Coastal about to shed and have some questions.

[AussieBen]

Hi guys & girls,

I haven't posted a great deal because i only just got my coastal last month. I did put a thread up about it and the help received was amazing. So i am really thankful for all of that.

Since getting her, i have been reading and researching continually so i give the best care i can, and so far am pretty happy with the results. Her temps have been ok, she sits on her heat tile at night and cruises around, i have taken her outside and let her explore a bit ( still nervous she will take off though ) her feeding is excellent and she has grown a lot.

The last feed i gave her was on Friday and she has been in her hide since then ( from what i have seen anyway ) i usually leave her a bit after a feed to settle. This feed was a little different though, she was so gentle taking it, unlike the other feeds where she has slowly sussed it out and the pounced, this one she just went up to and slowly opened her mouth over it.

Today i thought i would just make sure she was ok, and grabbed her out, 2 things i noticed straight away was, 1) she was fairly cold and 2) the milky eyes. As soon as i seen the eyes i knew exactly what that was and have put her back.

I tried the search and google before i posted to get my answers, but i was wondering is there anything special that is needed as this is my first time dealing with a shedding, i put some extra stuff in there for her to rough up against if she needs, but do the temps stay the same ? is humidity needed at all ?. I just want her to have a easy going shed ( hopefully without any problems ).

Thanks,
Ben.

P.S. We had marked it as a boy with the name Checkerz, but i hated that and have decided it's a female, and called her Missy, she is going to the vet when she has finished her shed for a check up so i will enquire about getting her sexed then. I will post some fresh pics up when she has finished.

 

[ronhalling]

Hey there Ben, from what i have seen you are doing all that is needed to give her/him a good home, as she/he is a Coastal no added humidity is needed and it seems you have all in hand for her/him to succesfully shed, just make sure when she/he is finished shedding that there in no retained shed and check that the eye caps have come away with the shed, this is easely checked by looking at the head section of the shed, there should be 2 clear goggle like presentations, if they are not there check your snake and if still retained put her in a damp pillow case for 15-20 minutes and gently wipe across the eyes with a soft damp cloth or conversely put her in a tepid bath and then try to wipe them away, using iether of these methods will help to remove any other retained shed now or at another time. As far as the feeding response you are getting, there are no real hard and fast rules on how they respond to food, some will have a violent food response always, others will be very gentle and others can be a combination of both, I have a friend who's coastal will not take a Rat from him at all but if the Rat is placed in the encloser his Coastal will slowly approach the Rat and after what looks like sniffing it for a while it then just slowly consumes it. As long as Your Coastal has no medical problems that you know of and as long as you don't really want to know whether it is a male or female (for breeding purposes) I can see no real need to stress it unnecessarily by taking it to the Vet, but as is the case with everything it is entirely up to you. ..........................Ron

 

[Riffherper]

Just leave her be and she will do the rest. Make sure that she has fresh water available. As long as there are no general humidity issues in the cage there will be nothing required of you. Just check the skin and her once she is done. Check the tail and eye caps especially. If you are worried about humidity issues a light spray with water daily will ensure adequate moisture. Don't stress about how long she is/will take. Some sheds happen quickly whereas some take a couple of weeks.

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Also. It's obviously up to you what you do however if the snake appears fine there is no real need for a general check up.

 

[AussieBen]

Thanks heaps guys, i never thought of checking it after. The only reason i want to take her for a general check up is for 2 reasons really,

1) because i got her from someone who never provided properly, and

2) she sometimes, not all the time makes a strange noise, it's like a whistle noise ( that is going to sound strange ) i just want to make sure there is no R.I for piece of mind, and if there is to get a jump on it.

Apart from that she is really good and a absolute dream to have as a pet.

Again, thank you everyone.
AussieBen

 

[Riffherper]

Good to hear. As I said 'if the snake appears fine' there is no need for the vet. Reason number 2 more so than number 1 is a good reason to take it to the vet. The vet will be able to check it out. Hope all goes well

 

[Ramsayi]

Thanks heaps guys, i never thought of checking it after. The only reason i want to take her for a general check up is for 2 reasons really,

1) because i got her from someone who never provided properly, and

2) she sometimes, not all the time makes a strange noise, it's like a whistle noise ( that is going to sound strange ) i just want to make sure there is no R.I for piece of mind, and if there is to get a jump on it.

Apart from that she is really good and a absolute dream to have as a pet.

Again, thank you everyone.
AussieBen

Vet isn't necessary.A whistling noise sometimes happen when they go into shed,possibly something about the skin in the nostrils starting to lift.Best just to leave her alone.As far as doing anything to ensure a nice clean shed you can just move the water bowl to the hot end of the enclosure which should help to raise the humidity a bit.

 

[Trimeresurus]

Snakes, especially bigger snakes whistle all the time when they breath and as rams said especially when shedding. If she's eating and no other symptoms I wouldn't worry about it being RI.