Trouble breathing

My new ball python, Choco has stuck shed on both of his nostrils and I think it's giving him trouble breathing. I've seen him open his mouth slightly and close it again twice. Yes, I've seen inside his mouth, no mucus. Listened to him breathe for a few seconds, no noises at all.

How do I get the stuck shed off?

You should follow this thread. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...hed-No-problem. I never had to use it but other people have and it solves the problem. Good luck! :gj:

I'd soak him for a bit. Maybe bump your humidity if it's low. Put an extra bowl of water in your enclosure.

Soak him like the posts above and if you can get a q tip and gently rub the nostril to see if you can maybe get it off. That's my :twocents:

Add moist moss to the hides. Your humidity is obviously low and adding the moss will give the snake the humidity it needs right in its houses.

I've never seen any of my snakes open their mouths, other than to just realign their jaws after eating. ... but if I saw this, I would definitely take the measures necessary to rid of the old skin (soak in lukewarm water for 30 minutes)... then if I noticed more opening of the mouth, then I would succumb to the fact that there is an issue.

EDIT: that being said. Soaking is a last resort. .. if your humidity is good, then there should be no need to soak. Most people "bump" their humidity up when their snakes are in shed to help them with it. But I keep mine at a CONSTANT 68-70 and they all shed in one piece.

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Originally Posted by Joshyboy

Soak him like the posts above and if you can get a q tip and gently rub the nostril to see if you can maybe get it off. That's my :twocents:

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Thanks! I tried this after bumping the humidity(which wasn't low in the first place), and it came off, but it wasn't easy. I decided not to soak him, just dipped the q-tip in some lukewarm water and squeezed it out until it was only damp. I had to keep stopping because he had to open his mouth to breathe but after the shed was off the right nostril he calmed down a bit because he could breathe much better. Also, it looked like it was stuck shed from a few cycles, he wouldn't have been able to get it off by himself anyways.

Glad to see he is doing better!