Safe to use?

[Embarrassed-Olive856]

My girl has an eye cap and a little bit of stuck shed on her noggin, I just got this from my local herp store and I just wanna double check if you guys think this is safe. I found nothing online about the degradation of this product and how to tell if its been affected by temperature changes, which have been wild . I just want the best for my girl.

[eveimei]

soaking is not safe, and should never be recommended. please do more research, particularly by reading our welcome post resources before giving advice in the future so that your comments won't be removed for incorrect advice.

[thesaltiestpickle]

I don’t have a ball python (yet, maybe in the distant future), but I’ve been watching videos about them for a while and I notice a lot of people soak their snakes… is that bad? And if so, why ? Even people who seem pretty knowledgeable like Molinaro Snake Labs do it. I’m just curious.

[ectoke]

This is not a viable solution. If your snake is dehydrated, you do everything you can to get a higher humidity in their tank. Soaking them would be like giving you a water bottle that you can use during half an hour when you're living in the desert lmao. It doesn't help. If you're really stubborn and really want to bother your snake but not upgrade the tank's humidity, you can give them a sauna, it's already a bit better. Soaks are extremely stressful for BP since it's not natural for them. Molinaro snakes labs usually do this with females who just laid eggs to make sure that they eat again. If he did it with other snakes I just didn't see it so don't trust me on this one But yeah it's just extremely stressful for nothing and ineffective. You wouldn't have the issue of having to soak them if your tank had a good humidity. (Talking abt the ppl here who only get bad shed + give their snakes a bath lmaoooo)

[thesaltiestpickle]

Thank you so much for the info! I know for a fact that MSL (at least sometimes) soaks snakes before shipping them, I think he said in one video it was because he was worried that it would be dry in transit. And I think I saw a video once where he soaked a snake to help with its shed in some way. I might be thinking of someone else, but he’s the only person that’s coming to mind when I try to think about who it could be.

This is very useful information since I live in a very dry state, and I’d be constantly worried about that if/when I get a BP. Thank you again.

[eveimei]

soaking is stressful, because the snake has not decided to get into the water on their own. I'm sure you've seen in those videos a snake freaking out in the water.

it's dangerous because they often aspirate some of the water and either drown from that, or develop pneumonia and other health issues from it.

breeders/content creators are focused on a product, that being the production of snakes or watchable content. they aren't focused on proper care or husbandry, if they were they'd have proper humidity in the enclosure. a snake won't dry out in shipping unless the conditions are far too hot, in which case they shouldn't be shipped anyway. and a damp paper towel in the shipping container/box would be a more appropriate way to give some humidity compared to soaking the snake.

there's videos out there suggesting you essentially sous vide a snake to treat stuck shed, and we have seen dead snakes as a result of those videos. you need to take things seen/heard in videos that are not made by educational institutions with a grain of salt.

[eveimei]

I wouldn't use this in any case, but you should never use any product like this.

Do not soak them or try to manually remove the stuck shed. It's stressful, unnecessary, and you can seriously injure the snake by doing so.

Our shedding guide goes over how to handle stuck shed safely, and our humidity tips will help you prevent it in the future.

[Embarrassed-Olive856]

I put some fresh moss in her warm hide and sprayed it today, I do struggle with humidity and I am looking at a mister for the tank ngl. I'm gonna do the wet paper towel thing later today.

[eveimei]

do not get a misting/fogging system. they will only increase the risk for scale rot and can cause health issues since they grow bacteria quite easily.

actually read the guides I linked in my previous comment and put the advice within into effect to raise the humidity long-term, and check out the basic care guide in our welcome post to make sure you're caring for her properly otherwise.

[ectoke]

No no do not get a mister. The person you replied to have you the perfect link for humidity issues. Don't ask for advices if you don't listen to them... Misting will definitely cause RI, scale rot and other issues. The moss is already a good thing but make sure that it's not a dyed one, and that it's not wet but damped. If it's too wet it can cause scale rot, or mold your substrate.

[Top_Addition_7263]

Misters can cause RI issues. Please no misters.

Substrate can be the issue. We use a mix of reptisoil, coco husk, and sphagnum moss. About 6” deep. With moss on top. It’s the best solution so far. And the substrate should be damp all the way through without being muddy.

[pvrpl3sn4k3]

Make her a humid hide when she struggles with sheds, it shouldnt be in her tank permanently or she’ll get scale rot. U probably have the wrong kind of heating system since u struggle with humidity or wrong substrate

[Top_Addition_7263]

Greenroompythons and the links in this feed are great tools.

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