Please help! Extremely bad shed (NOTHING came off)

Hi,

I really need help, I don't know what to do.

Long story short, my ball python had an extremely bad shed because there was there was no humidity and no water in her dish for up to a few days when she tried to shed.

Her skin is all cracked and old, and it's still on her.

What can I do to help get it off her?

I would soak her a bit. Why was there no water in her bowl for a few days??

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Originally Posted by Mft62485

I would soak her a bit. Why was there no water in her bowl for a few days??

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I agree. There is a lot of things you can do to increase humidity and keeping water in their dish is the easiest thing to do.. Soak her in 85-90 degree water, keep an eye on the temperature and don't let it fall bellow 78-80. Soak them for 10-15 minutes and you can try running a clean wet face cloth or towelette down over them always moving from head to tail. Do the best you can and put them back in her enclosure with something to rub against... Do Not pick the shed off with your fingers, you can pull of scales accidentally.

I agree with the other posts and you need to keep an eye on snake's husbandry minimum once a day check if not more. And you should never run out of water in my opinion. Snakes don't drink a lot and regardless require water for much more than drinking. Well I'm not going to sit here and chew you out, not my style but please ask someone if soaking doesn't help with the shed and X2 on the don't pull it off your self. Get the humidity up so that after the soak the snake can do its thing.

You could also try putting her in a wet pillow case in her enclosure.She should be able to work it off herself. Please make sure your BP has water at all times. When they are in shed you need to bump up the humidity. Misting often will help.

While soaking, do not guess at temps. Use an aquarium thermometer ($4) to get your water to 88deg. F. and do not let it cool below 82deg.

Same temps if you use a damp pillow case, be careful it will cool much faster then a tub of water and may require a supplemental heat source.

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Originally Posted by Maixx

While soaking, do not guess at temps. Use an aquarium thermometer ($4) to get your water to 88deg. F. and do not let it cool below 82deg.

Same temps if you use a damp pillow case, be careful it will cool much faster then a tub of water and may require a supplemental heat source.

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Exactly. I always put the pillowcase with my snake inside on a heating pad. Also himidifies the pillow case and throw a soaked wash cloth in the pillowcase s well so the snake can rub against it. Turn the pillowcase inside out and check the pillowcase for holes so it doesn't escape.

Thank you very much everyone, I'm going to try the pillow case.

I was out of town for a week.

I had my brother refill her water, but instead of refilling the water rock, apparently he *only* refilled the mug that I put in there for extra humidity. When I came back, my snake had knocked it over.

Seriously, freak my retarded brother, you have no idea how pissed I am.

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Originally Posted by Flowerbridge

Thank you very much everyone, I'm going to try the pillow case.

I was out of town for a week.

I had my brother refill her water, but instead of refilling the water rock, apparently he *only* refilled the mug that I put in there for extra humidity. When I came back, my snake had knocked it over.

Seriously, freak my retarded brother, you have no idea how pissed I am.

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These things happen. So don't kill your brother...lol and ask if you need anymore help. The pillowcase technique can take anywhere for 30-60 min to work. So keep a close eye on your snake and the temps of the pillowcase. Good luck.

Awe, sorry you have bad shed stress. Just went through it myself :mad:

My girl had a residual piece of shed on her tail until her next shed. It was making me crazy. Soaking did nothing, pillowcase did nothing. I finally gave up and it all came off with her next shed cycle.

Absolutely either soak her or do the pillowcase method. Both accomplish the same thing. You may need to do it a couple times with a really awful shed. The most important thing is getting the shed off the eye caps and face. That seems to be what annoys the snake the most, so they take care of it first usually. Also, you don't want shed constricting the tip of the tail. Over time, it can cut off the circulation. But if you and the snake together can get the shed off of those mentioned areas but there are still stuck patches, just give it up til next time. Provided the humidity and temps are right the second time around, it will usually come right off. You're snake will just look kind of ridiculous til that time comes.

