Is my BP finished shedding yet?

Hey guys, my baby ball, Ash, is in his first shed, and it seems to have been a strange time for him. To explain my question, I think I need to outline the timeline:

TWO WEEKS AGO (last week of June): I thought he might be going into shed because it'd been about six weeks since I purchased him (which is very close to when he was hatched), and also because he wasn't coming out of his hide at all this week. Ash is a very, very feisty BP--I've never even seen him ball up on me, and he's very responsive and curious--and he has typically always come out by Wednesday, Thursday at the latest, trying to poke his way out of the tank. This week, he didn't come out even after a successful feeding (I feed him on Sundays), so I figured: shed.

Stupid me, however, I did not bother to mist his tank! His humidity is typically at around 55%, which is what it was at that week.

LAST SUNDAY, JULY 3rd: I fed him again. He ate fine, but I took the opportunity to look at him, since I hadn't seem him out all week. I couldn't quite tell if he was in shed: he certainly looked a bit duller, but I couldn't tell if his eyes were hazy or not. Nevertheless, I took it to mean that he was starting to shed (trying to figure out when he STARTED is so hard!), and I began misting this day, bringing the humidity up to 70%. (From that day on until today, his tank has been between 60% and 70%, sometimes dropping to 58% or so.)

LAST THURSDAY, JULY 6th: I looked under his hides to check for anything unusual, like poop. I didn't find poop, but I found some of his shedded skin. It obviously came off from only his head: I even saw the eyecaps on there. (I've saved it, actually.) But I saw him later that night, and I noticed that he was completely gray (old skin) EXCEPT FOR his head; in other words, I guess he sloughed off the old skin from his head, but somehow didn't manage to do it for the rest of his body. He had a sort of collar around his neck where the old skin broke, and didn't quite continue sloughing off.

Since that last Thursday, he has tried on a number of occasions to rub up against the branches and vines I've left for him. He seemed so frustrated! On one occasion, I was changing his water and he left his hide, climbed onto my hand, and actually tried rubbing off on my fingers! This caused some of the skin under his belly to come off in pieces, which saddened me because that meant his skin wasn't coming off in one piece (well, I sort of got rid of that possibility when he sloughed off only his head). Also, his skin is very dull gray now, and he has serious wrinkles all over his body, i.e., wherever and whenever he bends his body, huge wrinkles show up. I understand that this is a sign of low humidity.

I'm not really sure what's going on. Is he simply not done with shedding yet? If we're to say he started the shedding process the last week of June, that means that he should have sloughed off his skin by now. Is it because the humidity was so low going into the first week of July that he's having troubles?

It's also my understanding that snakes shed their skin by rubbing their nose up against a hard surface and pushing that skin back. Since Ash doesn't have the old skin on his head anymore, it's possible that he's having no success getting the REST of his skin off. Indeed, I see him trying to push his nose up against things, but to no avail. Is this ridiculous to think on my part?

I'm still keeping the humidity up to 70% in the tank, and I notice he's out and about once in a while, trying to rub up REALLY hard against branches and whatnot, but the skin doesn't look loose at all; it just seems gray and wrinkly, but not ready to fall off, so I would be concerned about trying to "peel" off the skin myself!

What do folks think? Should I try taking him out and soaking him in tepid water, and then wiping the skin off myself? Or should I wait it out a few days?

Thanks so much!
Sam

I'd soak him Sam. He's had long enough to get that old skin off so will likely feel much better if you intervene at this point (well he won't like being soaked but you get the idea). Take a margine tub or something like that and put just enough tepid water in it for Ash to soak in but not over his back so that he'd be forced to swim. Pop him in (this is the part he will NOT like), snap the lid on. Put him and his soaking tub back in his regular enclosure and leave him be in there for a good hour (make sure the enclosure is secure...they have been known to get out of margarine tubs LOL). Remove a rather ticked off Ash and let him slither through a wet, rough facecloth. Just use a bit of tension in your hands to provide pressure against his movement through the cloth. The stuck shed should come right off.

Make sure you check afterwards that it's all off especially the tail tip.

Ash probably won't like this but it's for the best. Next time watch for the first signs of the shed cycle which are usually a pinkish belly, then the colors dulling and the eyes going blue. If you push his humidity up to the 60-70% range for the whole shed cycle it'll likely go better the next time.

It's also not unusual for the first shed or two to be funky until the snake adjusts and you adjust to his shed cycles.

Let us know how it went and hey we want freshly shed pics! LOL

Thanks Joanna!

OK, I finally got 99% of the skin off of him after about 30 minutes, from all his trying to get out of my hands and onto the carpet. He sure wasn't having a good time! But he seemed to be cooperating a bit, moving around and tensing his body where he needed to to make the skin come off easier. It came off in two very large chunks (it tore a bit in the middle because of how I lifted him out of the tank) with a few bits and pieces here and there, so that gave me a better idea of how it's SUPPOSED to happen naturally. Still, some pieces were really hard to get off, and I wonder how he's supposed to do it naturally! I'm presuming that if I *up* the humidity, like you said Joanna, at the beginning of the shed cycle, that'll go a long way in helping him out next time.

There was a little bit of skin left around his neck that was really hard to get off. It seemed pretty stuck on there, even after I moistened it a bit, and also Ash just didn't like my being next to his neck. Poor guy probably is going to hate me for a day or two!

Also, his belly looks pretty pink, even though the skin is off. Is this natural, for the skin to be pink after removing the old skin?

I'll take pictures of him next time I handle him, after I've given him time to recuperate! He's all shiny and bright now, a lot more golden than when he was a baby! And, man, did the little dude get bigger in the last two months! I guess all that feeding is worth it. Also, that was one of the coolest bonding experiences I've had in a while. Even though he wasn't having a good time, the fact is that NEITHER WAS I--it was pretty frustrating for me too. But it was clear from our interaction that, aside from my trying to get off his old skin, he knows me now, or at least he tolerates me. A few times he was trying to escape from my fist to hide in my armpit. Maybe he hasn't figured out that the fist and the armpit are parts of the same Big Ape.

I hope the guy rests is and is out and about again soon. Anyway, it's feed time for him on Sunday.

OH, that reminds me: I fed him his first f/t mouse on Sunday, and it was an adult too. Let's just say he had very little problems eating it, i.e., about half a second after I put in the thawed mouse, Ash was on top of it.

Thanks again!
Sam

Edit: Nevermind, I just looked in the tank and he's poking his head out. He must've rubbed that last piece of skin off because it's not on him anymore, so he's completely clean now! Still curious about his slightly pink belly, however. It's not VERY pink; it looks like pre-shed pink, except that he's post-shed.

Sam just keep an eye on that belly. Make sure you don't have anything happening that could cause a belly problem. Things like damp or wet substrate, one of those awful electric heat rocks, a UTH that's too hot...stuff like that. If all is well that way but you are concerned then of course give your herp vet a call and have Ash looked at. There's no way online anyone can really advise you about stuff like this, some things are just better seen to by a vet or even an experienced keeper having a look.

Moved to bp forum.... this is about bp's.