Few shedding Questions

[travis_1989]

Okay how often do ball pythons shed? because my snake shedded about a week and a half ago and he has chrome over his eyes again already,
I got him a mouse yesterday and he has not ate it.

He ate one week and three days ago....


any help???

[sho220]

Every 4-6 weeks.

How old is he?

[travis_1989]

i have had him for about three weeks at the most,
so i have no idea how old he is.

so it isnt good that he is shedding again?

or it could be the same chromes from the last shed,

how could i get them off of him.

[Kaorte]

Sometimes when they are young or stressed or injured they will shed more often. Chances are its stress induced if you just got him. Just give him some along time while he is shedding. I would continue to offer food once a week even if he is in shed. Sometimes they will take sometimes they won't.

what kind of hides does he have? Did he have a complete shed last time?

[travis_1989]

He had a rough shed last time, but I ended up helping him out by putting him in a plastic container with a lid on it, and left him in for thirty minutes then let him run through a damp bath cloth and that worked very well.

I have two coconuts that are split in half, and he likes them alot.

but the caps on his eyes might not have comeoff, cause I dont know how to help him out with that.... any suggestions?

[kc261]

I started to reply to this, and was about to say I thought it might be stuck eyecaps, rather than being in shed, because of your use of the word chrome rather than blue. I realized I'd had that exact same thought before, so I went back and checked your old posts. You've been posting about your snake having chrome eyes since 2/5, when you said they'd been that way ever since you got the snake 3 days ago. So it sounds like this snake has had chrome colored eyes since at least 2/2.

My question is, did they ever clear up and become normal colored? Or have they been chrome the entire time?

Your snake had a bad shed, so it may be that even with the soak, the eyecaps didn't come off. Usually a single layer of stuck eyecaps will come off with the next shed, as long as the humidity is high enough.

When you soaked, did you get the rest of the shed off ok?

I'd just make sure your humidity is high enough, and watch the snake closely for when it comes into shed next, which may be a little harder to tell due to the stuck eyecaps already making the eyes look different, but you can see other signs such as the pink belly and the duller, darker colors. Once the snake comes into shed again, bump the humidity up a little higher and/or offer a humid hide.

If you don't want to wait, you could try putting the snake in a damp pillow case for about 1/2 hour. The idea is that the snake moves around in the pillow case, causing a gentle rubbing on the eyes which in the very humid environment should remove the eyecaps, and is much safer than anything you could try to do yourself. Make sure the snake stays warm enough; usually the warm end of their enclosure is a good place to leave them.

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