Help! Shedding problem!!

[Megs]

My bp has been trying to shed since last night. She managed to get the skin loose and off around her face but the majority of her body is still covered with loose dead skin and it looks like it's coming off in pieces! What can I do to help her??? Please help!

[Kaia.M22]

Try getting a small plastic tub with a lid and fill it with lukewarm water up to two thirds of your snakes body height. Put a washcloth in one side that she can slither over and rest out of the water on if she wants to. Make sure you use filtered water without chlorine. Put your snake in the tub and put the lid on. Stay with your snake at all times. She should slither around in there and go over the washcloth to help get the skin off. You can leave her in there for as long as you want but I wouldn't go over 20 minutes. Periodically check on her to see how she's doing. If it's been too long and she hasn't got the skin off you can hold the washcloth in your hand and let her slide through it. Hope this helped. If worked well for me!

[Megs]

OK I'll try that. I'm going to keep her light off today because it seems to decrease the humidity when it's on. Right now it's a little over 60% but it goes down to 45 or 50% with the light on. Is this ok or a bad idea? I feel so bad for her because it seems like she's been trying so hard to get it off :-(

[ratchet]

A bad shed is nothing to panic over, just make sure her eye caps and tail tip are clear as those can be problem spots when shedding! I had to soak my Pastel last night too because she had a bad shed... I'm always fighting with humidity, I will be trying to stay away from tanks because they have been a constant battle for keeping humidity up. As long as the ambient temperatures don't drop too low and you have the UTH regulated for the proper temperature (I've kept mine around 92 degrees), then the lamp being off won't be an issue. After a good soak, the skin will come right off and she'll be good to go!


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[Megs]

Thank you! It looks like she got it off of her head and eyes pretty well. There's still a tiny bit on her tail but she's rubbing it right now on the top of her hide and it's coming off slowly. I'm gonna try and soak her for a few minutes before I go to class. The temp with just her night light on goes down to about 88 degreez and the humidity is still ok. Thanks for your help!

[Albert Clark]

Thank you! It looks like she got it off of her head and eyes pretty well. There's still a tiny bit on her tail but she's rubbing it right now on the top of her hide and it's coming off slowly. I'm gonna try and soak her for a few minutes before I go to class. The temp with just her night light on goes down to about 88 degreez and the humidity is still ok. Thanks for your help!

Consider switching your substrate as well for the future. 100% cypress mulch works very well to keep humidity levels normal.

[Megs]

Thank you so much for your help! I ended up using a washcloth and letting her go through it. She was a little freaked out at first but once she realized it was helping her and getting all the skin off it seemed like she liked it. She just kept crawling back through it over and over again. It was actually pretty cute! But all is well now. Her skin looks great and she just devoured two adult mice. She's a happy girl today!

[TheSnakeEye]

Stuck sheds are not a big deal as long as it's not a major stuck shed. But if they are too dry, put them in tub with enough water for the snake to sit and not drown. If this happens to me, I just put them in the tub in an incubator and give it a couple hours and it all comes off.