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The Croup Tent

Posted by Emily Milton at 3/23/2013 1:42:13 PM

When Ripley shed on Friday, I thought she'd got it all off. There were a few flecks of shed inside her house, but mostly just one big lump of a shed. Later, she stuck her head out at me, and it still held shed. Well.... damn.

So last night around 10:30 (after Carolina won ) she got a bath! I was able to loosen the skin around her head some. It was very moisturized and I figured she'd just rub the rest off overnight. I was wrong. This is what I woke up to.

This poor little girl was, for all intents and purposes, blind. She couldn't see a damn thing, but was sweet as absolute pie. So, a bathing we went - again. I thought her eye caps had come off last night, but they hadn't, so I had a long road ahead of me. Thank GOD she loves a bath. It took about an hour, but I wasn't leaving until the job was done. Look! There goes an eye cap!!

During her bath, she also developed a strange obsession with Emril Lagasse.... She seriously stared at him for about five minutes before I stuffed her back in.

Anyway, the other eye cap wouldn't come off, and I'll be damned if I was just going to leave it there. I tried gently massaging her little head (she let me and didn't even care, I was shocked - really), using a warm washcloth in my hands. It just wasn't happening. So in comes Mom and says, "hey - build a Croup Tent for her." I had no idea what this was - so I let HER build one -- and she did. Each towel seen here (this was after her bath) should be very wet and moist. The top one should be hanging down a bit, and of course - the tub should be filled with water...

So we built a croup tent and stuck Ripley back inside. I guided her to the corner and OMGBBQ - she was surrounded by soft and gentle places to rub and water to dip her head into. Her entire head shed, eyecaps and all, came off in about a minute.

I'm sure you guys have built similar things to a croup tent - but maybe for those who haven't, and are having a difficult time because winter sucks and is dry (don't lie to me spring, I know it's not spring! I hate you mother nature!!), you can at least get a bunch of towels, a tupperware container, and stuff your own snake in a croup tent.

Comments:

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George H. Wessel VII,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 1:50:32 PM
	1.) I had no clue what a croup tent was until now. So thanks for link to the definition. 2.) OMGBBQ. Is that literally "Oh My God Barbecue"?

Emily Milton,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 1:51:53 PM
	#1: No problem. I didn't know what one was until about half an hour ago. #2: Yes, it was the first thing that came to mind when the croup tent worked.

Dennis B,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 2:52:50 PM
	Croup TentHow cool is that. My Mom use to do that to us as kids when we were sick with vicks in hot water and cover our heads up while breathing in the vapors. Never knew it had a name. I hated it but the name I had for it was not as nice as Croup Tent. I'd like to share something with you that has always worked well with my boas. Humidity is a hard thing to regulate and your right mother nature is always changing. When I notice one of my boa's with blue eyes I put a piece of blue tape on the cage with the date. The date for me is important due to the fact in 6, 7 or eight days the eyes will begin to clear up. Then a few more days they shed. Never the same but close enough that after 5 or six days from the date on the tape I make it a point to start misting the boa with room temp bottled water everyday until I see the "donut" shed as I call it. I know that the shed came off easily when I see the shed in the shape of a donut. Never have a problem and my boas always enjoy the misting. Might want to try this the next time and make it easier on you and the boa. FYI I also have a fish tank in my snake room that I keep one gold fish in just to help with the humidity. During the winter I turn up the air bubles in the tank and in the summer I turn them down. It seems the more bubbles in the tank the more often I have to add water. Sometime as much as a gallon a week believe it or not. Work for me but not in the book. Just thought I would share this with you. I think I have a picture of a donut shed with my animal pic's.

George H. Wessel VII,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 3:15:43 PM
	Dennis the fish tank makes total sense!

Patrick Malloy,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 3:24:03 PM
	scotch tape/masking tape works too, ive also found wetting a soft (viva) paper towel and gentley rolling backward on the eye can start it

Aaron Florian,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 3:45:50 PM
	When aggressively moistening a snake with a stuck shed, be careful when it comes to oxygen. The old "remedy" was to leave a snake in a wet pillowcase overnight. I found out the hard way that with some fabrics, the water will wick into the pillowcase and seal off oxygen exchange. With the stress and heavy breathing of being in one of these "baths", it can become a tomb. This isn't directed at you Emily, this is just for everyone. I lost a snake with the pillowcase method, and don't want to see anyone else.

Emily Milton,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 3:58:08 PM
	The pillowcase method scares me. With her tent, she slithers in on her own. Plenty of air space, and if she wants out, she simply moves herself :). And usually sits on my head.....

Laurel & Nick ,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 4:07:43 PM
	Actually, putting a soaking wet pillowcase over a person's head is a way they used to torture insane asylum patients because it wouldn't leave marks. It's a very hideous way to slowly suffocate someone. They used to take them in the showers and slowly wet the pillowcase and sometimes add shampoo to further constrict their air source. I couldn't imagine doing essentially the same thing to a pet. Congrats on the croup tent. I am so happy your baby finally shed.

Dennis B,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 4:14:52 PM
	There are a lot of methods of removing stuck sheds. I am a strong believer in prevention, less sress and less chance of anything going wrong. Proactive instead of reactive. Any manual method for removing eye caps scare the hell out of me. Its never safe for the snake. Keep em moist for a few days prior to shedding and you don't even have to resort to anything but reaching in and picking up the shed.

durante,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 5:23:57 PM
	croup tent - just one more thing that proves mom always knows best!

Cynthia Chaplin,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 6:19:22 PM
	Aaron, I'm glad you shared that! I've never left a snake overnight, but I've used the wet pillowcase method many times before - usually for about an hour. I think I'll try the croup tent next time!

Era_Daven,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 6:36:35 PM
	Poor baby.

Sonja K. ,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 7:03:31 PM
	Oh my goodness... an Emeril fan, huh!? You are such a good mommy to your girls!

Aaron Florian,	Posted At: 3/23/2013 7:17:36 PM
	I had done the pillowcase 20 times before, it's been a common recommendation and had never been a problem. But that one time... took out my 1200g high white aru female. Damn shame.

MdngtRain,	Posted At: 3/24/2013 9:19:50 AM
	huh, cool. glad she got her shed off :) I had never heard of the illow case method, kinda glad since it isn't all that safe. thanks for the info aaron!

Emily Milton,	Posted At: 3/24/2013 9:22:32 AM
	I'd never heard of the pillow case method either - thankfully. I tend to overcomplicate things and make a spa for her, LoL. I thought about putting on that weird music they play when you get massages, but that would kind of be pointless for her... Next time I'll light a candle!

Emily Milton,	Posted At: 3/24/2013 9:26:06 AM
	Oh - and she was definitely misted when she turned clear again. Quite a good bit. She didn't mind at all (I judged that by how many times she attempted to murder me - zero).

George H. Wessel VII,	Posted At: 3/24/2013 9:38:01 AM
	Even with the best preventative measures, things won't always be perfect.

CreepyCrawly,	Posted At: 3/24/2013 10:18:51 PM
	She's getting big! Such a pretty girl. Mommy must be taking excellent care of her! Whenever I have to soak or "bathe" my snakes I make a "croup tent" but just never knew it had a name! I also usually use paper towels, because frequently the snakes poop in it.

Emily Milton,	Posted At: 3/24/2013 10:31:05 PM
	Thank you CreepyCrawly!!! <3 -- I'm glad you use a little croup tent too! Ripley also had a very large, very healthy poo during her day at the spa. There was a lot of laundry done.... Oh well - she's better now - so it was worth it.

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