Young ball won't shed!

Hello, everyone!
I was gifted a baby ball for christmas, she is my first, and she is a wonderful girl. Very active, curious and a power-feeder.
I have her set up in a tank with proper heat, hides, and humidity. She is currently going through her first shed with me and I'm a smidge concerned... She dried up something fierce and I gave her a 10 minute soak and it helped drastically with her hydration-wise. Try as she might, rubbing her nose against the tank, her hide, waterbowl, the substrate, she can't seem to get her shed started head-first. She's started her shed on the opposite end and it's patchy as patchy can get. I boosted her humidity the moment I noticed signs of shed, cloudy eyes and dulling pattern, and it helped greatly with getting it started, but now...she's a mess.

I've included a picture, sorry for the awful quality.
Any suggestions/tips on further assisting her?

http://i67.tinypic.com/mkbt3a.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/11jratc.jpg

Please take a photo of your setup, and what are your temps? Hot side, cooler side, and humidity? What are you using to measure those things?

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Originally Posted by Kokorobosoi

Please take a photo of your setup, and what are your temps? Hot side, cooler side, and humidity? What are you using to measure those things?

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I'm not home right now, but she's in a 20gal with three sides covered and a metal-mesh lid with seran wrap over most of it to keep in the humidity. Hot side is between 90-92, cool side is between 80-83, and her humidity was bumped from 60% to between 70%-80%.

I use and Accu-rite thermometer/hygrometer and a JumpStart thermostat.

If she's staying in her hide, one easy one is to fold up a paper towel and soak it with water and put it in the hide with her. I did it for my little guy this last time as he was ready for it to come off and it was taking a while. Two days later he had a fresh shed (and he came after me when I tried to take the paper towel away, lol).

With a shed that poor there is no way the humidity has been staying at 60%. Many of the gauges you buy at pet stores are terribly inaccurate.

When you get a change to take a pic of the tank and post it we can help you get things dialed in.

Until then start reading and learning. This is a very common thread topic and all the answers are out there for you.

Damp moss in the hides is going to be a great addition. If you don't have any get some. During you research you will see people, especially me bring it up and recommend it.

Wet paper towels and moss!! As mentioned above it's a common problem, and I'd suggest making it as moist/wet in there as you can, as your humidity is likely off.

The lovely Erebus is all clean and brand new! I tried the wet paper towels and even added more moss (in addition to all the moss that was in there already) but neither seemed to help her drop her old coat. So, upon further research and speculation, I decided to do another soak; this soak was in luke warm water for about 50+ minutes with the addition of a wash cloth for her to rub against (and to keep her calm- she DOES NOT enjoy being in water, even just a thin line of mist:weirdface) Once my timer sounded, I took the little thing out of the container and let her slide through the cloth and my fingers. After about 5 minutes of this slip and slide, I let her slide through an O made with my thumb and pointer finger, letting the width adjust to her body girth and it worked like a charm! From the base of her head to her tail. :please: She then let me rub the moisened tip of my finger along her nose and vents and slowly coax the stubborn skin to roll off. It seemed to me that it was the slightly roughened tip of her nose(from nudging along her tank at the petshop, I assume) that was keeping the shed from starting.

But she's all shiny and gorgeously fabulous once more. Thanks, everyone, for your help and info.


PS:I'll have pics up as soon as I can. :gj:

I'm glad to hear she's feeling better!

Just be careful with the soaking... it can stress the snake. It can also deplete the natural oils the snake releases that it uses during shed.

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Originally Posted by LittleTreeGuy

Just be careful with the soaking... it can stress the snake. It can also deplete the natural oils the snake releases that it uses during shed.

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Yeah, that's why I made sure to wait a few days before I did the second one. And, surprisingly, the cloth in the water seemed to keep her calm and rather relaxed. Perhaps she just needed to feel some 'solid ground' under her.