Shedding Difficulty

[lewis97]

I have a 5 month old ball python who has been eating perfectly and seems very happy with the condition of the vivarium (90 degree hot spot, 80 cold, 75 ambient, and a general humidity of around 50). She has two hides, one on the cool side and one on the warm side. Water bowl with a very rocky tough edge to rub against. Air ventilation vents which she also rubs up against (blunt and plastic don't worry). She started shedding around 3 days ago, with a couple of bits of skin peeling off her and I found them around the vivarium. Upon a quick internet search I decided that the best way to help her would to be to up the humidity, so I've misted the tank 3/4 times since yesterday and 24 hours later (now) it's sitting at 70/80 humidity, temps still all the same.

She seems to have shed the skin off her head and the top of her neck well, but the majority of her body is yet to shed. I'd say she's still got another 80% to go. The skin looks very wrinkly and feels extremely weak, as if it was almost hanging off. But it just isn't coming off. She is still wandering around her viv quite happy, she's yawned a couple of times, and has been a little more hissy than normal due to the mists. She was due to feed today but I didn't want to interfere with her shedding process. I might be being impatient but I'd just like to make sure this goes okay.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Lewis.

[Sonny1318]

You should be ok trying to feed, you just experienced a bad shed. You could set up a humid hide (damp sphagnum moss placed in its hide) and it should take care of itself after a while. I'm pretty sure other keepers will tell you to soak the snake in about a half inch of water for about 45 minutes, then let it run through a towel in your hands. Sort of an assisted shed. And others a damp pillow case, not my favorite idea. Ever try to breath through something damp? So depending on what your comfortable with, there are some suggestions for you. Hope it helps. Next time try the humid hide as soon as you notice your snake going into blue (milky eyes). That should avoid a repeat problem.

[Albert Clark]

You can also just continue to mist the enclosure more frequently. Buy a shedding aid formula from Petsmart is another option. They come in a spray bottle for easy application. Increase the humidity to 60 or 70% until the animal completes the shed! Good luck.

[BrianDallek]

Shed Aid....meh. Your numbers don't ad up, which leads me to believe your humidity gauge is off. If you have a hot side (floor temps) of 90 and a cold of 80, then your ambient temperature should be around 85 degrees, not 75 degrees. BTW 75 is to low for ambient temp, 85 is a great ambient goal. This tells me that you have to much air escaping, which would also mean your humidity is probably not as high as you think. Humidity readers are notoriously off. Can i see a picture of your setup and what are you using to read your temps and humidity? finding the correct balance between these 4 items (hot side floor, cool side floor, ambient, humidity) is a dance that can take time to get right. My racks have a hot side of 91, cool of 79, ambient of 85, humidity of 60-65.

Now as for the stuck bits of shed. fill up your sink with water a bit warmer than luke warm. hold your snake and put him in it while still holding him. he will try to cruise around and may even dunk his head under, which is fine. just let him keep running his body through your grip and the stuck pieces of shed will loosen and pull off. Do not grab the shed and pull, let him control the pace at which he rubs it off. This can take 5-15min.