My BP won't shed

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Originally Posted by mohawk

So you start peeling it off before she even gets it started ?????

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She's goes weeks like that. I talked to a few people at the reptile store where I got her and they showed me how to help her get started.

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Originally Posted by FireStarter

She's goes weeks like that. I talked to a few people at the reptile store where I got her and they showed me how to help her get started.

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Sometimes it takes a couple weeks, from the time their eyes get cloudy, till when they actually shed..............

Never do this. If the shed does not come off on its own, the best you can do is soak your python, give it a towel to slither through, and keep humidity up for the next shed when the leftover bits will hopefully come off. If you're actually peeling the shed off, you're risking some serious damage, since there's usually a reason the shed isn't coming off on it's own. What process exactly are you following when your fire fails to shed? What are your actual humidity levels? Do you raise them whenever your fire shows signs of a shed? What kind of enclosure do you have your snakes in and what substrate are you using? Pictures of the enclosure would help identify the problem here



Totally not true..there are times when you can help them along with the shedding process, and of course you do have to be careful, but it does not hurt them at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!:weirdface:weirdface:weirdface

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Originally Posted by mohawk

Sometimes it takes a couple weeks, from the time their eyes get cloudy, till when they actually shed..............

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I know it takes awhile but it's past that point. You can see the extra (?) Skin on her in folds almost. I don't know if I'm describing that very well. But you can tell it's at the point where she should be trying to get it off but she's not.

When I got mine she had a retained shed, and I did what you're describing; soaked her and let her slither through my hands to get it off. I think you may be jumping the gun on helping her shed if this is happening every time though. Especially if it's coming off well once you get it started... Next time maybe try soaking her but then seeing if she'll get it started on her own?

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Originally Posted by FireStarter

I know it takes awhile but it's past that point. You can see the extra (?) Skin on her in folds almost. I don't know if I'm describing that very well. But you can tell it's at the point where she should be trying to get it off but she's not.

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Are you seeing lateral folds in the skin? Like when she bends, do you see kind of fine folds going from the spine towards the belly?

Some snakes get dehydrated ....a simply 30 minute soak in an escape proof rub will also help rehydrate the snake and won't do any harm at all ...

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Originally Posted by FireStarter

the humidity while they shed is around 70% or so. Sometimes more if I have the time to mist more often. It's not that it doesn't come off in one peice... it doesn't come off at all. She doesn't rub her head on things to get it started. She's usually fairly active but as soon as it's time to shed she just sits there and doesn't move much.

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Which is perfectly normal. Mine become pet rocks when they're getting ready to shed. As long as we keep humidity where it needs to be, they'll shed just fine without our help. They know what they need to do without us interfering. They've been doing it just fine without assistance for quite some time now...