Bad shed? No problem.

Thanks tigerlilly,

But no I am sorry I meant a 9 day old BP, she just hatched and when she shed her first shed she retained the skin on her head. I got the skin off via some advice from another post on this forum.

Thanks,

Dell

Help! I gave Mr. Snake extra time with his bad shed (first shed living with us) - about 36 hours or more in total, since he was still making an effort the other night.

Last night, I followed the tutorial (wonderful, thank you!). He hated being in the plastic box, but seemed to appreciate the help with the shed. However, he spent most of the time in the box trying to find a way to get out and his head never soaked. I still couldn't get the skin off his head, nose, and left eye. This is due in part to the difficulty of trying to do it while being gentle and, in part, to his refusal to let me do it.

My question is: should I try again or just leave him alone? Any tips?

I'd go ahead and try one more time. Did the eyecaps get retained? Just use a paper towel/pillowcase/washcloth and gently wipe away the shed.

I'm glad that this thread was able to help you. You can also try adding humid hide to the enlosure as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

I'd go ahead and try one more time. Did the eyecaps get retained? Just use a paper towel/pillowcase/washcloth and gently wipe away the shed.

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The left eye spectacle is still on. The right one he got off himself. It seems he got most of the skin under his chin off. It's his head, nose, left eye that remain.

Do you think I should soak again? Or just apply a warm wet cloth for a few minutes and then try again?

Thanks!!

Soak again, that should loosen up the scales. I'd work until you at least remove that last eyecap.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

Soak again, that should loosen up the scales. I'd work until you at least remove that last eyecap.

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Success! Thank you for the advice. And to the original post tutorial. I managed to get all of the skin off Mr. Snake's head. It turns out that both eyecaps were still on. The hard part for him was probably the heat pits. I got it all, y'all!

Here is a picture showing the eyecaps, heat pits, and a little tag of something that came out between the nostrils. Does anyone know what that is? :confused: It is not hollow like the heat pit circles, but rather "meatier."

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...eyecapstag.JPG

I just want to make sure I didn't hurt him. Also, I am just very curious about this whole thing. How cool to see it up close!

The bad news is that the snake was VERY stressed when I was doing it. I was attempting to be as gentle as possible, but without an extra set of hands, he was doing the equivalent of the crocodile death roll. Poor guy. The result was that he "nipped" me in the process. I truly believe it was instinctual and not aggressive. He did it when I was getting the second eyecap off (not during what must have been the worse part - the removal of the heat pit skin). My membership card in the "club":

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...nip_863722.JPG

The "nip" felt like half between a pinch and a very mild bee sting.

Afterwards, I held him against my chest with one hand while I got his tank organized again and misted it down, during which he was still and completely non-aggressive.

In my book, all's well that ends well. We'll try to feed him tomorrow.

Glad to hear you were able to get all the shed off. :gj: Sorry about the nip though, although you do get that nifty club membership now. ;)

Hats off for grabbing a camera too! :colbert2:

Now about that extra thing.... I think that it's probable that it's just a shed from the heat pit itself. Or maybe a retained one from an old shed, but I can't really tell.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MelissaFlipski

Success! Thank you for the advice. And to the original post tutorial. I managed to get all of the skin off Mr. Snake's head. It turns out that both eyecaps were still on. The hard part for him was probably the heat pits. I got it all, y'all!

Here is a picture showing the eyecaps, heat pits, and a little tag of something that came out between the nostrils. Does anyone know what that is? :confused: It is not hollow like the heat pit circles, but rather "meatier."

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...eyecapstag.JPG

I just want to make sure I didn't hurt him. Also, I am just very curious about this whole thing. How cool to see it up close!

The bad news is that the snake was VERY stressed when I was doing it. I was attempting to be as gentle as possible, but without an extra set of hands, he was doing the equivalent of the crocodile death roll. Poor guy. The result was that he "nipped" me in the process. I truly believe it was instinctual and not aggressive. He did it when I was getting the second eyecap off (not during what must have been the worse part - the removal of the heat pit skin). My membership card in the "club":

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...nip_863722.JPG

The "nip" felt like half between a pinch and a very mild bee sting.

Afterwards, I held him against my chest with one hand while I got his tank organized again and misted it down, during which he was still and completely non-aggressive.

