how long do you wait to help with shedding?

I finally broke down and decided to take some steps because I'm planning to feed tomorrow and was worried he wouldn't eat having made no more progress since last night. I lay a warm wet cloth over him for awhile this afternoon. This evening, I went to the pet store for a mouse and some hiding/basking/scraping items. I asked a manager if I was correct to assume that an aquarium rock was safe because I didn't like any of the reptile ones they had. That led to a whole conversation about the shed and he agreed with my idea to try soaking if there still wasn't progress and said I'd made good furniture choices because much of the stuff is too smooth. Went home, tried the soak. Snake did not like that idea. I let him escape, but moistened my fingers and gently rolled some of it back. He went up the lamp cord, through the clamp which caught the skin and got most of the way out. There was still about a half inch of tail left. I cleaned the terrarium, changed his water, misted the bedding and glass, and let my daughter arrange all the new stuff. When I put him back in, he went straight into a hollow cork log and I believe successfully finished the shed. I didn't go back in and check because between my dog coming in the room, then barking downstairs, and then a neighbor's toddler banging a stick on a metal pole right outside, I thought the poor guy could use a break in his new hide. I'll check tomorrow, but I think we've made it. Next step: first feed!

You should ALWAYS remove the shed, and never leave it on there and "wait for the next time" As someone stated it can cut off the circulation, and cause problems, such as the snake losing the tip of the tail. I am saying this not to lecture, but just to inform you so that you never tell someone to just leave it on there..:gj:

I just bought a reptifogger. Its called "Reptirain". It had helped a lot with my snakes shedding.

First time owner here also, and we're going through our first shed. I've had Him a week (I haven't thought of a super cool name, so I'm just calling him Him lol), and I've been diligent about my temps and humidity.

He's shedding in pieces right now, but I've read that the first shed can be kind of rough, but He seems to be doing fine. I'm actually find it very fascinating. I just wanted to thank everyone because this thread has been very helpful.

I actually looked for a fogger last night and didn't find any. I've been doing pretty well with just a spray bottle, but that requires me to keep a close eye on the reading. I expect summer to be fairly easy because the humidity can get pretty miserable for humans here in Arkansas.

So, I said I bought some terrarium furnishings last night, and I'm not sure my snake ever left that hollow log after first crawling in until.... successful feeding tonight! Got a look at the tail while he/she was working the mouse down. There's just the tiniest piece of old skin caught on a tail prong. Anyway, after swallowing, brief look around to see if there was anything else to eat and straight back into the log. I'm glad he likes it, but really hoping he'll give it a rest eventually. Two days from now, I was planning to go back to making a point of regular handling.

Maybe Him is your snake's name? Sounds original. My kid had gendered human names picked out by the time we got home from buying the snake, but, when I told her the possible ways to determine gender, she chose the never knowing option. She mentioned a couple human names by which she knows people of both genders, considered Snake Eyes, and finally settled on Fangs. Considering that out of our other three pets: my dog came prenamed (he was abandoned at six months and I stuck with the name on his tag to avoid confusion) years before she was born, one cat was named by her daddy, and I named the other cat; it seemed only fair to let her choose this time.

I give them another 9-12 hours after I notice a partial shed before I help out.