Fang's Story - A Cautionary Tale

After lots of reading and research, and the obligatory licence application, I went looking for available snakes, and soon found exactly what I wanted : He was an eight month old Children's python, with very nice markings, and I fell for him as soon as I saw him in the shop!

When he came home, he settled in beautifully, eating the second day, and inspecting the cage in a very confident manner.   He also accepted being handled right from the start.    I thought he was wonderful.

After about six weeks, Fang began to shed.     I'd read lots about the importance of a complete shed, checking that the spectacles were completely off, and providing a humid hide, and water, to assist with the shed.    Unfortunately, nothing I'd come across at that time said how long a shed should take.

After a few days, when the skin hadn't moved past his neck, I was a bit concerned, and rang the vet, who said to soak him in warm water, and rub the skin towards the tail.     I did this, and it seemed to be hurting the snake, but I was advised to keep doing this for a couple of days, then bring Fang in, if nothing had improved.     It didn't, so off we went to the vet, who checked him out, moistened him, and attempted to get the skin off, with little success.

I was advised to do a little rubbing each day until the shed was complete.   After a couple of days, believing the snake was becoming too stressed, I stopped working on the skin, to give him a rest.     In the morning, he seemed very limp and unhappy.      When I returned home from work that night, my little Fang was dead.

Don't let this happen to you!     A shed shouldn't take more than a few hours at most to complete.     It may take only a few minutes.   Make sure your reptile has a rock, or rough wood to help him or her.
If a soak and some gentle rubbing doesn't complete the shed, go to a vet immediately, or your snake will suffer!       I'd hate this to happen to anyone else's snake.

If possible, make sure you go to a vet with experience treating reptiles. 
You'll find a list of Australian Herp Vets on this site.

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Shaya's Story - Yet Another Cautionary Tale !

Shaya was about 5 week old when she was purchased from an excellent
reptile breeder in Victoria.  Unlike some of her siblings, she was very laidback, and wasn't aggressive as are most hatchlings.

She was no problem at all to feed or handle, and was a healthy and happy little snake.

One morning when her owners checked on her, she couldn't be found.   They worried in case she'd escaped.   Then she was spotted - it was worse than an escape!

She had managed to find a tiny space between the roof of the cage and the mesh light cover and had crawled inside.       She was coiled at the bottom of the light fitting.   Unfortunately, the poor little snake had been unable to find her way out again, and the heat near the globe had killed her.

Her owner was devastated.   Needless to say, before purchasing another
hatchling, the mesh cover was re-installed and it was ensured that this couldn't happen again.

If you have covers on your lights, make sure that there are no spaces a baby snake can get through - the smallest gap is sufficient, and you wouldn't want want to find your hatchling like this.