# Ball Pythons > BP Husbandry >  Dry Wrinkly skin

## royal constrictor

So my balls skin .... no pun intended. His skin is really dry and i can hear his rough scales rubbing on my skin and on objects in his cage... he is also very wrinkled like an old mans face. his eyes were blue several days ago so i know hes about to shed but i have never heard of them becoming this amount of wrinkled... ill post a pic just let me know if you think its normal or not. thnx P.S. hes alot more wrinkled than whats in the pic.[IMG][/IMG]

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## royal constrictor

Also, he refuses to soak... it seems like he hates being in his water bowl

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## dillan2020

Looks like a stuck shed or 2 what's your humidity like? looks awful skinny too.

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## royal constrictor

humidity atm is 55% ... i dont think its a stuck shed because, well... there was no stuck shed before this one, but mayb this shed is sticking because it is starting to shed near the back of the cheek on both sides just below the jaw.  and yes he is fairly skinny was planning on upping his feed once this shed was done(he ate 2 days before his eyes turned blue) but anyways hes 17.5 inches and he hatched 29th of may 2012 i have no idea what his weight is because i dont have a kitchen scale. thnx for your help

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## Solarsoldier001

It looks to dry for your BP to shed properly. Humidity I believe should be in the 60's. at least that's what I keep it in and mine shed prefect  :Smile: 


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## royal constrictor

ok so i brought the humidity up to about 65% is there anything else i can do at the moment or do i just have to ride it out and see what happens in the next few days

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## BHReptiles

I rescued a ball python back in July and her skin was EXACTLY like that when I got her. Here's some pictures for comparison: 



That's a completely stuck shed, as in, the shed never came off at all. Raising the humidity may not be enough for this shed. You'll need to help your snake remove that skin. Here's what I recommend: get a warm wash cloth and place the snake on it. Wrap the snake up like a burrito and apply gentle pressure as the snake passes through. Do this a few times and use the rag to help some of the skin off. It will come off in a try or two. 

In order to prevent this from happening again, when you notice your snake is in blue,  bump up the humidity to 60-70% and keep it there! I use damp sphagnum moss under a hide to raise the humidity in the hide. Here's an after picture of my normal girl. She's about 200g bigger than in this latest picture, but you can see the difference it makes.



Hopefully this helps a little. OH! I almost forgot to mention, don't mess with the eye caps. If you try to get them off yourself, you can damage the eyes. If you fix the humidity issue, then they will come off with the next shed. 

Also, I agree that your ball is a little on the skinny side. What exactly are you feeding it and how often?

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royal constrictor (11-28-2012)

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## royal constrictor

ive been feeding one rat pinkie every 5 days. and thank you for the help i will give it a try right now

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## royal constrictor

so i gave it a few attempts with no luck ... he would just sit still while wrapped up and after a while of waiting i unravel him and then he starts slithering around... but i did get him to poop on me, i dont know how i got that to happen. i got his humidity up to 80% and i think ill give him a couple more days. if he doesnt shed ill call it a stuck shed and take proactive measures.

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## PorcelainxDoll

Maybe take him to a vet to check for parasites. Hes very skinny. I have a August hatchling thats almost 2x his size...
Worry about the shed first though.

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## royal constrictor

awww man i feel like a horrible owner right now. I want to keep helping him with his shed but he doesnt even have the slightest tear that i can help with. i gotta get him to rub his nose to tear the skin then i can help with the rest. i dont think he has parasites but he has been very hungry taking the one pinkie every five days, he strikes as soon as his head gets close enough and after hes swallowed it he stares me down probably thinking more is coming. Should i go up to fuzzies or feed multiple pinkies at a time?

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## PorcelainxDoll

Your not a horrible owner! These things happen to the best of the best even. 

Do you know how many grams he is?

I would still get a fecal done just incase it cant hurt. All you have to do is take in a stool sample and they will run it. Its about $20-40. I had a big male that seemed totally normal that had them. 



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## royal constrictor

no i dont i need to pick up a scale asap. thanks for making me feel better. and ya once the full peice of feces come out i will be sure to bag it. does feces need to be refrigerated in case i cant make it to the vet the same day?