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Originally Posted by Emily Hubbard

Awe, sorry you have bad shed stress. Just went through it myself :mad:

My girl had a residual piece of shed on her tail until her next shed. It was making me crazy. Soaking did nothing, pillowcase did nothing. I finally gave up and it all came off with her next shed cycle.

Absolutely either soak her or do the pillowcase method. Both accomplish the same thing. You may need to do it a couple times with a really awful shed. The most important thing is getting the shed off the eye caps and face. That seems to be what annoys the snake the most, so they take care of it first usually. Also, you don't want shed constricting the tip of the tail. Over time, it can cut off the circulation. But if you and the snake together can get the shed off of those mentioned areas but there are still stuck patches, just give it up til next time. Provided the humidity and temps are right the second time around, it will usually come right off. You're snake will just look kind of ridiculous til that time comes.

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I'm sorry you contradict yourself in your post..

Your advice is to just give it up until next time, unless the head and the tip of the tail isn't free of shed? really?

Stuck shed is not something that just looks ridiculous.. If your husbandry is proper than you shouldn't have any problems with shedding. Stuck shed is not a silly, funny thing. Its annoying and can be painful to your snake, especially if you have a constant issue with your humidity..

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Originally Posted by decensored

I'm sorry you contradict yourself in your post..

Your advice is to just give it up until next time, unless the head and the tip of the tail isn't free of shed? really?

Stuck shed is not something that just looks ridiculous.. If your husbandry is proper than you shouldn't have any problems with shedding. Stuck shed is not a silly, funny thing. Its annoying and can be painful to your snake, especially if you have a constant issue with your humidity..

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My advice is to try soaking, perhaps multiple times, but if the shed remains stuck to stop stressing the snake and let nature solve it next shed, provided you fix the humidity issues. Bad sheds happen, 99% of the time because of a humidity issue. It was stated that this was a humidity issue. My bad shed was because my snake was shipped to me while in shed. Major humidity issue. I soaked 4 times and still could not get everything off. So I stopped soaking and decided that all I was doing was adding more stress and that I would allow another shed cycle before I got worried. My girl went through shed again and came out beautiful.

All I was saying is that with a terrible shed, there is only so much you can do and the snake may not get it all off until the next shed. Fix the humidity problem ASAP, do a few soaks, and let nature take it from there. Fix the root of the problem and it is sure to go better next time. I was not trying to make it sound like no big deal, I apologize if it came off that way. Simply stating than in my experience with a bad shed, I couldn't fix it. I fixed the humidity, and the next shed fixed the bad one.

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Originally Posted by Emily Hubbard

My advice is to try soaking, perhaps multiple times, but if the shed remains stuck to stop stressing the snake and let nature solve it next shed, provided you fix the humidity issues. Bad sheds happen, 99% of the time because of a humidity issue. It was stated that this was a humidity issue. My bad shed was because my snake was shipped to me while in shed. Major humidity issue. I soaked 4 times and still could not get everything off. So I stopped soaking and decided that all I was doing was adding more stress and that I would allow another shed cycle before I got worried. My girl went through shed again and came out beautiful.

All I was saying is that with a terrible shed, there is only so much you can do and the snake may not get it all off until the next shed. Fix the humidity problem ASAP, do a few soaks, and let nature take it from there. Fix the root of the problem and it is sure to go better next time. I was not trying to make it sound like no big deal, I apologize if it came off that way. Simply stating than in my experience with a bad shed, I couldn't fix it. I fixed the humidity, and the next shed fixed the bad one.

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good response lol sorry I'm a little tired and crabby :P

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Originally Posted by decensored

good response lol sorry I'm a little tired and crabby :P

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No problem :)

This technique also works...

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hed-No-problem.

I've had a couple bad sheds since I turned on my space heater. Usually bumping up the humidity in the tub takes care of it, but I had to soak one of my males to get his shed off, he had a stuck eye cap too. I just put them in a plastic tub of warm water with a hand towel for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes I run the wet towel down their body and it gets most, if not all of the shed off. It's harder to get it off their necks, but I got his eye cap and everything else off no problem.