Shedding in little pieces, very slowly

[icygirl]

I spray down his cage a few times a day, and I even soaked him for a few minutes yesterday (I didn't dunk his head because I didn't want to hurt him). His skin looks ready to come off, and it has for a few days now. He has shed most of the skin from his belly now and also from his eyes and face. However, his "back" (so to speak) still has the old skin stuck to it. There are tiny pieces of shed skin all over the tank now. I don't understand what I could be doing wrong? What should I do? I thought snakes were supposed to shed all in one piece?

[Snakeman]

i guess when he started to shed, there wasnt enough humidity.

what you could do is put him a tub with luke warm water for an hour(make sure not to put too much water to the point where it's swimming) and then with a wet towel let your snake run through it and be sure to hold the towel so the skin can come off.

[dr del]

Hi,


Not always - my male never sheds in one peice for example. Mind you he's also lazy and tends to get it off his head then go to sleep and forget what he was doing (apparently).

I would try letting your little boy run through a damp towel in your hands (use warm not hot water to soak the towel) and see if that helps loosen it.

There is also a sticky on how to deal with stuck sheds with some great tips and ideas which should help you.

It can be found here.


dr del

[Snakeman]

Not always - my male never sheds in one peice for example. Mind you he's also lazy and tends to get it off his head then go to sleep and forget what he was doing (apparently).

maybe he figures you'll do it for him

[icygirl]

Thanks a lot! I'll try that tonight

[should that post about soaking be made into a sticky?]

[dr del]

Hi,


Snakeman,
Yeah he does seem to have me well trained doesn't he.

Icygirl,
It is a sticky in the bp husbandry forum.


dr del

[icygirl]

Icygirl,
It is a sticky in the bp husbandry forum.

Whoops, my mistake! Thanks for redirecting me anyways! He is soaking in a plastic container right now, I made sure he can't get out but it's not air tight.

[icygirl]

Well, just for an update.. we're finished, and he has finally shed. After letting him soak for a little under an hour (and I noticed that while he was in there, he was rubbing himself against the washcloth trying to get the skin off), his old skin layer was literally looking like a wet doily paper... falling off in most places. Not wanting to just dump him back in the cage and get a repeat of this whole process, I squeezed his body inbetween the washcloth (hard enough to have effect, but gentle enough not to hurt him) and let him move himself through to slough off the skin. It took a little while but we did it. Now I have a beautiful, freshly shed BP who is currently exploring the bottom of my baggy pajama shirt. I inspected his new scales and there doesn't seem to be any damage to them Thanks guys!

[harfieldthethirsty]

what do you keep his humidity at when he is not is shed? it should be between 50 and 60 %. as soon as you see the eyes are blue bump it up to 70 to 80% with a couple of 20 min soaks in luke warm water during the week he is blue and boom, a nice easy shed. Clean the tank so no mold will start, return the humidity to between 50 and 60 % consistantly and he'll be fantastic.