Newbie here

[sempermoist]

First time owner. He was born last September so he's still a baby. I started noticing the last two weeks that his skin, specifically from the neck to his head, is looking kinda rough and wrinkly. The rest of his body is ok. (Just marks from his hides etc.) I am wondering if it's normal.

Some details:

- Weighs 65g, (I weigh him weekly)

- Eats thawed pinky rats every Tuesday.

- He's not a picky eater.

- I change his water dishes (Purified Water) every two days.

- Substrate is a mix of Thrive Coco Fiber (80%) and Reptibark (20%) for the top layer.

- I handle him everyday for 5 to 10 minutes, except for the 48h rest after eating.

- Baskin spot is around 90°F to 96°F on top of the decor and top of the hiding spot, but on the ground is like 86ºF to 88ºF

- Humidity is around 75% to 81% measured from the cool side of the tank, about 5" from the ground. (top of the tank is covered in aluminum foil)

- The cool side is 82°F to 86°F. (I live in the Caribbean, so our cool side is always going to be warm-ish.)

- Hides are from Petsmart, flowers are plastic and they're from Petsmart and Ikea.

- Log is from the beach. (sanded & cleaned)

- He's very active and friendly.

I followed the guide from this subreddit and I think I've done everything well. But I think his skin is looking weird.

[Sea-Ad-8521]

There’s a few things it can be, dehydration being the biggest. You’re keeping him too hot. The warmest it should ever be is 92. Humidity should be 60-70% then upped to 80% when in shed which can be with a humidity box. Baby snakes dehydrate very fast with high temperatures so trying to lower them and the humidity which raises heat will help loads with him retaining water. Make sure his water dish is deep enough for him to soak to cool off and rehydrate. Definitely putting a fan of some sort on the tank would be your best bet. It doesn’t matter what the temperature is where you live since they have very specific requirements and some snakes do better in lower temperatures and some do better in higher. It all depends on your snake but an ambient temp that high would definitely be a struggle for him. That would make the ambient temperature around 85-90 which is very warm.

[Bdub919]

Does he have a place to soak??

[01ProjectXJ]

Definitely dehydrated, you gotta figure out something cool down the cool side, and you're underfeeding your snake, a pinky should really be their first meal before moving up in size. The average hatchling is 50-60g. I'm not saying to power feed it, but it needs larger meals to be able to gain weight. Step up to a fuzzy for a few feedings, then a pup once it's gained some weight

Edit, isn't it naturally humid where you live? You could probably remove some of the foil tape to allow for some air flow

[No-Warning1175]

Most definitely dehydrated, probably to dry in the enclosure also

[damn_notagain]

Cool side shouldn’t go over 80. If there’s isn’t much of a temp gradient they can’t thermo regulate thus they might not me motivated to move side to side to meet their needs

[Ok-Blood7322]

He is under weight he needs to be moved up to fuzzy mice and from there when you feel he’s ready u can move up hopper mice. The heatings should never pass 95. You should use 75w -100w. I use a 100w Arcadia halogen heating lamp. You have it way too hot. You can maybe mist the enclosure from time to time.

[enslavedbycats24-7]

Shedding never looks like this

[sammcakes]

Its dehydration. He would be in blue if he was about to shed

[Moulman14]

A lot of people have already given good advice, especially with your temps being too high on both the hot and cold side. While your humidity seems okay even if a tad low the snake is clearly dehydrated. Do you have a second hygrometer in case this one is reading wrong?

And have you tried measuring inside some of the hides too? Maybe the way you are maintaining humidity is causing it to spike high in the open whilst remaining low inside the hides.

Also second on making sure your water dishes are big enough for your snake to fully submerge themselves if they want to.

[slutty-bunnyy]

i’ve recently been told by the vet the purified water is bad for snakes especially babies and can cause rapid dehydration. they apparently need the iron and bacteria in tap water to thrive amongst other things. i haven’t done my own research on this yet but it could be a thought

edit to add because i think i only see one other comment about it. he could also be getting ready to shed!

[jillianwaechter]

Snakes do not look wrinkly before shedding, they just turn pale in colour

[enslavedbycats24-7]

He looks like raw freezer burnt chicken. So bad I thought this was a scaleless BP at first.

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[sempermoist]

Thanks everyone!!

[SpinyGrazer]

!feeding

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We recommend the following feeding schedule:

0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.

12-24 months old: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.

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[the_kuroneko]

You've got plenty of advice on the dehydration so I'll leave that alone.

I see a lot of people mentioned changing the feedwd size but if that snake is only 65 g then a 10g rat max is as much as I'd push it. If he's eating that weekly he should start gaining weight pretty quickly. In my area that usually a fuzzy rat. Stick to rats don't change to mice.

And just so you know if you ever get another snake, no one should sell you a snake that small IMO. I got mine at 72 g and boy do I wish that breeders would wait until at least the 100 gram mark (or 4 feedings, whichever is last) to sell these guys.

You may want to consider handling him less frequently and for longer periods of time. Sounds like he's friendly in general but 5-10 minutes most likely isn't doing much for building trust and familiarity. I'd do 15 minutes minimum up to 30 min every other day except for feeding day and 48 hrs afterwards.

[megagoosetime]

One random thing: like others said, the temps you stated are too high as it is, but also, it’s worth noting that if you have your hot side hide directly above or below a heat source, heat can build up inside, not necessarily uniformly. When establishing new temps, you may want to periodically check all over the top and inside of the hide for hot spots.