The Spa

I just finished a VIP spa treatment for Barbossa. He is shedding, and he looks like a mess. Something's going on in the snake room/library because the air conditioning seems to be sucking all the moisture from the air quicker than it used to. I even have a window slightly open to let in some of this perfect Miami humidity, and still my babies are having trouble shedding. I spray them pretty much every hour but it doesn't seem to be working. I might have to resort to drastic measures: put all the tanks in the garage (I don't even want to ponder the outrage Topkapi would feel), or I could get a humidifier. One of those portable ones. I used to have one, that I took with me when I was auditioning for music programs. I went up to North Carolina, it was freezing, and the hotel room's heating would have dried my voice out completely if not for the humidifier.
The problem of using that is that not all my snakes shed at the same time, so I would be increasing the humidity needlessly for some of them, therefore putting them at risk of getting respiratory infections. There is no easy solution. Aaaaah!

Well, anyway, let me explain what the spa treatment consisted of. First I soaked Barbossa in the bathtub for a few minutes. Probably five, because he did not want anything to do with the water and he was getting very scared. Then I placed him on the bathroom floor and turned the shower on at full blast at the hottest it would go. This, of course, creates steam. My mom and dad used to do this for me when I was little because I suffered from pretty severe asthma attacks. My dad would sit with me in the sauna that was the bathroom and made me breathe in deeply. If you suffer from any breathing problems, I recommend it, it really helps (if you can add some eucalyptus leaves to the water, even better). I still use it today when I get sick and feel on the verge of breathing trouble.
So today, I did this for my little shy boy. He seemed to like it.
I sat with him for half an hour, I read while he walked around. Then I put lots of baby oil on him and misted his cage to the soaking point. He seemed to be having less trouble right now getting rid of the leftover old skin, but I'll see. I might have to repeat the whole procedure.