My Sand Boa Needs Some Help Regarding Shedding

[Bluz Brotherz]

Alrighty folks, I haven't been on here for a while but I'd like to get back in the community again (such a wonderful group of people you all are, and yes I did that shamelessly).

Anyways, to the reason I posted this thread, a sand boa of mine, a female I picked up four years ago at a Reptile Expo in Pasadena and currently one of my favorites (she's so gentle... Well I mean most of them are, but she's definitely the most passive out of my collection), she's always had this problem with complete sheds... As in it's never happened.

Whenever she turns that infamous milky blue, I don't hesitate to help with the sheds. I give her a moist bowl of moss, a few small logs with rough edges, and two baths (one with this zilla shed ease and another with only a few moist paper towels), but it doesn't ever seem to help much. She always retains some shed, but never in those crucial places like the spectacles or her tail tip. Usually it's the underneath of her chin and some patches right behind her head along her spine. Not to mention I have to dig through her aspen to spotclean out the numerous scraps left behind.

This isn't urgent or particularly troublesome, she's been this way since I got her, but it would certainly be of some help for people with snakes prone to stuck shed to help me out with this.

Thanks in advanced for any and all responses :)

[CK SandBoas]

What you could do after she clears the "milky eye" phase is give her a lukewarm soak for about a half hour. Also leave the moist hide either on or half on the hot spot, to help boost the humidity in the enclosure.

Are you keeping her in a tank or a plastic tub?

[Bluz Brotherz]

What you could do after she clears the "milky eye" phase is give her a lukewarm soak for about a half hour. Also leave the moist hide either on or half on the hot spot, to help boost the humidity in the enclosure.

Are you keeping her in a tank or a plastic tub?

I already have the hide situated in the corner on top of the heating pad, and I the baths are similar in length to thirty minutes already.

And I have her in a tank, an Exo-Terra one if the brand matters.

[CK SandBoas]

I already have the hide situated in the corner on top of the heating pad, and I the baths are similar in length to thirty minutes already.

And I have her in a tank, an Exo-Terra one if the brand matters.

Question, does that tank have a screen top lid, and if it does, do you have it covered? If not, you are losing whatever humidity and heat through the top...

[jjhill001]

As long as the eye caps and tail are coming off alright I wouldn't worry about it, most care information available says that its not a big deal if little bits stick to it and to remove them if you choose. The humid hide seems to be doing its job. I wouldn't expose a Kenyan to deep water ever as I know they aren't good swimmers. You don't want the ambient humidity to get TOO high because like Rosy Boas it can cause respiratory issues.

[Bluz Brotherz]

Question, does that tank have a screen top lid, and if it does, do you have it covered? If not, you are losing whatever humidity and heat through the top...


It does have a screen lid, but I have an infrared hood over half of it since my roommate likes to keep the air on all the time, and the ambient air temperature would be pitifully low. Only half of it is covered, so I might place a damp rag over the remaining other half while she's shedding. It works for my water dragons to add an extra umph of humidity while they're shedding, so if I placed a smaller amount of water it might work.



As long as the eye caps and tail are coming off alright I wouldn't worry about it, most care information available says that its not a big deal if little bits stick to it and to remove them if you choose. The humid hide seems to be doing its job. I wouldn't expose a Kenyan to deep water ever as I know they aren't good swimmers. You don't want the ambient humidity to get TOO high because like Rosy Boas it can cause respiratory issues.

Oh no the humidity is never over 40 for any of my sand boas, and I monitor closely for RI since I'm the paranoid type who yells "vet" every time an animal of mine acts up.

As for the deep water, I never have her in water that's excessively deep, she'd freak out for one and I know that an animal who digs in the Savannah isn't going to be the next Michael Phelps. The water is measured to never to go above a height where she can no longer comfortably extend her nostrils out of the water, and what I really do for "baths" is let them soak in shallow water while occasionally slowly ringing out a rag over them to get the top too.

And what concerns me is that she sheds irregularly. What takes my other sandies a day to shed, she'll take three before I come in and try to remove the rest with a damp rag (just rubbing them carefully, not peeling), and then still she'll always have clusters of unshed skin. The way she sheds I'd liken to a lizard, who sheds their skin flake by flake except even they end up doing it faster.

[CK SandBoas]

If you ever get the chance to move your sand boas into a rack system with plastic tubs, I would do it. All my sand boas have perfect sheds in my rack systems....And you can solder holes into the tubs to keep the humidity from getting to high :)

[Bluz Brotherz]

If you ever get the chance to move your sand boas into a rack system with plastic tubs, I would do it. All my sand boas have perfect sheds in my rack systems....And you can solder holes into the tubs to keep the humidity from getting to high :)



Yeah but that seems kind of extravagant for a small, non-breeding collection. I only have four, three females and a male, that I have mostly to sedate my own curious love of these animals, and so an elaborate system wouldn't be the best here. It's something I'd undoubtedly invest in if my sand boa collection was to expand, but I have no plans for it to.