Hello-
I just got a year-ish old lemon blast two weeks ago. He'd just fed a couple days prior, and he hasn't eaten yet. Lucky me, he's also going through a shed.
I've got a UTH, uvb and heat, and nightime heat lamp. I bought a 40 gallon for him so he'd have room to grow, but I've got four or five hides and some foliage so that it's not too open.

I've been using aspen shavings- that's what they had him in at the pet store- and a carpet substrate to see how it worked out.


He's going through a terrible shed. I've misted the tank several times daily, whenever the gauge dipped, but he's having a terrible time and peeling in pieces.
I let him soak for about 45 mins this morning, and that's certainly helping, but I didn't want to add to his stress too much by having to handle him with a moist wash cloth to help him shed.

Could there be an underlying illness with the snake, or do bad sheds just happen sometimes? He'd been eating pretty regularly according to his feed chart- about every other week, if not every week. He seems fine, hiding mostly, sometimes exploring and tongue-flicking. I haven't seen him rub much to try to remove his shed himself, but now that it's started pretty well, should I give him some time to do his thing, or should I just let him soak again and use a washcloth to help him out?

Any tips or suggestions to help me out? I'm getting pretty anxious here.