In my book, all's well that ends well. We'll try to feed him tomorrow.

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Great pics I love it. Welcome to the club!!!

Hi,


Glad you got it all sorted.:)

If I had to guess I would say what you have there is a meaty bogie.:P :picknose:

Of course it could just be a bit of unshed skin from the last time.:oops:



dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

If I had to guess I would say what you have there is a meaty bogie.

Of course it could just be a bit of unshed skin from the last time.
dr del

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LOL! I love it. But somehow I don't think he has boogars!

Could be from last shed or could it be from his tongue slot (lingua fossa, is it called?)?

By the way, we tried a F/T adult mouse this morning and he wouldn't eat. We'll try again tonight.

Mr. Snake took his first live adult mouse tonight. Instinct kicked in and his 3 weeks of no eating are over! All is well.

trying this but it doesn't seem to be working too well. he shed his nose to right before his eyes and I'm trying to roll it back but its not working. we have him soaking in a little Tupperware thing with some holes cut in it. he wont go through it and keeps moving when i try to actually rub it back (go figure - I'm goin for his head). I'm afraid I'll hurt him if i put much more force into the procedure but its been 2 days since the nose piece came off and he's not doing anything about it. i'm soaking him a bit longer and going to try again, but if this fails again - any help anyone could give me? by the way, this is his first shed since we got him. we live in an area where the average humidity is very rarely above 30% so its kind of hard to keep the humidity up for him, but we're trying.

my bp had a bad shed last shed and it left him with a head cap that wouldn't come off...it looked funny, almost like a cap on his head. I just kept soaking him everyday and finally today, a week later, I soaked him and got a wet towel and just stroked his head over and over gently and it came off. Good luck!

I have to thank you for this post.

Today I picked up a BP from an ad on Craigslist. Free to a good home. The ad read:

2 FREE female adult ball pythons. Tank included. Call XXX-XXXX

Surprisingly, the drive was less than three minutes from my home. Once we get there the guy said someone picked up the ONE of the snakes. Ok, no problem I thought. We go into his basement and the smell almost knocked me over. No heat or light on the tank. The tank reeked and it was obvious that the other snake had passed away and he tossed it. The snake looks like it had not eaten in months...almost a "flat" appearance..Thick eye caps, the most horrible shed I have ever seen. I left everything except the snake. I was in tears when I drove away. :tears:

By the time I got home, I was furious :rage: But glad he ended up with me.

She'll see the vet asap and did take a small mouse. Although skinny, with the help of this post, has shed completely and looks better.

so thanks for posting this...it's helped alot! :)

Your welcome.

Just remember to warm up her digestive system with a few small meals before you start on a good sized meal. Best of luck with the rescue.

hey guys mitch shed and it didnt come off all at once, he rubbed the head and eyes off himself and then just left the rest and was real lazy bout it, so i soaked and helped him out and it looks like all of it came off. but now he has 2spots on either side of his head rite above his eyes that are not "shiny" like the rest of him and it doesnt seem to be coming off or even look like a shed, my question is could that be a shed that wont come off (he doesnt like having anythin touch his head at all) and whats the worst thatll happen if it is a shed and i leave it alone? please please please help!:please:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by naba2002

hey guys mitch shed and it didnt come off all at once, he rubbed the head and eyes off himself and then just left the rest and was real lazy bout it, so i soaked and helped him out and it looks like all of it came off. but now he has 2spots on either side of his head rite above his eyes that are not "shiny" like the rest of him and it doesnt seem to be coming off or even look like a shed, my question is could that be a shed that wont come off (he doesnt like having anythin touch his head at all) and whats the worst thatll happen if it is a shed and i leave it alone? please please please help!:please:

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If it's only a couple scales, you can probably leave it and see if it resolves with the following shed. It's possible that the new scales are dull, and it's not retained shed... in which case you don't want to keep rubbing. If you could post a picture, that would allow us to be of more help.

yea i tried rubbin it lightly twice and he jus wasnt having it so i let him be and im tryin to get a good pic where you can see it well enough. but thanks i didnt no that new scales can be dull just becuz. will they get the shine back to them or ....?

