Did I RIP his skin!?

[bretvaldez]

HELP!!!!

I have a 12 year old ball python whom I’ve had for 5 years. I adopted him after my friend’s mother passed away, leaving all her snakes behind, but this was her baby, and I promised I’d take care of him.

When I first got him, he had a respiratory infection, and I got that taken care of right away, and I haven’t had any problems there since.

However, as of late, some strange things have been happening. First of all, he has puked up 3 of his 6 mice in the past couple months... this was after one feeding. So I then got him a medium rat to eat 2 weeks later, and he ate it fine. Recently, I got him 4 mice, and I came into his room to see if he was ready to go back in his home (I feed him in a separate tank so he doesn’t get any of the bedding in him), I noticed the last mouse was still sitting in this mouth, and down his throat. Worried, thinking he was dead, I went to move him, but he reacted, to my relief... so I pulled the mouse out and threw it away... I don’t know if he had puked it or never was able to swallow it.

Anyway, my buddy (His name is Artemus) has never been a good shedder. He’s always need a soak or someone’s assistance in pulling off his shed. I’ve only seen him shed fully on his own once. I typically let him use the pieces in his terrarium to shed most of it off, but I usually have to take a pair of tweezers and pull the shedding out of his heat pits and his eyes. Don’t worry - I’m very gentle and have a delicate touch, and have had years of practice at doing this, and was instructed by a vet to do this. He always holds still and allows me to do this, knowing it will help him.

However, I noticed he still had very much shedding to do along the length of his body, so I began to gently peel away flakes of shed, until eventually, one, that apparently WASN’T shed!?, peeled off (just as easily as a shed) and underneath was a milky white... "skin".... did I accidentally rip his skin off!??! And if so, how do I fix that, and what could have caused it???

I cannot afford a vet bill at the moment... He did not make any movement to suggest what I’d just done had hurt him... but I am worried something is wrong with him if his actual skin can so easily be ripped...

Any advice or help would be SO appreciated. Thanks in advance.


ETA: I wasn't using the tweezers when this occurred, just my hands

[PhoenixGate]

If he's never been a good shedder, you need to check your humidity levels. What kind of setup is he in?
A better technique is to get a separate clean tub, fill it with about an inch of lukewarm water (not hot) and let him soak in that for about an hour. Then you take a washcloth (soaked, also lukewarm), hold him and let him slither through your hand with the washcloth while gently applying pressure. That's always worked for me. You can also get a rubber thimble for sewing and use that to gently peel off skin as well. Always, always go from his head to his vent, never pull or tug at any skin in the opposite direction.

As for if his skin is ripped, is he bleeding? Could you possibly post a picture?

[bretvaldez]

If he's never been a good shedder, you need to check your humidity levels. What kind of setup is he in?
A better technique is to get a separate clean tub, fill it with about an inch of lukewarm water (not hot) and let him soak in that for about an hour. Then you take a washcloth (soaked, also lukewarm), hold him and let him slither through your hand with the washcloth while gently applying pressure. That's always worked for me. You can also get a rubber thimble for sewing and use that to gently peel off skin as well. Always, always go from his head to his vent, never pull or tug at any skin in the opposite direction.

As for if his skin is ripped, is he bleeding? Could you possibly post a picture?

I do keep his humidity as normal as I can, but even when it's absolutely perfect, he still just can't seem to shed himself. The woman I adopted him from had told me he was never able to do it himself, and she'd give him a warm bath and do it for him in there. I used to do this but haven't had a moment's free time lately, which of course I feel awful about. For trickier sheds, I do use a soak or the washcloth technique you mentioned, but I hadn't even gotten so far as to just barely start peeling off flakes until this happened.

I don't have a picture of my snake at the moment, as I am at my grandmother's, but this picture I found is exactly what it looks like:



He did not bleed, no. He showed absolutely no signs of distress... I basically packed the skin back in place as best I could and watched him for a few hours, and he just went back into his terrarium under his rock den hide... I checked on him again before I left home this evening and he still seemed normal... I'm just scared I hurt him or that this is a sign of a serious medical condition...

As far as his terrarium is concerned, it is a custom built 4' wide by 2 1/2' high plexiglass enclosure, built into what used to be the bottom of a book shelf. He's not very long, perhaps 5' - 5 1/2', so he fits just fine. He has lots of decoration like a petrified tree branch he's had since he was born, a clay jar which he can slither in and out of, and is tight enough to aide him shedding, some vines, a heating lamp on the left side, a heating pad (underneath the plexiglass) on the right, set to low, for his cool spot... a ceramic water dish, about 4" deep... aspen bedding... he likes his habitat a lot, he has lots to do in there, and I always keep the humidity as regular as I can, usually by misting (often).

[Mephibosheth1]

Define "normal humidity"....especially when shedding you gotta keep it at least 60-70%

[bretvaldez]

I keep the humidity generally from 70-80%.

[Mephibosheth1]

And he's still having trouble shedding?
He has something rough to shed against right?

[PhoenixGate]

Unfortunately you're right, that's definitely his skin. I'm not sure if he can grow his scales back, I have no experience with this. Your best bet is to look up a vet in your area that specializes in reptiles, call and explain you can't afford to bring him in, explain your situation and ask for advice.

[bretvaldez]

Unfortunately you're right, that's definitely his skin. I'm not sure if he can grow his scales back, I have no experience with this. Your best bet is to look up a vet in your area that specializes in reptiles, call and explain you can't afford to bring him in, explain your situation and ask for advice.

I will be calling his vet as soon as possible... She has strange hours (a couple hours Tuesday and Thursday nights, the rest of her schedule is for surgeries) unfortunately. Thanks for the tip.

[bretvaldez]

And he's still having trouble shedding?
He has something rough to shed against right?

Yep he's got a rough wood round hide he can rub against and through, he's got a ceramic pot decoration with holes, rough, that he can rub himself against, as well as the vines which I have affixed to the chicken wire of the top of his habitat, plus an old tress branch with various tight spaces. he's just never been able to shed himself. I encourage him to, and don't like to help unless it's been too long and I feel it necessary. but I will leave him as long as possible to shed himself, increasing humidity, putting him in a soak, etc. I don't know why he always had this problem, and unfortunately I can't get answers because his previous owner passed away 5 years ago

Still, I don't mind shedding him myself if I need to. I almost always have to do his eyes and his heat pits with tweezers, but usually after that he slowly sheds himself, small piece by small piece.

My concern is how easily his actual skin ripped off.... I'll be calling the vet as soon as possible to ask about this, unless someone comes along this thread and has any further information on that.

[piedpipper]

Wow - this looks very similar to the thread with the bp with slipped skin disease. I think that thread is very recent you might want to look it up. That is definitely his actual muscle you are looking at there. I can't help you other than second the vet but keep the enclosure clean and be careful for infection