Does he look ok? Still hasn't shed ??

Ok my bp still hasn't shed , it's been 11 days since since he cleared up from blue! I thought it happened quicker than that, it's been three weeks since he was in blue. Although it has come off his nose last week but stopped there for some reason? I took some pics of him this morning, he feels quite dry/rough to the touch.....

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Hi, i'm a first time ball python keeper. but has kept a retic python some 7 years ago.
Maybe a few things to check.. humidity? A large water bowl for the snake to soak itself? and maybe something coarse like a rock or wooden branch/log for it to kinda slither and srape its old skin away? (i put a wooden log in my retic's enclosure previously when i know she's about to shed).

Hope this helps!

Hi there.... This will be his first shed and my first bp, I hope his humidity is ok, at the warmer end of cage it's around 40 but goes up to around 60 towards the cooler end, I've been misting lately ( I didn't know what else to do) so the cool end has been reading 70-80%. He has a large water bowl also. I don't know if he's struggling or just taking his time and he's fine! Just not sure really as it's taking a while.

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Looks like stuck shed at this point. Soak him in a vented Tupperware with about an inch of room temp water. Keep him in your sight and leave him there for 30 min to an hour until the skin is soft enough to gently rub off.

I don't think he will be getting it off on his own. Lol

Stuck shed? I thought was that when bits were left over? Not like his full body, does this happen with nearly all his skin remaining? Why has this happened? He has a bowl big enough to soak in, do they not have the sense to do it themselves ? Thanks

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Originally Posted by Smith123

Stuck shed? I thought was that when bits were left over? Not like his full body, does this happen with nearly all his skin remaining? Why has this happened? He has a bowl big enough to soak in, do they not have the sense to do it themselves ? Thanks

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I've had fully retained sheds before with my colubrids and a mostly stuck shed when I first adopted my BP. Sometimes it seems to be a result of stress (such as occurring right after extensive vet procedures) or poor husbandry, but sometimes it just happens and you can't figure out why. I'm sure there are quite a few other possibilities that can cause it.
When I soak mine with retained sheds, I'll usually put something like the center of a paper towel roll in there; gives them somewhere to rest their head if they want, and also something to rub against if they decide they want to get the shed unstuck on their own.

Sounds like I may have to intervene then, I will grab a plastic tub tomoro for a bath. Do they not soak in the bowl provided when necessary ?

It happens if the humidity is really low. Ive had it happen but fortunately a soak gets rid of it quickly.

Soaking before a shed really does nothing to improve a shed so i don't know why your snake would soak lol. They usually only soak if something is wrong.

Next time just spray the cage down with room temp water daily once you notice he is going into shed.

So are you advising a soak? If they do nothing to help? So if something is wrong wouldn't he be soaking in his bowl now? I have been misting his enclosure every couple of days for around two weeks!
Raising humidity up to 80%....

Definitely stuck shed if its been that long. This is most likely due to stress or humidity issues, though I'm leaning towards humidity issues more because you have stated that your humidity is a bit unstable.
My bp shed right away ( a day after) after clearing up from the blue.

What you need to do is soak your bp in shallow room temperature water for an hour then run him/her through a damp towel and just help the shed come off basically. You need to get this fixed right away as stuck shed can lead to some blood flow issues , etc.

In the future to keep your humidity stable. Avoid heat lamps for heat as they dry out the air and put some sphagnum moss around the enclosure and mist those a bit. This should keep humidity up.

Soak in a closed Sterilite tub, with barely lukewarm water, as mentioned above for about 30 minutes or so. Then get a hand towel wet, Lukewarm again, and let your snake run through it a several times.

Right I will go with that , I will put him in the bath tomoro. Although I never stated my humidity is unstable as it isn't .... Obviously there will be a change in humidity levels from the warm end to the cool end, as the heated end will have less! My humidity reading is in the cool end and has always been around 50-60% so is that not high enough ? Raising it to around 80% during this shed period most days has not helped so it seems. I know the heat lowers the humidity but I didn't think my humidity was low?
I have to use overhead heat in the form of ceramic as a heat mat does not create a warm enough enclosure.

If you are using a UTH on thermostat for a hot spot you should be able to keep the rest of the enclosure at 80-83 degree's.. should help with humidity and from 1 end being dryer then the other. Looks like you are using paper as substrate maybe switch to something like eco earth and cypress multch to help with the humidity, please explain your setup how your heating and such to help provent this..