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## barbie.dragon

I think you really have to pick up a scale. Mine is a 2012 August baby and she gets rat fuzzies that are 35 grams and they're a little to small for her.

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## PorcelainxDoll

You know im actually not sure lol. 
Call your vet in the early am to ask. 
Im pretty sure he could handle a rat fuzzy no problem, maybe even a small pup. My lil 125g huy can take a fuzzy pretty.easy  :Smile: 

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## royal constrictor

thanks for all of your help, i will get a scale and call the vet as well as get some larger prey...  :Smile:  ill let u all know how it goes

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## PorcelainxDoll

Good luck!

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royal constrictor (11-28-2012)

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## mercerasian

> ive been feeding one rat pinkie every 5 days. and thank you for the help i will give it a try right now


You should bump up your food size. My September '12 Cinny is about that size 100-120 grams and he can already take a small (25 gram) rat.

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## royal constrictor

Thanks i will. is it better to up the prey size or feed multiple in one sitting?

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## mercerasian

I think upping the prey size is better because it costs you less and you don't have to take the chance of your snake not taking multiple rats to equal the larger one.

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## royal constrictor

nice that will be more fun to watch anyways... i think i was just worried because his neck stretches quite a bit while he was swallowing but i think im just being a wuss cause the pinkies dont leave a lump in the stomach

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## BHReptiles

You can definitely feed fuzzy rats. You want the prey item to be the same size or slightly larger than the biggest part of the belly. Basically, you want to see a small food lump after he eats. Don't let the stretching skin weird you out! It's made to be stretchy for a reason!

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## royal constrictor

thanks man ... so i got the skin to start coming off on the belly but i cant get him to start his nose.... any ideas?

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## Dark Lady Kat

> So my balls skin .... no pun intended. His skin is really dry and i can hear his rough scales rubbing on my skin and on objects in his cage... he is also very wrinkled like an old mans face. his eyes were blue several days ago so i know hes about to shed but i have never heard of them becoming this amount of wrinkled... ill post a pic just let me know if you think its normal or not. thnx P.S. hes alot more wrinkled than whats in the pic.[IMG][/IMG]


YOu could try a forced soak just go slow and easy as not to stress him out to much but get a tube with a lid put enough warm probably slightly cooler than you would make your bath water to cover about half his body height put him in and lid on make sure you have holes in the lid or sides first and let him sit for about 10-20 mins do not let the water get cold then open the lid and let him crawl out on his own and dont handle him for a bit he will need to feel safe and secure for a lil bit especially if its his first soak / bath  always watch a soaking snake to ensure his head does not stay submerged in water when mine are going into shed I usually raise my humidity to around 70-75% and as soon as the shed happens let it drop back to 60-65%

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## BHReptiles

> thanks man ... so i got the skin to start coming off on the belly but i cant get him to start his nose.... any ideas?


I wouldn't worry too much about it. It'll come off with the next shed. If you keep your humidity up, it'll flake off.

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## royal constrictor

i know but its an entire shed... his belly has started flaking off and ive been keeping humidity at 75-80% ... he took two rat pinkies today just because my repti store was out of fuzzies and pups. i just want him to do his head then i can help with the rest ... but if worst comes to worst i guess next shed will have to do it now that i know to be prepared.

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## royal constrictor

Also i went and got a digital scale and i want to know how much my male normal should weigh... he was born may 29 so he should be 6 months and hes 17.5 inches. sooo, how many grams body weight should i be shooting for?

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## PorcelainxDoll

200 to 500g. 

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## BHReptiles

They all grow differently, so it can weigh anything. As long as he's nice and plump and doesn't look skinny, I'm sure he's fine. It also depends on how good of an eater he is. I have two July babies. One is 200g the other is 400g. Ones a picky eater, one isn't.

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## Bellatrix_LeSnake

I would soak him, our little one had a horrible shed when we first got him due to shedding the day after coming out of the shipping bag. You can do it in stages. We soaked him the first time and got some of it to peel off his sides and back. Put him back in his home to chill out for a few hours, repeated and got some more off, kept misting his tank obsessively. If you soak him for a while, the skin will loosen up enough that some of the pieces will flake off on their own. 

