# Ball Pythons > General BP's >  wrinkled skin?

## SGB_74

ok im sort of new to this but i just purchased a baby ball and i've had her for about 3 weeks, shes already going into her "blue" she has the milky eyes, and pale lookin' skin..but shes a bit wrinkled at certain sections of her body..and i view other snakes and they seem to be well rounded and dont have any wrinkles and that kind of scares me..some people are telling me its because shes going to shed and thats just the old skin getting ready to shed but on the other hand i was thinkin' dehydration..can someone please give me some feed back

**heres a pic of her below**

[IMG][/IMG]

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## Sausage

I've noticed that mine gets a little wrinkly just before a shed. It shouldn't be anything to worry about, but just make sure that the snake has clean water available at all times.   :Smile:

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## dr del

Hi,

Well they certainly do look more sort of wrinly and scruffy when their shedding.

If it is dehydration then the wrinkles normally run lengthwise along the animal.

Which way do they run on yours? It might also be helpfull if you could tell us the humidity of your tank and how you measure it to see if we can make sure he gets through his shed ok. :Smile:  

He certainly looks ok in the photo though.


dr del

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## MyTat

Do you keep a water dish or bowl in the enclosure if so I am sure she will not dehydrate herself but the wrinkled skin is not an abnormal thing my BP is shedding right now and right after the wrinkled skin is when the skin started coming loose so don't worry give it a little time and I'm sure she'll be fine. But if you want take her to a exotic vet and get her checked out to make sure her weight is ok for her size and everything! Good Luck!

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## SGB_74

ok i thought it might have been some use to included these with the 1st post so here are some pics i just took of her i don't know if you wanna call it wrinkled or rippled but it doesn't look normal to me...most snakes i see are well rounded and thick..mine on the other hand doesn't look like that.

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## dr del

Shedding - make sure your humidity keeps up. :Smile:  


When did the blue begin to fade?


dr del

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## SGB_74

the blue faded about two days ago i hear the process can take up to 7-10 days..this is a whole new experience for me i feel like a father or something LOL!

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## rabernet

I would lightly mist her as you bump up the humidity in the enclosure. I suspect you're going to have a bad shed (not anything you did wrong). It's not unusual for the first shed with you to be a bad one. 

She should start to shed in the next few days, and likely will have some stuck shed. At that time, here's a great write up on how to deal with it: 
http://www.8ballpythons.com/journal/stucksheds.htm

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## juddb

Looks dehydrated to me.  Like stated above you probably will have some stuck shed.  So if i were you i would bump the humidity up to about 70%.  Wil help out a lot.

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## vr-mark

> Looks dehydrated to me.  Like stated above you probably will have some stuck shed.  So if i were you i would bump the humidity up to about 70%.  Wil help out a lot.


so if hes dehydrated how do you get him to drink?

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## LightWorker

> so if hes dehydrated how do you get him to drink?


I'm new to this also, but from what I've read on my own they rarely drink out of the water bowl...making sure there is water in there will raise the humidity, some one else said misting ? that was the first time I heard about that. I've seen others give their BP's a very bath with the water only coming up to the middle of their body. Hope that helps somewhat...these sites a big help...look around a bit and your sure to find anything your looking for.

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## bearhart

I don't know how reliable this info is but I was told that they tend to be a little more loose-skinned looking when they are very young.

I've never had any trouble with my BP drinking.  He went straight to his water dish on his first day home and took a nice long draw.  But, I do notice that when he's not super thirsty he's alot more discriminating about when he goes to his dish.  I'll often leave the room for a few minutes and come back to see him fully out which his head right over the bowl and a "damn I'm busted!" look on his face.  So, you might just make sure the trip to the dish from the hide isn't too far to make sure shyness isn't discouraging drinking.

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## hoo-t

> I'm new to this also, but from what I've read on my own they rarely drink out of the water bowl...


Not true at all.  BPs won't hesitate to drink from a water bowl.

Steve

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## bearhart

> I'm new to this also, but from what I've read on my own they rarely drink out of the water bowl...making sure there is water in there will raise the humidity, some one else said misting ? that was the first time I heard about that. I've seen others give their BP's a very bath with the water only coming up to the middle of their body. Hope that helps somewhat...these sites a big help...look around a bit and your sure to find anything your looking for.


Mine drinks out of his dish alot.  (so keep that water fresh!) I would say he drinks at least once a day and several times a day after feeding.  He also really likes to drink the droplets off the glass right after I mist so I also make sure and mist the sides well for him.

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## LightWorker

Cool, didn't know that. How do you guys/girls mist? About how much and how often? Do you only do it when you know they are going to shed or is it a once or twice a week thing? Also I have my guy on Aspen shavings, its okay to mist the whole tank right? The aspen will also hold in some of the moisture, correct? I too am working on raising the humidity, I'm only at 45% as of right now.

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## bearhart

I use a sprayer I got from the cosmetics area in walgreens.  Anyway, its just your basic adjustable sprayer that can be dialed from stream to mist.

Once the humidity drops, I mist the whole cage as evenly as possible and pretty heavily (but not to really soak anything).  That bumps the humidity way up at first but once the surface moisture dries it kind of levels out.  Now that I've got everything tweaked I can usually go 2-3 days before my humidity is back out of spec.  I try to keep it between 50 and 60%.

Also, I try to avoid misting my snake (usually I take him out first) but I don't know if this matters much.

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## bearhart

Oh yea, I use distilled water for both the water dish and the misting.  I'm not sure if its needed for the drinking water but if you don't use distilled for misting you'll be experiencing some hellacious spotting on the glass.

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## littleindiangirl

You know, sphagnum moss works really really well for making a humid hide for shedding. I would totally do that. It holds moisture  well, and makes a nice little cubby for your snake. Esp since it looks like he's gonna have a hard shed.

As for misting, you will notice a sharp increase on the hygrometer after you've just sprayed, but that will come down. So expect 80', but it should drop back to around 60- 65. btw, what's your tank set up? maybe i missed it...   :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## MeMe

> You know, sphagnum moss works really really well for making a humid hide for shedding. I would totally do that. It holds moisture  well, and makes a nice little cubby for your snake. Esp since it looks like he's gonna have a hard shed.


 :Good Job: 

I also use a humid hide.

I don't like to mist (I know it works.) just because it makes the newsprint wet and seems to just get messy. 

jmo.

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## SGB_74

lol nope wasnt dehydration  :Very Happy:  ..infact she was shedding and yea she had a bad shed  :Mad:  ..came off in 3 pieces; oh well it seems like everyone's first shed isnt a good one..better luck next time

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## daniel1983

> lol nope wasnt dehydration  ..infact she was shedding and yea she had a bad shed  ..came off in 3 pieces; oh well it seems like everyone's first shed isnt a good one..better luck next time


Bad sheds and the previously wrinkled appearance are a sign of dehydration. Make sure you snake has access to clean water at all times and provide it with appropriate humidity.

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## CntrlF8

> lol nope wasnt dehydration  ..infact she was shedding and yea she had a bad shed  ..came off in 3 pieces; oh well it seems like everyone's first shed isnt a good one..better luck next time


At least it wasn't as bad as my boy's first shed after I got him..  dozens of pieces, mostly flakes, and several pieces of stuck shed.  I moved them to tubs shortly after that and bumped the humidity up to a little above normal and he was able to get the stuck pieces off pretty easily.

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