Sand Boa help?

[xStaticSnow]

I am having some issues with my brand new kenyan sand boa. It's my first time owning this species.

I've had her for about 2 weeks. She's a younger snake and ate one frozen thawed fuzzy mouse for me last week. She is currently in a 10 gal tank with a warm side UTH at 90*F and the cool side of around 75*F. I have a shallow water bowl available at all times. The snake doesn't seem to prefer any particular temperature and I find her at either side of the tank. She is a pet store snake with a questionable background.

Today I returned from being away for a week to find my KSB plastered with seemingly stuck shed. A few patches were missing here and there but the rest of the snake looked crinkly, almost like she had been wrapped up in opaque colored plastic wrap.

I placed her in a small container with a washcloth and a very small amount of warm water. Although she has access to a water bowl in her tank she immediately started drinking in the container. She started opening her mouth and I was worried her loose skin was restricting her breathing so I picked her up and she spat out a large glob of colorless mucus.

I'm not sure if this mucus was because I picked her up after she had just taken a drink, or if she may have other problems. I helped her work the shed back from the tip of her nose so that both of her nostrils are now uncovered and she seems good. I haven't seen her open her mouth since and there has been no more mucus.

I'm assuming it is okay to soak sand boas for a short period of time to help ease their shedding? I know they are low humidity snakes but where I live the humidity often dips below 20% so I am guessing that may be why she is haing difficulty shedding.

Any other advice?

 

[IAmLink]

What seems to work best for mine is soaking 2-3 times during her shed cycle and not offering food until she's done. She doesn't appreciate it much, but it gets her drinking and keeps her skin hydrated. I'm not sure why, but sand boas in general seem to be infamous for shed issues.

A lot of sand boas also don't seem to recognize standing pools of water, like a water dish, as water to drink. I still always have a water bowl just in case, but I've also gotten into the habit of offering water occasionally for her to drink aside from pre-shed soaks. Maybe they only want fresh water?? xD

Regardless, I live in a fairly high humidity area, and in a basement at that, and I still have humidity issues...though only with my sand boa. Go figure :\

 

[xStaticSnow]

Thanks for your advice! I'm thinking the mucus was just because I picked her up shortly after she had finished drinking. I checked inside her mouth and all seems okay, there's no excess mucus in there and everything looks to be a nice healthy color. She's gotten most of the shed worked off now, except from a little bit on her neck where I noticed that she has some sort of scarring.

It honestly looks like she was bitten by a larger mouse because she has two small scars, one on either side of her throat. I have no idea why anyone would offer her a mouse large enough to bite her seeing as she is nowhere near large enough to be taking anything bigger than a fuzzy or hopper. Plus she took F/T for me last week while she was in blue so she obviously doesn't need live... some people drive me insane.

I guess I'll have to start giving her little soaks or something so she can drink. I actually soak my rosy boa pretty often too because he doesn't seem to drink much on his own. These "desert" snakes can be such a pain in the butt! haha