Help

[rushrulz]

Oh god...I came home. Severus is stuck to duct tape. HELP.

 

[sbourget]

Try using mineral oil or vegetable oil , they should be able to reduce the stickyness of the tape. Water also helps. There are also commercially avaliable tape removers that deactivate the sticky part of tape.

 

[rushrulz]

I've got both in there...oh god...his skin's stuck...

 

[rushrulz]

OK. I got him off the tape. Nothing was really left behind. But some got stuck, I know--it just came with him. So he's got some "holes." This doesn't make me feel good.

I wanted to wash the oil off him, but he wouldn't sit still and let me, so I put him back in his viv, and he's slithering around.

 

[sbourget]

The oil shouldn't hurt him, so don't worry about it. as for the missing scales, they will be regenerated within a couple shed. Glad you got the tape off.

 

[rushrulz]

So...I mean, are those scales that got pulled then? It looked scary to see basically a black and white "flap" coming off him.

Tonight was his feeding day. Should I still do that or just let it go for now? He's had quite an adventure in water and vegetable oil and the little food storage container I'd put him in.

 

[sbourget]

Those little flaps where scales, yes. As for feeding, I'd say it wouldn't hurt to wait until tommorow for him to settle down. Snakes are amazing when it comes to healing skin wounds, a couple of sheds and you'll have trouble seeing where the scales got pulled off.

 

[rushrulz]

OK. All I could think was that he was fixing to lose large quanities of belly skin on me and be at death's door. I guess it looks worse than it is.

I was busily trying to convince him not to move so he didn't pull at it, and then once all the oil and water and gotten in there, I was encouraging him to move, heh, so he could work it free.

Poor guy. I don't know how long he was like that. He was all cold and damp when I first touched him, poor thing. But he's definitely been active throughout, tasting the air, squirming around...that's always something good.

 

[Penman6668]

Out of curiosity, how did he get stuck to duct tape?

 

[rushrulz]

Well, I was using it to hold the probe cord...*cough* It was pressed down really well, and I thought he wasn't heavy enough to cause it to pull away. So yes, I made the always foolish mistake of underestimating my snake.

 

[Penman6668]

Hopefully the scales will come back after a shed or two.

 

[kouryou]

OMG i feel so bad:/ thursday my snake got out and i was ready to stay home from school to find him(found him with only missing the bus but getting to school on time) and now today i took him out and see electrical tape stuck to him, it's his feeding night, and i was using the tape to hold my thermometer probe cord as well, so naturally i came here and did a search and found this post, so thanks everyone who answered rushrulz, i wasn't sure if vege oil would be good for him

luckily, although it looked really bad, it didn't really damage his skin too much


another question though, does anyone know a good way to hold the probe cords to the vivarium? i don't trust tape anymore

 

[rushrulz]

The good news is they won't consume the oil, I guess. I mean, they don't lick themselves like cats. I wanted to rinse it off purely on principle, I think. But oy, I thought he was hard to handle before! A greased snake!

Anyway, he's hiding behind his warm hide now, probably feeling very sorry for himself.

I suppose it'd be possible to tape it outside? I keep thinking there was a reason why that wouldn't work--that that's why I hadn't done that in the first place. But I don't remember what it was.

 

[sbourget]

I find it simpler and easier not to tape it down. If you have to, use a suction cup that has an appropriate sized hole for the probe, but setting it on the substrate is usually fine.

 

[rushrulz]

I remembered the problem--the viv has holes in it, I guess for probes to fit down. But they're big enough for Severus to escape through. So...they have to be covered up.

Hmm, I think I'm going to try something creative.

 

[sbourget]

I had the same problem, the solution to preventing the snake getting stuck is to put the tape very firmly in place on the outside of the tank, then put something like flour on the sticky side that the snake can get to so he can rub against it without any injury.

 

[Flagg]

I had the same problem, the solution to preventing the snake getting stuck is to put the tape very firmly in place on the outside of the tank, then put something like flour on the sticky side that the snake can get to so he can rub against it without any injury.

No, the solution is to never use tape inside a vivarium.

 

[rushrulz]

Well, I've tried something new. I actually did it a little differently on both sides because I was experimenting.

On one side, I took a piece of plastic cut from a shopping bag and folded it over the holes. Most of the taping is done from there onto the outside, with no tape inside, past where the lid fits. There's a little bit of tape on the inside, though, to hold things down. At least this time, it's not against the glass--it's solidly on the plastic rather than stretching over more than one surface (like a cord on glass). On the other side, I plugged the holes with bits of paper towels. For the cord, I wrapped the part of it that goes through the hole in paper towel so it fills that gap completely. The towel's held with tape, but I think that portion's outside, and either way, it's all the way around the paper towel. Anyway, I put the lid on, and I filled up any additional tiny gaps with either plastic bag or paper towel, and then taped those down on the outside. So...it's complex. There's another piece of duct tape, though, over a gap that formed in the mesh lid. In that case, I don't know what to do about it exactly--well, besides buy a new lid, yes, but I suspect it'd happen again. I don't recall it taking any real damage to cause the current gap.