Hi,

Shot in the dark here.

When you initially set up the enclosures you adjusted the airflow etc for the original substrate?

Did you do the same when you started using paper?

If it is a rubb with a load of holes in it then spraying the paper might not be enough but you might be able to cover some of the holes?

I know stress can cause bad sheds but if you have had these a while that seems a bit unlikely.

You haven't been treating for mites or applying anything topical to the snakes have you?

Only other thing that springs to mind is soaking them before the shed can sometimes cause a bad shed.

Hope you manage to get it back to good sheds ok.


dr del

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A high I.Q is like a Jeep. You still get stuck, just further from help.

The hides do seem to make a diference to the humidity I have noticed.

I have plastic hides in mine and without exception when they have shed the hides are definitelydamp and a lil steamy! lol

I have some tubs however that have the premade fake rock hides, which look lovely! but they definitely sit like a hot brick in the warm end soaking up the heat AND they seem to soak the moisture out of the air. These tubs definitely need more replacement of the spaggy water faster!.

Could a big combo of things Bruce
:)

My last dodgy shed was exactly that....a snake with double fake rock hides one at each end! I bunged her in one of Scotts bags for an hour with some damp spag in there.......bless her she was a grumpy toad beforehand.....didnt improve her snakonality one bit!!! but removed all the grot!

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Shirley's Menagerie

My Reptiles4.10.0 Royal Pythons1.0.0 corn snake0.1.0 Eurasier Dog0.1.0 Norwegian Forest Cat0.0.3 fish!

Please tell me you do not place your snakes drinking bowl on top of a heat mat in order to increase the humidity?

If you are, the term, "clean fresh water" should not be used in the same sentance!!! Would you like to drink warm water?

In my opinion, placing a drinking bowl over a heat mat in order to increase humidity not only shows a destinct lack of enviromental control on the part of the keeper but amounts to nothing more than cruelty.

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Fraser Gilchrist
www.cordylusgiganteus.com
Exchange information and observations on the Sungazer

Looking at the water temperature in the sea at Ghana the sea water temperature is on average between 25 and 30 degree's C.

That's a large volume of water, so i would assume where ever a royal finds a water source, it could well be a little warmer than that. it's not something i choose to do, but what water temperature do you think royals prefer?

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No..I usually just tip a bowl over to dampen the substrate, used to spray but find this works well

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Bruce

I just add a second water bowl, so that they have one in the front of the tub and one in the middle of the tub, I find that works fine, and the water in teh second bowl doesn't seem to warm up, it's just close enough to the heat source that it adds the extra humidity. Most of my water bowls are filled to the rim anyway, so when the tub is pulled in and out there is always an amount of water that ends up on the paper. If I do spray I always spray around the sides of the tub on the actual plastic sides, then the water eventually runs down the sides onto the paper.

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Member of R.A.M.I.

a heat matt or cable shouldn't really warm the water up too much. Water in a bowl is a lot of substance to heat up and should always be cooler than surrounding temperatures in this instance. usually anything with a lot of substance is cooler than room temperatures, or else why would our females want to hug them? :) (lets not include low boiling point substances such as dry ice, liquid nitrogen though )

The odd thing though is, if we want to cool a lot of water down, it generally will be warmer than the surrounding temperatures Rivers don't freeze over at zero degree's, and you can check your fridge temps/water temps to prove this . Mad huh!

I'm a lab tech, but oil related and it's been a long time since uni days, but no doubt there's a scientific name for what i am trying to describe. :)

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My tubs have whopping great hides at each end in relation to the size of the tub.

So the vision....nope no way can they fit over the cable but I certainly do shuffle them backwards and forwards in the tubs as much as 2 great hides and a tub of spaggy moss will allow.


The tubs....the edge of the mat pokes out from under the hide area, through a plastic box, through a substrate and then catches the edge of the bowl WHEN the humidity of the house is low due to environmental factors outside my control i.e. the weather. The main humidity levels if you had a good read of my first reply are controlled by the tub of spaggy moss. When the humidity is fine..which is most of the time they sit off to the side off the mat.

I think possibly the issue is freshness not warmth which I am perfectly satisfied with as my water in the tubs is changed every other day for a fresh glass GU dish from the dishwasher. I have yet to pick up a GU dish which is even warm to the touch despite sitting over a bit of mat occasionally ...and yes my hot spot temps are fine...they all have their own lil personal thermometer which I check daily.


As for drinking water....as a thermoregulating mammal with a nifty lil homeostatic system Im happy to drink iced, tepid, warm or hot water...preferably with something added....as I know my system will balance the temps all out nicely. I'd not be giving that range to my snakes who I'm sure would prefer not to lose body temp to water that is well below their ambient range coming directly from the cold tap. I tend to let it get to room temp at least or pop it in first thing while theyre well asleep in the land of snake dreams until later afternoon to give it time to equalise.

Would make a right interesting study though...what temps of water snakes preferred to drink from

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Shirley's Menagerie

My Reptiles4.10.0 Royal Pythons1.0.0 corn snake0.1.0 Eurasier Dog0.1.0 Norwegian Forest Cat0.0.3 fish!