you have never done this before, see if you can pester or talk to someone else with reptiles to run you through the sequence of doing it.
Note: Yes I am "free-handling" a Night Tiger and understand all the risks associated with doing so however it is my personal choice and something I weigh up doing every time I remove any of my colubrids from their enclosures. I would not do this with any other ven.
Without any further rambling... Here are a couple of pics of her with the stuck shed.
First thing I do is get a container with a lid that has decent airflow and fill it 3/4s full with room temperature water (ie: same temp as the ambient temp within the enclosure). I always check and highly recommend that the water is checked with a temp gun or otherwise to ensure it is no warmer than the ambient room temp prior to popping the snake in.
Once that's done, carefully pop the snake in and secure the lid. (Bad photos sorry)
I leave the snake in there for no more than 10 minutes before getting a wet towel or facecloth and allowing the snake to move through my hands while making sure I firmly hold the snake enough to ensure the old, wet skin rolls off cleanly. Make sure you take care around the tip of the tail with these guys as it is very narrow and susceptible to breaking before it all rolls off and that final centimeter is an absolute pain to remove.
Quite often the head scales and eye caps remain which is a bit of a concern as they can have long lasting effects if left in place on the snake. In order to remove the eye caps in particular I use cotton buds soaked in water to gently run over the eye caps and any head scales to slowly peel them off. The hardest part of this is that the eye cap edges actually extend into the eye cavity and it requires some firm but very gentle persuasion to get them to break the bond between the new scales.
Once done I always return the snake to their enclosure and leave them be for a minimum of 48 hours before bothering them again with a feed.
Anyway, that's not a perfect write up and I do apologise for the poor quality pics however it is the way I do it and it has worked well for me in the years I have kept these colubrids. Situations vary though and even though my steps work for me its usually for the best that you always ask as many questions as you can or even seek help if you have any doubts.
If anyone has other advice or experiences or can point out where I can better the technique I use, please share and let me know.
.....................Ron
![scrubbie following shed 004 [1600x1200].JPG](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/aussiepythons/data/attachments/191/191382-388390e1227abd9d02e45d8f9d9d9ed0.jpg)
![scrubbie following shed 005 [1600x1200].JPG](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/aussiepythons/data/attachments/191/191383-253083dd1f740cdcd1f0ef2350c242f3.jpg)