I'm using a heat panel reptile radiator on the roof, I tried a plastic tub with heat mat when I first brought him home, the hotspot was fine but ambient temps were around 70f so I don't know how anybody can get 80f+ as an ambient temp with only a heat mat unless you have a heated reptile room! Which unfortunately I don't have. So I quickly moved him to a wooden viv to improve temps.

Well i use a T-8 with 11" flexwatt in the middle and 2 40w RHP.. so hot spot is set to 92 on my herpstat to get 90, then the RHP make the rest around 78-82 and i have to keep the room at 71-74 degrees

I honestly think if you change ur bedding to a eco earth/cypress mulch mix it would help out.. i used to use this mix in my 20x12x12 glass tank with a 75w red light on the top and have got perfect sheds out of it, still need to mist and stuff once the bedding starts drying out

So you still use overheat heat then to create your ambients , not heat mat on its own! I don't see the point in using two types of heat , if I need overhead heat for ambients then I may as well use that as my sole heat source....
I will change my substrate if that's the answer although if I get the recommended 50-60% already why do I have an issue with humidity ??

because your using overhead heat to make your hot spot... thats heating the all that air in that area up to that temp.. and drying it out faster. i use the UTH to get the 90 hot spot and keep the rest of the air at 80 so its not drying out as fast.. thats why i use 2 sources of heat, but you dont see the point of doing soo thats why your in the situation your in.. there is something wrong with your husbandry that you need to address or this will keep happening.. if you dont want to use to heat sources then mist 2-3 times a day, run a fogger, keep a humidifier going in the room because thats your problem is the humidity

My ambient temps range from 86 down to 76 with a hotspot of 93 so I don't see how my ambients are causing less humidity? Unless I'm missing the point?
If I use a heat mat aswell how will I be better off? As the overhead heat will still be required at the same power to provide my current ambients which are correct, as the heat mat will do nothing for air temps?
Im more confused than ever! My humidity reading is within range as far as I have researched....

Basically your overhead heat dries up the air on the side its on decreasing humidity very rapidly. If you want equal amount of humidity overall in the tank, loose the overhead heat. But loosing that means you loose your current ambient temp, which is why I would recommend using heat tape instead on the cool side or middle to keep your ambient temps that you would have with a overhead heater. Bp's dont need light anyway's. I went through the same issue with humidity having to mist all the time, it was my lighting lamp causing too much heat drying up the tank, so I got an alternative way of heating up the overall tank to keep ambient temps in the 80's without killing humidity on one side.

But stuck shed for 11 days, there is no question in my mind that it is a humidity issue, its just too dry it cant slide off the bp properly. Maybe your bp hangs out more on the side with the overhead lamp, which means humidity in that area is dryer, not "Bad levels" for a bp but possibly too low levels for a shed cycle. Normally My tank is 70-80 percent overall (all sides of the tank) for shed cycle and my sheds come off perfect.

Well for starters I can't use a heat mat at all as its a wooden viv, so I would need to change enclosure.
We don't have heat tape in the uk that I know of but it seems the same as a heat mat which does nothing for ambient temps, unless your talking about surface temps? If that was the case I could use a plastic tub with two heat mats statted one at 90 and other at say 80? Would that work ? But again I can't see it doing much for air temps in there, my house is around 68f this time of year....

No.. U still need a constant air temp of 79-83 degrees..

Bump up your house's heat, should help. I used to use my wifes heating pad on the cool end of the enclosure just pressed against it and it did help with ambient temps ( didn't need thermostat as it was a very weak heat pad for women cramps lol. It was just enough to heat the inside up to 79-83f) inside the tank tremendously. Some people also use tiny heaters just beside the cool side of the tank and that works too. Unlike heating bulbs your humidity isn't shut down. And for the warm side UTH with thermostat set to 90f.

Well I was under the impression you already had UTH heating but if you only have lamp then dont get rid of it. Tough situation.

I guess it would help to see a picture of your setup. I'm using a terrarium with coconut husk/aspen mix and my humidity is around almost 80% constant right now (mine is going onto shed) I know what you mean about needing 2 heat sources as my house temp is around 65 so I got a blue night light to get the "cold side" just right. What do you use to measure your humidity?

