He shed, but only halfway?

[kiiarah]

So I came home last night to find Shesha shed halfway. He got the first 2/3 or so off in a complete piece, eye caps too (so relieved), but the last third or so on his tail was still on. It almost looked like he caught the old skin on something and it ripped and he just stopped rubbing. I soaked his tail area in tepid water for a few minutes to see if the skin was loosening and after just a little while it was starting to give. I tried the damp towel thing but he did not seem interested in slithering through it, just in sitting on it. I decided to try to see if I could gently rub him with my finger and remove any that way and sure enough it started coming off. I had to go like a millimeter at a time around his body in a circle but after about an hour we got it all off.

He was remarkably calm and cooperative the whole time. He even started pulsing his muscles as though he was trying to help, though towards the tail all this really did was cause the area I had started to break off, still the attempt to help was cute. He didn't flinch or act otherwise uncomfortable, in fact he just rested his head on the edge of my shirt for most of the process while I held and worked on his tail. I checked him over thoroughly for damaged or torn scales afterwards, but he seems to be in perfect condition. Just wondering though, if at any point any scales had torn or been damaged would I be able to see it and would it be likely that he would react to that? I had read so many horror stories about peeling bad shed, but it sounds like in those cases there was obvious tearing and bleeding. I made sure not to peel it, but to use friction to slowly pull it away and down as would be the case if he was rubbing on terrain.

My other question is why the half shed issue may have come up in the first place. I have kept the humidity at a solid 70-75 % since the first signs of a pink belly and prior to that it was never lower than 50% and kept closer to 55-60%. Is it possible that it really did just catch on something and rip and he gave up? The fact that the first half was perfect makes me think it wasn't a dryness issue, it was not flaky or in pieces just broken off. Any thoughts on what I can do to ensure he gets it all off next time or is this just something that happens from time to time. Also is there anything I need to watch for from here on out to make sure assisting him has not damaged him in any way? Thanks guys.

[Viol8r]

You may have caught him in between trying to get it off himself. Mine have had partial sheds before and I usually make a note of it, wait another 10-12 hours then check on them again. Then if they are not fully shed I'll help them out with soaking for about 20 minutes and the wet paper towel. If they don't want to go through the paper towel I lightly push the towel down to where the shed starts until it peels a little then the snake tends to help from that point. Once you do that a couple times it should only take a a minute or two (if that) to help finish a shed. I'm sure there are plenty of reasons for the partial, but it doesn't sound like humidity was a factor.