I don't think my BP is shedding correctly

[jarobin]

I can't be certain since this is the first shed and I have never owned a snake prior to now. Parker has been in shed and I have been really excited, and have posted a few threads to make sure everything is ok. My humidity levels have been fine (between 60 and 80 percent) only dipping below 60 on one occasion a few nights ago for a few hours when i wasn't home. I have been misting a lot, placed damp towels over the screen top (glass tank enclosure) and have been monitoring everything multiple times a day. My set up is a 20 gallon long (or 29 long I can't remember it was so long ago that i bought it). I have a UTH on one side, a very large water dish that is bigger than necessary but that's what the lady at petco told me to buy. The cool side gets too cool so I have an additional 40watt infrared heat bulb on the screen over the larger water dish/cool side that maintains it at 80 degrees on the substrate. I use, for now, reptibark, but i am not happy with it and will be replacing it as soon as the bag runs out. My warm side is between 89-92 (sometimes it gets higher, like 95 because I am STILL trying to figure out the thermostat). I use an accurite digital thermometer/hydrometer and a temp gun. Plus, next to the warm side I have a climbing branch. I think that about covers it. Sorry this is going to be so long........

Parker's enclosure is in my 3 1/2 year old step son's room since its "his" snake that I take care of until he is old enough to learn how to do it himself, and be responsible about it. Anyway, my step-son is in bed, and after lights out I can't go in and check on the snake. When we were getting ready for bed I noticed that Parker had started to actually shed the skin on his head. I tried to get a better look to see if the eye caps had shed too, but he was in his hide and it was difficult to get a good look at it. He was just laying there and it looked like it was just peeling. About 5 minutes later he was rubbing all over the inside of his hide, just as i expected, to get the shed off, but I think it is coming off in pieces. I don't know yet since it was just his head last I saw. I wish I had taken a picture but i will do my best to describe. It seems to have peeled back on the sides over his eyes, below his chin and mouth, and on the skin on top of his head between his eyes. It is all still attached to him, not flaked off in the tank, but it is, if this makes sense, sorta like a banana peel....so like separate pieces. The skin below his mouth and on top of his head looks like it isn't coming off well at all, not like I have seen in videos. Almost like when I have gotten a bad sun burn. I won't know until the morning when it's all off and I inspect the shed and Parker. He also looks very wrinkly on some parts of his skin which I read could be dehydration. I just don't understand how that's possible when I provide a big thing of fresh water and have kept the humidity up. Then again, I am a newbie.

If he is having a bad shed I have a few questions. I have read to give him a soak in luke warm water to help him get the remaining shed off. How do you give a snake a bath? How do you soak his face if the eye caps haven't shed? I tried to give him a soak once before when he hadn't pooped in a while, he did NOT want to be in the water and kept trying to get out of the bowl. I kept placing him back in, which he didn't seem to like but he pooped about 10 minutes later. But this is different right? How would I get him to stay? Any other suggestions besides a bath to help with shedding remaining skin if he has it?

Also, any suggestions for something I should do differently during his next shed if this didn't go right? I was thinking of making a humid hide next time.

[decensored]

Hey There,

I'm new to the BP world myself! The only thing that sounded to me that could be contributing to your problem is the heat lamp. Heat lamps tend to dry things out. If you don't have a hide on the cool side he'll have no choice when he's thermo-regulating but to dry himself out under the lamp. I would suggest setting up another source of heat for the cool side and see how that goes..

Hopefully someone will respond soon and give you better ideas.

[jarobin]

well i turned the heat lamp off tonight just in case it is what is drying him out....not that it will change much at this point since he already started his shedding, but at least it is something. he does have a hide on both sides. if i don't have the lamp on it goes down into the low 70s on the substrate on the cool side. i don't think it will go too low overnight though.
i glanced in his tank too, he definitely is not shedding well. it's in pieces and he is wrinkly. =/ i plan to soak him tomorrow, i just don't really know how to do it yet.

[Fastjazzy]

Hi, this explains how to soak for a bad shed:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ed-No-problem.

[llovelace]

Tomorrow when you check on him, if he did indeed have a bad shed, you can soak him in tepid water, not warmer than 93-94* in a caonatiner with a lid, leave him in for about 20 minutes, then let him slither through a damp wash cloth to remove any stuck shed on him. If he has retained eye caps, just leave them, they should come off with the next shed.

I would definitely loose the lamp, it just sucks up all the humidity, so all the misting you have been doing was essentially a wasted effort, because of the lamp.

[jarobin]

well it was a bad shed. he got everything off his head though, eye caps and all by the time i woke up and just hadn't shed from the neck down. I gave soaked him for a while and then he shed (in pieces) most of the skin on his body. There is still some left on him, about an inch or two of his body down to his tail still needs to shed. Nothing was stuck anywhere else though. I'm giving him another soak real quick to hopefully lose the rest. Otherwise he looks healthy. The coloring on the top of his head looks a little different, but I assume that is because sometimes coloring changes after a shed. If I'm wrong, let me know.

oh and if i stop using the lamp, what can i do on the cool side to make sure the temps are ok. it goes down to 70-72 on that side without it and I have only been able to get it at 80 by turning the lamp on.