My temps are fine in the viv, I thought my humidity was too! It's reading 60% this morning with no misting, surely it doesn't need to be higher than that?? You can see the unit inside the viv that reads temp and humidity.....

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I've taken humidity readings directly under the heat and its stable at 50% so I have a range of 50-60% across the Viv which by all accounts should be fine! Why he's having trouble I don't know ? I'm going to bathe him later today....

Check to make sure your humidity is reading right test the unit

Ok. You really need to do a test and find out if your humidity is really as high as you think it is. The unit you're using to take readings sounds like it is not very accurate. I am getting the impression that you don't really want to follow the advice that is being given to you. Your snake will continue to have really bad sheds if you don't fix your humidity issues.

I'm happy to take advise! That's why I'm here, can you tell me why you think my humidity is giving an incorrect reading?? I have another humidity unit in my home which reads today 53% and I've tried that in the enclosure and it reads 59%..... So are both my units inaccurate?

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Originally Posted by Smith123

I'm happy to take advise! That's why I'm here, can you tell me why you think my humidity is giving an incorrect reading?? I have another humidity unit in my home which reads today 53% and I've tried that in the enclosure and it reads 59%..... So are both my units inaccurate?

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I'm not really sure why you are getting different readings but I would highly suggest getting some new equipment to check those humidity readings. You should also use a bedding material that is going to help keep your humidity up. It looks like you are using paper towels. Try some cypress mulch or at least make a humid hide for the snake to go into when he is in shed.

Yeah well it's all about weather my humidity unit is correct or not! As if I add a substrate like that I will no doubt get readings of 80% which is too high.... I'm going to pick up another humidity unit today so will find out later. I did have aspen down which the humidity reading was just the same, I only changed to paper towel as I didn't like him eating bits of aspen when stuck to the rat pup....

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Originally Posted by Smith123

Yeah well it's all about weather my humidity unit is correct or not! As if I add a substrate like that I will no doubt get readings of 80% which is too high.... I'm going to pick up another humidity unit today so will find out later. I did have aspen down which the humidity reading was just the same, I only changed to paper towel as I didn't like him eating bits of aspen when stuck to the rat pup....

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You could always use the aspen bedding again. When you are going to feed your snake again just put some paper towels over the substrate to avoid the substrate going in the snake's mouth.

The aspen didn't give any more humidity than paper towel so unless there any other reason to use it I will stick with kitchen roll....?

I have just put a new humidity sensor in there cool end , same place as the suspected inaccurate one and they read identical ? So it seems my readings are accurate , after half an hour it settled at 57% exactly the same as the one I have been using. I've currently got it in the warm end to take a reading... So if we are agreed I don't have a humidity issue ?


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Warm end settled, directly under heat source next to hot hide.... 48%... Which I think is fine as it's the hottest part and doesn't spend much time in there, plus it's not really a low reading ?
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48% is low for a shed.. My snakes spend most of there time in the warm side hide which is 90 uth..

That's just usual reading, I've been spraying during shed to raise it..... He currently taking a bath!

I am using Kritter's Crumble and some misting on it will retain my humidity level.
But then again, i'm in Southeast Asia (Malaysia) and the ambient humidity averages around 70-80%.
i agree on the points given by the other members, try not using the overhead heating as it dries up the air more quickly.

No choice!
unless I sacrifice temperature?
I really don't understand as far as all my research goes my humidity levels are within range.... These are not a tropical snake. Plus I have been misting just for good measure since in blue

Any advise guys? He still hasn't shed, he's looking wrinkly on his sides and is a little dry to the touch! It's been around 10 - 14 days at least since he cleared up, a good 3wks since he was in blue? Is he not going to shed? As previous he did shed his nose and I think his eye caps too when he cleared up ages ago but nothing since. I've given him 2 baths since I was advised on here last week but no change, I must his tank every now and then too .
He also refuses to use his warm hide at anytime? Even after eating, which he continues to eat every week. His cool end hide is around 75f ..... I've added pics to show you.
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What is his current humidity, keep misting every few hours, you could try adding some wood surfaces for him to scrape along, you could also try adding a hide box with some moss substrate, and if you're having bad sheds then replace he substrate with something that holds humidity better (orchid bark, cypress mulch etc)

Get a warm damp towel let him slither through it apply gentle pressure.. If this helps then continue to do it.. If it doesn't then just leave him in there and try out the suggestions listed.

