Horrible Shed Need Some Advice.

I had asked about shedding cycle and humidity in another post and now that my boy is shedding it is horrible. I need some advice about what I can do. I am pretty sure that I am going to have to take him to the vet for the retained eye caps as well as the top of his head which both look like he has had multiple sheds without correctly shedding. He was a rescue so I am not sure on his back ground. Right now he is in a 10 gallon tank the uth is between 88-89 degrees his humidity is at 73%. He is on newspapers right now. I have been soaking him nightly for about 15-20 minutes to help soften the skin. I even put a little bit of mineral oil on the eye caps to see if that would help but nothing seems to be working. Does anyone have any other suggestions that I could try for him before I take him to the vet. Also has anyone ever used the shed aid and had it work?

Zoo Med Shed Aid

Here are a couple of pics of his head.

http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a.../Lucahead1.jpg

http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/Lucahead.jpg

Let the snake run through a damp towel after soaking, the remaining skin should peel off.
Try soaking him longer than 15 mins, I've read caresheets telling me to soak the snake for 2 hours on shallow water.

Thanks I will do that when I get home from work tonight. Any suggestions about the retained eye caps or the top of his head. I want to get the shed dealt with before I feed him.

Soak the snake for longer. Room temp water with a few small air holes, some paper towel for him to grip on to. I'd leave him in there for quite a while. Just leave him on a table within your field of vision so you can keep an eye on him.

After maybe 45 min to an hour, try gently rubbing the skin off his head. Don't mess with the eye caps. If they come off, great. If not, just wait til next shed. If the skin doesn't seem loose enough to rub off with a damp paper towel or cloth, keep him in the soaking tub.

Its really not that bad. No need to go to a vet. I've actually heard of vets blinding snakes trying to get eye caps off.

And no reason why he can't eat with a little stuck shed. Not a huge deal.

A good shed starts with long term good husbandry. If you haven't had this guy for long then he may have a bad shed or two, even if you keep him in ideal conditions, due to the damage done before you got him.

Please don't soak while your snake is in blue as that can be counter-productive. You can soak him after he starts to pop the shed. Just keep his humidity up while he's in blue.

Since you use newspaper as substrate then he would probably benefit from having a humid hide. It gives him a place to go with high humidity without you having to turn the newspaper into a damp mess.

With correct conditions he may just pop his own eye caps. If he doesn't they should come off with his next shed.

Finally, shed ease is snake oil. Your money would be better spent on spaghnum moss for his humid hide.

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Originally Posted by thewolfden

Any suggestions about the retained eye caps or the top of his head.

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Don't mess with his eyes. If you sort out the humidity issues by the next time he sheds, the eyecap problem (and the stuck shed problem) will almost assuredly fix themselves.

Thanks for all the advice, I will soak him longer tonight. He has been out cruising and I had planned on feeding him tomorrow night. I will keep that schedule and see how he does. I have only had him a little over a week.

While he is in pre shed, do not soak him.. As bcr said.. When you see him going into a shed just bump the humidity up and let everything be natural.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by thewolfden

Thanks for all the advice, I will soak him longer tonight. He has been out cruising and I had planned on feeding him tomorrow night. I will keep that schedule and see how he does. I have only had him a little over a week.

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As long as there's no ring of complete stuck shed anywhere on his body, and his tail is clean, I wouldn't soak him again after tonight if he eats tomorrow. Just keep his humidity up and leave him alone to digest for a few days; you won't fix the effects from months of bad husbandry in a week.

I have helped snakes with bad sheds before. The reason humidity is important is because they are essentially breathing in water in the air to hydrate themselves. Soaking a snake can work to release stuck shed though. Let them soak in luke warm+ water and then let them slither though your grip and it will roll off like a condom. Never pull off stuck shed. Only let the snake do it with with the motion of their body through your hands. Humidity in my tubs is at a good level so I only raise when I see a snake is gonna shed in the next week. While I'm cleaning tubs & I will fog their tub (zoo med repi fogger) rather than misting because it puts micro sized water molecules in the air that the snake breathes in. As for stuck eye caps. I've heard everything from leave it to bring it to a vet. I have done this many times for peoples snakes. It is very easy if your a competent person. Soak in luke warm+ water making sure the snake gets the occasional head under the water. hold the snake firmly behind the head. gently brush a q-tip across the eye from front to back with a little twisting motion to. Very gently! usually if you have soaked enough it will just slide right off. if at any point you feel even the slightest resistance then stop, continue to soak and repeat. I know I'm going to catch a lot of crap on here for suggesting to do it yourself because it is easy to always reply "go to a vet". The vet is going to do the same thing. If you need a walk though let me know and I can call you over the phone.