When it came to the head, we just went about it super gently. We went about the whole process over two days, and it honestly probably took us two hours of combined time to tease the skin away. I was mostly concerned that we'd get the eye caps.

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royal constrictor (11-29-2012)

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## BHReptiles

> I would soak him, our little one had a horrible shed when we first got him due to shedding the day after coming out of the shipping bag. You can do it in stages. We soaked him the first time and got some of it to peel off his sides and back. Put him back in his home to chill out for a few hours, repeated and got some more off, kept misting his tank obsessively. If you soak him for a while, the skin will loosen up enough that some of the pieces will flake off on their own. 
> 
> When it came to the head, we just went about it super gently. We went about the whole process over two days, and it honestly probably took us two hours of combined time to tease the skin away. I was mostly concerned that we'd get the eye caps.


I wouldn't touch the eye caps. You can seriously injure your snake's eyes permanently if you do. If you are insisting on getting the shed off the head (which, in my opinion, should just be left alone until the snake sheds next), you can take a Q-tip and dip it in some olive oil. Have one person hold the head, the next work off the skin. 

But like I said, if you get the majority of the body off, then leave the head until the next shed. It may not look as pretty, but it's better for your snake and you won't risk injuring it or stressing it out if you just leave it alone.

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## cschneider

If your snake doesn't like to soak, I highly recommend putting him in a wet cloth bag or pillow case that is tied at the top. They will slither around trying to get out and in the process the shed will come off. Make sure you put it on a heat source in the enclosure so he doesn't get too cold.

Also if the eye caps don't come off in the bag/pillowcase, you can put visine drops on them. Sometimes this will get them to come off, but I wouldn't touch them with anything. You could do permanent damage.


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## dav4

I've had issues with humidity recently (my quarantine container is a 10gal tank with CHE for heat), and both recent quarrantinees have had BAD sheds.  A friend with lots of snake experienced suggested this as a remedy and it worked like a charm with little stress placed on the snake.  Get a plastic tupperware/shoebox container with a removable lid.  Cut a hole out of the top to allow the snake to move in/out.  Place some moist paper towels on the bottom and place it in the tank.  The ambient humidity in the container will stay close to 100%.  I actually put the snake's normal hid, a small terracotta pot, inside the container, and my snake loved it.  After just 1 day, pretty much all of the retained shed (which was close to 60%) was gone.

[IMG][/IMG]

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## royal constrictor

And that method won't cause scale rot since he's laying on wet papertowels for an extended period of time... Thank you for all your guys advice. I got all the shed off up until the neck so now I'm just working on the head which seems to be the most difficult part because there is no tear at the nose

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## kitedemon

I suspect your hygrometer is wrong. @ 45%rh i would not expect to see a snake look like yours does. The most recommended hygrometer here is specd at +/- 15%rh this is if it is perfectly fine digital units are very frail they are easily effected by dirt and junk and any damage to the cable plus a plethora of manufacturing issues. They can be tested but personally I'd not bother. The cost of the test kit is almost as much as a good analogue one that can be tested with table salt.

This is the one I recommend...

http://www.amazon.com/Analog-Hygrome...gue+hygrometer

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## royal constrictor

well i have an analogue as well as a digital and they are always within 5% of eachother so im guessing im within the ball park... i will definitely be looking into a more accurite one for sure though ... having three wont hurt. his lower jaw started to peel on the right side, so i think im getting close, i just dont want to hurt the newest member to my family.

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## dav4

> And that method won't cause scale rot since he's laying on wet papertowels for an extended period of time... Thank you for all your guys advice. I got all the shed off up until the neck so now I'm just working on the head which seems to be the most difficult part because there is no tear at the nose


The paper towels are moist, not wet...a big difference.  Also, this is a temporary situation...usually less then a week.  My friend has used it to pre-emptively help bad shedders shed.  A mentioned above, I used it to help remove what's left of a bad shed...most of the shed falls away within a day.

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## royal constrictor

nice, if all else fails i think ill give it try... thanks for the help

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