I also use a wooden viv and a ceramic heater and was having humidity problems, so I bought some orchid bark and now the humidity is fine! I will also be buying a Perspex glass sheet for the bottom of the tank to stop wood rot.

How are you measuring temps with a digital thermometer? Consider buying a temp gun also, then you can compare the temps between the thermometer and the temp gun. If he is never using the warm hide it could be hotter than your thermometer is telling you, where do you have the thermometer probe placed?


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My humidity ranges from 48% in the warm end (where he never is) up to 60% in the cooler end so I presume my humidity was ok otherwise I would of sorted it out before he went into shed. Is this not high enough? He never leaves his cool hide except for food! Which he then digests on the cool side too, every time ? I've read they usually go to hot side to digest as they need the heat but mine doesn't seem to!
I doubt he would move to a humid hide but I could try that, where would I place it in the viv ? Should I continue to bath him? I just didn't want to stress him out too much?

yes I have a temp gun as well as probes , inside his warm hide its 85f but the roof of the hide is 94f , the ambient just to the side of the ceramic is 84f ( you can see the probe hanging down taking that reading, it's attached to stat probe both hanging around 2" from floor)
Thanks

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Originally Posted by Smith123

My humidity ranges from 48% in the warm end (where he never is) up to 60% in the cooler end so I presume my humidity was ok otherwise I would of sorted it out before he went into shed. Is this not high enough? He never leaves his cool hide except for food! Which he then digests on the cool side too, every time ? I've read they usually go to hot side to digest as they need the heat but mine doesn't seem to!
I doubt he would move to a humid hide but I could try that, where would I place it in the viv ? Should I continue to bath him? I just didn't want to stress him out too much?
Thanks

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Don't bathe him, try putting the humid hide more on the warm side if it is lacking humidity there, also I would re check all your temps if he is never using the warm side.

Try and get your humidity levels up to be about 70-80% when you see your BP go into pre shed.

For all round good humidity you need to change your substrate as this will provide better overall humidity, how big is that viv?

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Time for the damp pillowcase treatment I'd say.

And I would definitely raise the humidity for the next shed - the snake is the best guide there is in these situations.

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Originally Posted by dr del

Time for the damp pillowcase treatment I'd say.

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Yes I had forgotten about that!


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So is my 49%-60% not ok under normal conditions ?? How high does it need to be!!
I would rather not use loose substrate as don't like the risk of him eating it! But I will change it if it solves the issue, after plenty of research before I got him I thought my humidity was spot on!
Does he look bad to you guys? I am worried about him but he continues to eat, what will happen if he is left to his own? Will he sort himself out in time?
ive checked and double checked his temps and humidity with numerous different devices so I'm just completely confused and feel I've made some mistakes with temp and humidity!
He was in a tub when I bought him and I wanted to continue this but my ambients in my house at winter is around 65-68 so the heat mat and tub did not cut it unfortunately ....
Thanks

Most people will have normal humidity at about 50-60% not shedding maybe lower, and for a shed some people bump it up to 70-80%.

I wouldn't worry about the substrate as long as the rodent is dry, and just check as he swallows no substrate is stuck to the rodent

Check this out:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=28794

As drdel said try the damp pillow case treatment.


From a previous shedding issue thread:

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Originally Posted by dr del

You could try putting him in a tied wet pillowcase overnight in his enclosure to see if his attempts to escape manage to loosen the head area a bit.

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So by all accounts my humidity is fine except for maybe not upping it enough during the shed cycle, after reading that thread he should have shed probably a week ago! How do I know it's ready to come off? Just because it's due? Because he is dry and wrinkly? Should I put him in a pillowcase today ? Wet and warm and put it in his viv?

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Originally Posted by Smith123

So by all accounts my humidity is fine except for maybe not upping it enough during the shed cycle, after reading that thread he should have shed probably a week ago! How do I know it's ready to come off? Just because it's due? Because he is dry and wrinkly? Should I put him in a pillowcase today ? Wet and warm and put it in his viv?

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Yes just increase humidity when going into the shed cycle, and yes if your snake has gone through all of them phases, yes you can try that and see what happens.


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