Shedding With Unusual Kink In Tail.

[Carrie G]

[FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"][COLOR="DarkOrchid"]My first snake was a bp, and he passed away this past summer at the age of 12.

So I'm not new to keeping them. This little one could be a challenge, though. My friend (who is a biologist, reptile breeder, and former curator at the Reptile House at the Bronx Zoo, so he's very knowledgeable and would not buy an animal that was unhealthy) found a ball python at Repticon in Tampa for me, as I couldn't go. My friend kept him for two weeks before I was able to get him, and he pooped and shed just fine for him.

But he has a kink in his tail. I was imagining a crooked tail. Earnie's kink actually looks like it ends in a cinnabon. Which is adorable, in my opinion. It hasn't interfered with anything, EXCEPT there's concern with shedding. (BTW, his mother was normal and his father was Pastel, Calico, Fire, Pinstripe. Could that have anything to do with his kink?)

My friend stressed to watch that tail, and I thought it would be good to "pre-help" it. I used mineral oil before I read why that's not a good idea. Vitamin E too (please keep in mind that while I had some problems with my late ball python shedding, I never had to do anything more than increase humidity or warm water baths.) I've also used shedding aids (yeah, I know, a waste of time,) and rubbing it gently with a warm wet washcloth, and given him a couple of baths.

On Friday he became opaque, and I had had problems keeping his humidity up. So I found out how to make a cheap humid hide and spray his tank twice a day. He also has towels on the top where there is open space.

So here are the details of his husbandry...55-gallon tank. UTH on one side with a 150-watt ceramic heater over it. The other side has a 60-watt ceramic heater that I use in the winter because the room he is in has no heat or a/c No lights because there is excellent light during the day. He has linoleum cut to fit his cage, a huge water dish, Exo-Terra caves on both ends, the humid hide that is half on, half off his UTH. The heaters stay on all the time and his temperatures are around 90 on the warm side and low 80's cool side. Humidity is 50% at the most.

He is eating fine too. He gets a hopper mouse once a week. I recently switched him to frozen thawed and will be switching up to rat pups. He is a small boy. His last weight was 95 grams.

So I need that humidity up. I'm thinking about wetting the towels that are on his cage screen and hoping that will trap and create humidity.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to help that little cinnabon shed?I know I'm probably overreacting here, but any thoughts would be very welcome. Sorry for the long drawn out post.