First Shed!

My BP Shaggy is starting to shed and I was just about to clean the tank ffor it stinks. Shoudl I just let him be and fight through the smell or go ahead with the cleaning?

Hi,

When you say staring to shed what do you mean exactly?

If you mean belly going pink and eyes getting cloudy then I would say go ahead and clean as you have a good few days yet.

If you mean he has actually started removing the skin I owuld say wait until he has finished as it generally only takes a short while and they tend to poop and pee afterwards anyway. :)


dr del

i'm confused

Hes almost done just have a quarter left on him how long does it usually take to complete?

Hi,

Generally about 3 hours for mine - how long has he been at it?

I should point out some of mine can be lazy and stop for hours at a time then finish it later and one gernerally gets half way through and gives up. :rolleyes:


dr del

Its been a couple days Shaggy just has about not even a quarter of its end left but has just stayed in his hid and has not left. A little more is coming off each day i keep finding new pieces but I am just wondering when and how I should help?

Sounds like the humidity level is really low since it's taking so long and coming off in pieces. You may want to give him a bath and let him soak for a little while. Others with more experience will probably have better advice. My snake just shed for the first time under my care. I misted his enclosure a few times a day and kept a damp wash cloth on the screen to keep humidity between 60-80% from the moment I saw his belly turning pink. I woke up one morning and he shed completely in one piece during the night. Don't know how long it took him but it was less than 8 hours.

Ok I will remember that for sure next time he had just finished his shed. I did some reloctaion of the tank and I did some insulating of the tank and have gotten the humidity up quite a bit but I will remember that for next thanks

Yep, with proper humidity and something to rub against, the actual shed can take as little as an hour.

He still has a little tip fo skin left on his tail.
I thought he had finished his shed a while ago and he ate fine in fact fastest yet but today I just noticed the little bit of skin left on the tail.

Hi,

How long is it since he ate?

I would let him have at least 48 hours from when he ate to digest his meal then let him soak in 86f water half way up his sides for about 15-30 minutes then let him slither through a washcloth to try and get that off.

The only time you really should keep trying to remove stuck shed is when it completely encircles the snakes body like it normally does with the tip of the tail. :)


dr del