Sometimes they lose that top layer of the scale and it looks dull. The problem usually resolves itself after the next shed. Just make sure to double check your humidiy. ;)

yea thats exactly wat it looks like ive got my humid at a constant 60% thanks guys

i leave a container in my bp's cage where she can go in with an inch of water. i have noticed when she is ready to shed she goes in is this a bad thing to have to offer all the time?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ineedmore

i leave a container in my bp's cage where she can go in with an inch of water. i have noticed when she is ready to shed she goes in is this a bad thing to have to offer all the time?

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How are you measuring your humidity levels? If you get that humidity to a consistent 50+% and 60-65% during a shed cycle she shouldn't need a container to soak in.

Yeah, I had to do that last week and I saw the 8ball guys had a video on it and it worked great.

I just want to post t say a big thank you for the informative post. My Normal female has always been very good with her shed but this time she seemed to have difficulty. Having never had to soak her before i didn't really know how long i should do it for or anything so - thank you for the pics etc - she is now back to her brilliant glowing self! :):gj:

i just rescued a ball python from a "friend" of mine who didn't know what she was doing and kind of got the snake dumped on her. i'm pretty sure the bad shed started weeks ago and the snake still has the majority of it's skin on the top attached.

this tutorial will definately prove very helpful to me. i will let everyone kno how it goes.

thanks again, lovely snake u have there.

and PS, i've heard it's good to have a container of water available for the snake to be able to soak in at its leisure? is this true?

I was told that this was a BIG no no from someone one this board!
I have a baby that had a bad shed. No I am all confused???? :confused:

Excellent tutorial...I just finished soaking and helping Commodus, I let her soak for abour 30-45 mins, then kept her in the water and used my hand to get her old skin off, even let me touch her head...now she's bright and shiny...:)

Thanx

I have been having this problem with my BP for the last few sheds and i think its due to the the Humidity being to low...how can i keep humidity up to have a good shed?

:gj: Good Job, Very Nice

good info, that will come in handy when the time comes:D
especially for someone like me thats new to having snakes

Wow this really helped me a lot! My female spider was having a heck of a time sheding and it all came off with one try. Thanks again for the great post!

heyyy, im new here and i have a question for u
my ball python had a bad shed and iv gave her a bath just like u did at the top the only problem is she sill has skin left of her head and after a bath i try to rub it off but she wont let me....any ideas?

You can always try using a wet pillowcase, and then putting the snake back in the enclosure for an hour. I usually just repeat the soaking the following day and the gets rid of anything that sticks around.

What do u mean by that?
..like instead of a soak of after a soak put her in a wet pillowcase?

Yup. Sorry for not clarifying that a bit more. I've had sick kids which means little sleep for me, and I'm barely coherent on good days. ;)

I've always had the above method work, even if it's taken two days, but I've heard of great success with the wet pillowcases too.

oh ok cool, ill just keep tryin
but ya dont worry about it :)
and thx a lot for the help

sry if i sound dumb but i didnt clearly understand one part.. when is it best to give a bath?? afterr the shed?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ohkid918

sry if i sound dumb but i didnt clearly understand one part.. when is it best to give a bath?? afterr the shed?

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It's best to do what is outlined here after a bad shed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ohkid918

sry if i sound dumb but i didnt clearly understand one part.. when is it best to give a bath?? afterr the shed?

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It's probably just me be freaky about wording, but this is not about bathing. This is just one means to remove a bad shed, so you should not soak beforehand. I will wait a day or two after the shed has occurred, and there is a significant amount of that shed that is retained. Hope that helps.

wantes to say thanks to the OP, this helpped me allot with a recent bad shed and, im glad to say mhy BP is doing great now. and looks very good as well.

I just had 2 bad shed from my BP's for some reason...Wasn't happy with it at all..But this method really worked great...I had one just like the post a little bit ago with the remnants on the head of my spider...I just put an extra wash cloth in there and tried to make gaps for her to slide around and under...And bingo she when under the washcloth a couple times and I saw the skin just dangling by her side...I was wayyyyy happy...But then again, I was probably way lucky too...Good luck...

What about eye caps?? As mine has one and can't seem to get it off for nothing. I have tried a few tricks but still nothing. I tried soaking and then a q tip. I have tried soaking then scotch tape and it seems like it is stuck in the eye socket?? Any suggestions? He is about to shed again soon will this one come off with the new one??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BLong7211

What about eye caps?? As mine has one and can't seem to get it off for nothing. I have tried a few tricks but still nothing. I tried soaking and then a q tip. I have tried soaking then scotch tape and it seems like it is stuck in the eye socket?? Any suggestions? He is about to shed again soon will this one come off with the new one??

