Shedding question?

[Reptilery]

Hi! So I got my first ball python yesterday. He's an adult male, but when I received him I noticed he was only half shed, the bottom half was all done and his whole top is peeling everywhere. I know it doesn't come off in one piece when the humidity is too low but I have mine checked and it's all good. Any tips on what to do?

[Sonny1318]

You could soak the snake in about a half inch of water for 30 to 45 minutes. About 82 degrees, then hold him with a towel and gently try to assist his shed. By letting him slither gently through the towel, the remaining shed should come off. Might take a couple try's. Good luck.

[Reptilery]

Alright I'll try that in a bit! The weirdest thing just happened. I've been handling him for a good half hour today and it was fine. But all of a sudden when I picked my phone up he striked and just bit my hand. Could this be because the shed or what? Never really hear of ball pythons randomly biting.

[KMG]

You are probably stressing it out. It just went through a big change of a new owner and a new home and now you have been handling it alot. We usually recommend giving it 5-7 days to settle in.

To keep from having to handle it but still deal with your issue remove the hide its under and place a damp towel over it. It will release the skin and when your snake crawls through it the skin should come off well.

[LLLReptile]

As mentioned, stop holding him for now. Give him at least a week to settle in - personally, I prefer getting them to feed at least twice before starting to handle them. At first, keep it short, such as only 5 or 10 minutes, and over time extend it out a bit. The environment outside of your snakes cage is neither the ideal temperature or humidity, and it's not the greatest to keep them out for hours at a time right off the bat.

When you say "mine are fine", do you mind noting what yours is? You'll need to soak the snake and probably give it a bit of extra humidity in the enclosure for a while to ensure it completes its shed properly and that it is in good shape to continue.

-Jen

[albinos_rule]

I have heard of people using a damp pillowcase for retained shed also, just wet the pillowcase, not wringing wet, but just damp, and put the snake inside, and let him crawl around inside the pillowcase. Just offering another option for you to try.

[Reptilery]

As mentioned, stop holding him for now. Give him at least a week to settle in - personally, I prefer getting them to feed at least twice before starting to handle them. At first, keep it short, such as only 5 or 10 minutes, and over time extend it out a bit. The environment outside of your snakes cage is neither the ideal temperature or humidity, and it's not the greatest to keep them out for hours at a time right off the bat.

When you say "mine are fine", do you mind noting what yours is? You'll need to soak the snake and probably give it a bit of extra humidity in the enclosure for a while to ensure it completes its shed properly and that it is in good shape to continue.

-Jen

Thanks everyone for the info it's very helpful, he just ate an adult mouse about 10 minutes ago without hesitation but he was pretty quick after it so I'm guessing the last owner didn't feed him a whole lot.. I'll try to post a video of it today.

[Swayback]

I totally agree, he's stressed!
who wouldn't be!
Hes likly gone from never being handled and neglected, to being handled a lot, and your likely wanting to over care for him!

Not givin you a hard time, But over doing it won't help him. Which I'm sure you want to do.

All that said, he MAY have struck as a feeding response!
Smart phones run hot, especially near the battery pack, on iPhones there's a spot on the back right under the apple logo that gets toasty!
It's a spot about the size of a quarter...not much bigger that the head of...a rat or mouse...
You quickly moving the phone might have looked like food bouncing past!

I'm a novice myself here, so I can't really tell you if you should feed him immediatly or not, he does look thin to me...but it maybe better to let him settle a few days before feeding, better to wait a few days than feed him now and he regurgitate it from stress!

Can anyone with more experience comment on this?

Good luck on your snake journey!