1st post, new owner

[chrissisc0]

well i recently picked up a cb ball python im gonna say around 5 months old or so maybe a little older its a female and she is a sweetie. i have her in a 10 gallon enclosure heat is about 86F and humidity (shes in shed) is about 51-60 ive been spraying it and yes i did my research before i bought her. i have aspen bedding down and 2 hide spots even though she only uses one. so i bought her about 4 days ago and last night i decided to feed her (shes eats pre-killed) and she ate it up within 1 minute her shed when i bought her wasnt the greatest and ive been working on that with warm baths and higher humidity. i only have one pic of her and im so excited to finally own a snake.


sorry for the bad pic all i had handy was a cell phone pic

[ThyTempest]

She needs a thermal gradient first of all. Warm side should be 92-94 , cool side 82-84. Also, it looks like she has a lot of stuck shed, which means she is past her shed cycle and it did not go well. You should give her a soak if this is true. In that case, get a small plastic shoebox or a large bowl, and make the water tepid and only half as deep as she is tall. Throw a washcloth all balled up in there for her to rub on and rest her head on so she feels like she wont drown. I would let her soak for about an hour, then let her glide through your hands while you hold the washcloth. If that doesnt get all the shed, repeat the process late tonight or tomorrow.

Are her hides identical?
What type of heat are you using, and how do you control it?
Under tank heaters tend to work best, and a cheap way to control them is with a lamp dimmer. Also, make sure you really know the temp of the enclosure by using a thermometer with a probe for ground temp. A common and cheap one is Acurite indoor/outdoor thermometer, available at walmart for like 13 bucks.

Your humidity is fine, but if she has a hard time shedding, bump it up to the 70's during her shed cycle. Misting, using a larger water dish(wider), or moving the water to the hot side can help you do this.

[blackcrystal22]

well i recently picked up a cb ball python im gonna say around 5 months old or so maybe a little older its a female and she is a sweetie. i have her in a 10 gallon enclosure heat is about 86F and humidity (shes in shed) is about 51-60 ive been spraying it and yes i did my research before i bought her. i have aspen bedding down and 2 hide spots even though she only uses one. so i bought her about 4 days ago and last night i decided to feed her (shes eats pre-killed) and she ate it up within 1 minute her shed when i bought her wasnt the greatest and ive been working on that with warm baths and higher humidity. i only have one pic of her and im so excited to finally own a snake.


sorry for the bad pic all i had handy was a cell phone pic

She has a bunch of stuck shed. It's important to get that off ASAP. Put her in a small tub filled with luke-warm water, if it's warm to the touch, it's probably too warm.
Let it sit for 30-60 minutes inside the enclosure and then take a damp towel and rub off the stuck shed.

The food your feeding seems a bit small. Feed something that is the same girth as the thickest point on the snake. :]
If he takes pk, he'll probably also take f/t or live at any time. Get the humidity up for the shed to 60-70%.
Make sure to have a temperature gradient, with the cool side (1 hide, water bowl) between 80-85F (this should be the same as the air temp in the tank) and the warm side (one hide) 90-95F. You can achieve this with a proper UTH with a Thermostat, and if you need a better air/ambient temp you can use a red lamp to push that up.

Also, a papertowel roll will not suit as a hide. It should be something tight and round with one opening (no log hides!) and identical is a good idea too.

Another good idea to relieve some stress, is to cover 3 sides of the enclosure with black construction paper or something dark to make them feel safe and enclosed.

Good luck! And welcome!

[truthsdeceit]

Does your local water have a high chlorine concentration?

When I got my first ball he had a bad shed and despite misting and soaking it kept getting worse every time. I finally just stopped and it got better on it's own. I believe that the chlorine in the water was drying his skin out worse instead of helping.

You may want to try giving her a rest for a shed cycle to see if she takes care of herself. Or pay for bottled water for her soaks for a cycle to see if it makes a difference.

[blackcrystal22]

Does your local water have a high chlorine concentration?

When I got my first ball he had a bad shed and despite misting and soaking it kept getting worse every time. I finally just stopped and it got better on it's own. I believe that the chlorine in the water was drying his skin out worse instead of helping.

You may want to try giving her a rest for a shed cycle to see if she takes care of herself. Or pay for bottled water for her soaks for a cycle to see if it makes a difference.

If you soak before the shed it can make it worse, but I've only seen it get better after they've had difficulty getting the rest off. :]

[ThyTempest]

Does your local water have a high chlorine concentration?

When I got my first ball he had a bad shed and despite misting and soaking it kept getting worse every time. I finally just stopped and it got better on it's own. I believe that the chlorine in the water was drying his skin out worse instead of helping.

You may want to try giving her a rest for a shed cycle to see if she takes care of herself. Or pay for bottled water for her soaks for a cycle to see if it makes a difference.

If this is the case, buy a water dechlorinator. Another option is to leave water our in the sun for about 2 days. This reacts with all the chlorine radicals and, ot make a long story short, makes it safe for your snake.

[truthsdeceit]

If you soak before the shed it can make it worse, but I've only seen it get better after they've had difficulty getting the rest off. :]

In my experience it made it worse overall. His first shed with me left a small piece stuck and mostly came off whole. So I removed the stuck shed using a warm wet wash cloth. The next time he shed that entire area stuck so he got a soak. The next time he had stuck shed everywhere and the rest come off in tiny pieces like confetti and warranted another soak. The next one was much the same and after a harrowing experience for both of us where I helped get his eyecaps off I decided to give him a rest.

His next shed was bad as expected but it does eventually come off on it's own (i made sure his tail tip and eyecaps where not posing a danger).. The next shed after that one was one hundred times better. a little piece stuck to his back the the shed was mostly in one piece. I swear it was the chlorine.
Or a miracle.

Sorry for the long post. Anyways point is if all your husbandry is correct, including your humidity you may want to consider the soaks as the problem.