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Brian from Snakebytes recommended using one of those rubber thumbs to gently wipe them off. I'd soak first and then try that.

But to clarify are you sure it's a retained eyecap and not a dented (dehydrated) eyecap? Sometimes if the humidity is too low the eyecap will look wrinkled and it's a hydration problem and not a retained eyecap.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

I thought I would try and make a visual step by step guide for soaking, since this problem comes up quite frequently. It is possible to contribute to a bad shed by soaking prior to the actual shed. These steps should be taken after the shed has failed to come off. If the snake has not managed to complete it's shed after 24 hours, then it's okay to help it out.

Step 1 - Start with a bad shed. They're really not a big deal, and happen to everyone. Just double check your husbandry that you are providing 50-60% humidity, and 70% during the shed cycle.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../6/9/shed1.jpg

Step 2 - Grab a container (mine is a shoebox sized rubbermaid) and fill the container with tepid (luke warm) water to 1/2 to 3/4 the "height" of your snake. You do NOT want the snake to have to swim constantly.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../6/9/shed2.jpg

I throw in a old wash cloth as well, and then use it later to help remove shed. This part is not necessary.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../6/9/shed3.jpg

Step 3 - Put snake in the container.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../6/9/shed4.jpg

Step 4 - Put lid on. (There are no holes in this container, and aren't necessary as the container is NOT air tight and we will only be leaving the snake in here for ONLY a hour - no more!) Once the snake is secured in the container, place the whole setup back into the enclosure whether it's in a rack or tank. (I just happen to have a rack) Let soak 45 - 60 minutes.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../6/9/shed5.jpg

Step 5 - After 60 minutes remove the container and snake. I use the washcloth, and let the snake slide through it to remove the shed. You can use whatever is handy.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../6/9/shed6.jpg

Step 6 - A happy, well shed snake. If you were not able to get all the shed off in this attempt. Wait 24 hours and try again until all shed is gone. (which should not take more than a couple attemtps)

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../6/9/shed7.jpg

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I did this and it works. However, we all know how head shy BP's can be and mines no different. That's the only place that the shed didn't come off. Any suggestions to get the skin off of his head?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by amaurer2

I did this and it works. However, we all know how head shy BP's can be and mines no different. That's the only place that the shed didn't come off. Any suggestions to get the skin off of his head?

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Head shy or not, I just gently rub off any shed the same as I would any other place. Sometimes it's just a bit harder and takes a bit more determination. ;)

Brian from BHB had a great tip of using a 'rubber thumb' to help get off any extra shed.

If it's not covering the eye and is only just a small bit of retained shed, you could always wait and see if it comes off with the next shed as well. :)

Thank you so much for this. I just got my first ball python about a month ago, and this really helped with his first shed [:

nice post

Wow - what a Godsend this thread is. Here I am... first BP... second shed. First shed he did like a champ. This one ... nope. He had blue eyes last thursday. I've been waiting and waiting for the shed. This morning I found his head piece (with both eye caps in it - thank heaven for something good). Shed hanging off at his neck. He's not able to get it started. I can see him trying - his little hide a hut is moving and moving all over the tank with him in it. But his little head right above where the shed is stuck is getting duller and duller - like he's just rubbing and rubbing to get it going and can't. There's a few bits and pieces on the ground along with lots of what look to be 'single' scales.

My question is.. do I really need to wait 24 hours before giving him help? Or would it be OK to set up a soak box this afternoon and help him along?

Hi,

If he is still trying to remove it you could try helping him a bit by giving him (and his enclosure) a light misting. You don't want to go so far that it is wet or anything just a light spray to see if it helps loosen the edge up for him.


dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

If he is still trying to remove it you could try helping him a bit by giving him (and his enclosure) a light misting. You don't want to go so far that it is wet or anything just a light spray to see if it helps loosen the edge up for him.


dr del

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Thanks for the tip. I tried that for him and he still seemed to be struggling, so I did the whole soak box and washcloth. Needed my Staples 'Easy' button when I was done with that. He slithered right thru the washcloth in my hand and everything came off like a charm.