Bothriechis schlegelii not sloughing?

Dear friends on this forum, I should like to hear your opinions on the following.

Two weeks ago one of my Bothriechis schlegelii showed the well known signs of an approaching sloughing. You can see this on the first picture, that was taken on 30 July. Next day was the regular feeding day and the animal was clearly hungry, so I fed it a little mouse of some 3 g. Less than one week later the eyes were clear again and I expected the sloughing to happen within two or three days. However, nothing happened... So far I did not find a skin and the snake is living on as if nothing happened.

Today, one week later, I start to become a bit worried about the situation and I read on the internet all kind of horror scenarios that can happen when a snake doesn't slough. Tonight I inspected the snake closely and it looks as brilliant as if it already sloughed, but at inspecting the paludarium I indeed could not find the skin. On the internet I also did not find any occasion that a snake ate its own skin, so I wonder what happened...

The snake is a male of almost 2 years old and some 50 cm long. It lives for almost a year in this paludarium together with a female of the same age and size. Temperature is about 26-30°C at day time and about 24-26°C at night. Relative humidity of the air is always high and between 80-99%, and the paludarium receives a daily browse from an automatic rain system. Both snakes always ate and sloughed without any problems.

On the second picture you can see how the snake looked tonight. It is back on its favourite hunting spot and fiercely strikes at me as always when it is hungry and I open the cage at night.

What can I do? Is there anybody having experiences in such a situation or is there anybody having an idea what happened? I am really interested in your opinions and suggestions. Thanks!

The first picture has been taken at 30 July 2013:

Bothriechis schlegelii not sloughing? Img_8260s

Bothriechis schlegelii not sloughing? Img_8260s

The second picture was taken tonight 14 August 2013:

Bothriechis schlegelii not sloughing? Img_8278s

i've had this kind of problem with my firsts waglers, too much humidity not enough fresh air(maybe it's not your case!), the eyecap tend to became milky white to opaque white...unfortunately my snakes died, not because of that but because they were "just" my first waglers.
you can place the animal in a dry setup(or just dryer terra) and give water every 3-4 days with a wash bottle! maybe this is caused by bacterias so it'll may need antibiotics if the problem doesn't get away,but i'm not a vet!
regards

Hi Anton,

My suspicion tends like Bartholin's. Seeing the Pepperomias, ferns, Vriesias, and mosses, and all the glistening water, and then reading your lower bounds of RH are 80% - I'm thinking "Oh gosh, you've got your snakes in a dart frog set-up!"

If the ventilation was excellent I'd think that your paludarium might be a great wagler's set-up but I personally wouldn't try keeping anything else like that. Well, maybe some of the "trimmies" could take it well too. I've had a few respiratory issues with schlegs (and more with Atheris...) from excessive humidity; even with good ventilation. Are you seeing any of the up & down throat movement that looks a bit like a frog's breathing? Hear any wheezing or clicking noises? Let alone seeing any blowing bubbles? I've had snakes with low-grade respiratory issues keep feeding just fine - I wouldn't judge much on that.

I can't comment on the weird shed thing, just making some general husbandry observations. Humidity is like heat, in my experience - it's much quicker & easier to kill or harm with too much, than with too little. Except perhaps with wagler's...

Maybe adjust your spray to just a couple times a week, and see if the plants can take it? That should let the RHs get down in the 60's and 70's in the daytime. I think that would be safer.

I know you're no newbie, just trying to be constructive and genuinely helpful. I hope it isn't a fungal issue. I think the only way to beat it would be to dry it out.

Good luck and best wishes,
Jimi

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