I have a ball python that was given to me 3 years ago and it is a classroom pet in my high school room. Monty is about 4.5 feet long and about 7 years old. During the summers (I live in Central Indiana) I have been keeping Monty in an outdoor 4ft x 8ft x 6ft outdoor habitat with plenty of water and sand on the bottom, shade and branches to climb and shelves to rest on. Monty is housed with my 3 box turtles and my green iguana during the summer in that habitat and loves it! Monty is housed by itself (I have no idea what its sex is) during the school year. During the school year Monty is in a 40 gal aquarium with wood bark for the substrate and a water bowl and a 1/2 log for privacy. Under the water bowl I have a heater and 2 heat lamps over the water. Monty eats well- 2 mice or Siberian rats/2 weeks. Monty was shedding every 5-6 weeks all last year. Last April Monty started to have bad sheds-- coming off in patches. I increased the humidity by adding another water bowl. The summer shed was fine. When I brought Monty in this fall (mid-September) it's skin was really crinkely (however you spell it). It started to get that way at the end of August. Monty's belly was pink and the skin was dull so I knew it was about to shed again. I was extrememly concerned about the condition of the skin so I put in damp Eco Earth for the substrate to really increase the humidity. Monty has logs to crawl up on to get away from the moisture-- which it did not do. Monty shed yesterday and it came off in 3 big bunches- much better than the spring, not as good as the summer, but apparently some of the shed stuck to the new skin and pulled off some of the new skin! Monty has about 8 raw, open patches about the size of peas on it's back. Monty still has one patch of shed stuck to his new skin and if I gently pull it it looks like I will cause another wound. I called the exotic vet and she said that since it is not infected to wash it with antibacterial soap and it woud be fine-- WHAT IS CAUSING THIS?? What am I doing wrong? I know that it has to hurt and I do NOT want it to happen again! As I said I have put Monty outside for 2 years during the summer and it as been really healthy at the end of the summer. HELP.