Hoping for some knowledgeable advice

[Mack86]

Hi all,

I'm very much hoping some experienced keepers might help me out here. For the first time in a very long time (2 years almost to the day) we have had a piecey shed.

He is almost 2.5 years old, last ate in February then refused 3 feeds after that and I haven't tried since (figured this would be his 6 month food strike). He still looks healthy and hasn't lost size.

The only difference is about 2 weeks ago I bought a heat light which I have been using from above to keep ambient temps a little warmer after I noticed that one morning the ambient temp was 19. I have been able to keep the ambient temps at a fairly consistent 24/25 at the warm end and felt like this was a good move. What I think it's done is dried the air out too much and subsequently he has had a poor shed. I have turned the light off now and he will just use his heat mat (wasn't even coming out of his hide much anyway) What I did notice was that he's been pushing the substrate to lay directly on the glass so I thought he was cold?

I guess I'm somewhat concerned there is an underlying health issue here. Is it normal that this happens from time to time? Or is it simply that change in his husbandry that has caused this.

Below are pics of him and some stuck shed on his tail and also a perfect shed from a bit over a month ago and today's shed in a bag all in small pieces.

Advise would be so appreciated. Thank you

 

[Vixen.]

Husbandry, your light dried out enclosure. Some snakes are smart enough to use their water and soak when in shed, some aren't. Have you gotten to the point where you can tell when he's in blue? The sheen to him and cloudy eyes? If so when you see this empty some of his water onto/in his hot hide substrate (also assuming you will have noticed he curls up for a few days in one spot and usually this is in their hot hide) this will increase humidity enough then he'll then a few days later shed perfectly. Obviously not so much he's swimming in it, but a significant amount that all the substrate where he currently is on the hot side is damp, it would then dry out over a day or two at most that spot, but the moisture will help him shed.
Another option is spray bottle of water and same thing, spray him down (I don't like doing this to my guy as he gets pissed off at being sprayed, where just moistening his substrate isn't as invasive) but yeah if you're using an overhead heat source you may find you need to spray/mist enclosure regularly to keep humidity up enough for him.