a picture would help a lot   hydration will help the shed thing  maybee she is really old   and getting snake alzhimers

I would definitely up the humidity, not only for the shedding aspect, but you don't want the tissue in the mouth to dry out. What's her breathing like? Is she positioning her head so it's up against something making her nose in the air?

I agree, pics would be most helpful.  Also can you get a pic of her set up?  What kind of substrate are you using, what's the temps on the hot/cool and ambient?  Do you have a humidity gage you can check what they humidity is at?

23 years old?!

Her page does say she was born in 1990.  Wow.

aving trouble breathing?  23 years is quite old for a corn snake. She could just be loosing bone mass and having trouble re-hinging her jaw. However, it could be a number of things from URI , mouth rot to even digestive disorders or a lung issue not related to a URI, if she continues to do it and its really worrying you, take her to a good Herp. Vet.

Also, get a copy of whats wrong with my snake, its a wonderful book and has a great chapter on geriatric snakes!!!

She is an oldie, but a goodie. I've taken her on a plane 2X, one of which predated "Snakes on a Plane."

Her substrate is wood bark, the kind with a corn snake on the package. The tank is 20 gallons, on the small side, but I think she is healthier than in some of the larger cages I've had her in previously.

I'm researching increasing the humidity, and purchasing a reader. I've never really relied on them since they look so inaccurate. The book was very informative, I have a used one on order.

As for her mouth, it appears she has problems closing it fully. I think it might have the most to do with her jaw not reticulating as well as it did when she was younger. Take a look at the photos and see if I should clean her mouth, or rinse it.

Larger than 20 gallon, it is 2 feet X 1 foot.

I would up her humidity a bit,and clean her mouth just to be safe. Open it up and make sure its a nice healthy color and nothing is stuck.

Is there any discharge? Mucus? or a clicking or weezing noise when she breathes?

from the pictures however, it just looks like her age is showing a bit, and her jaw is loosing some of its mass.

I have a 20 year old cali king, and shes somewhat showing her age, she's went from black to brown :)

I hope my adopted 17 yo corn makes it to 23 :) Good luck with your sweetheart!

The dry shed I see is a humidty problem. Not knowing her history possibly even more than one shed? I would give her a soak and see if you can gently work off shed. She may require more humidty now due to age changes. They are all individuals and I have seen one that need extra humidity for good sheds and one that need  extra heat after eating to digest properly. I've also seen mouth and breathing problems from to hot and dry where increased humidty solved issue. I equate it to like us having extreme cotton mouth. The dry wrinkled shed and skin I see in pictures is the snake telling you it's just to dry and can't shed.

she looks pretty dehydrated to me  ! 

 George  My friends  have an albino Cal King I hatched  in 1989  Its still doing great !

Wow. I honestly had no idea colubrids could live that long.

She definitely looks dry, both her skin and the areas around her mouth. Hopefully she's not ready to go just yet, but it may be that her body is just beginning to shut down. You can see her age! I hope you can get her straightened out and that she goes another 5 years for you! :)

Wow - 23 years!  You've gotta be doing something right!  I would commend your husbandry up to this point and encourage you to get her to a qualified herp vet ASAP.  I agree with the observations above, particularly about the dehydration, but at 23 years old I'm inclined to think you may have a bigger battle ahead than simple husbandry changes.  She wouldn't have made it this long if you weren't taking great care of her.

Here's a link that may be helpful:

http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/

Good luck!

Brad

I personally knew a 25-year old Cal King once. she was collected as a baby by a friend, as she had no tongue and probably would have died outside of captivity. he fed her with a pinkie pump her entire life, and she laid several clutches for him. she was super sweet. I also met her 22-year old son :)

^wow^

Kudos for sure, maybe a nice bath once a week to help keep her hydrated. My vet gave me Nolvasan dilluted 40:1 to help treat mouth rot, use it on swabs to wipe the mouth.

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