Shedding help please

I got my girl a little under 3 weeks ago. Got her to eat a hopper mouse two weeks ago and she's been in shed since the day after that. Tomorrow will make two weeks. Now, for most of that time I've had humidity at 30-35% because I couldn't find a way to get it higher. I had to use a heat lamp because I couldn't get the tank heat up any other way. My room stays around 70 degrees, and the UTH I have wouldn't get the temp higher than 76 or so on the hot side. Figured out a way to get the humidity up just a couple days ago, and now it stays around 55-60%. During the time the humidity was low, though, I did bath her in warm water 3 times, about 2 days apart and for about 15 minutes each time, and I only bathed her because she refused to go in the humidity box I made her. Still she hasn't shed out yet. Almost all of her belly has shed (all except a very small amount at her tail). Her back and sides have started to "fray," for lack of a better word, but she doesn't seem to be trying to shed, either... The unshed skin over her right eye also appears a little wrinkly. I'm not sure when I should be worried and how and when I should help her. She is also a bit thin because that's how she was when I got her. Even though her eyes are still cover (although the pictures I have don't show it too well), should I try feeding her?
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The pictures aren't the best because of the lighting, but hopefully they are helpful.

My suggestion for such a horrible stuck shed is to first fix your husbandry. I set up a tub, with holes on the sides for ventilation, with newspaper substrate. I have a UTH (flexwatt in my case) with a thermostat under it. I put in a small hide and water dish. I pour about 1/4 cup of water on the newspaper substrate, just enough to dampen the newspaper a good amount. If she's swimming it's too much. Set the thermostat to achieve 88-92 degrees on the hot spot, put the lid on, and leave her in overnight. 99% of the time, by morning they have worked the shed off themselves, then I clean out the tub and replace everything, minus the water :)

By the way, I kind of "stumbled" upon this technique, and it worked so well I'll be doing it whenever needed. Unfortunately, I don't even use heat lamps and I've had some tricky sheds lately, thank you winter!

ok, most of her hasn't shed yet. there are a few things to try to get the shed off.

Grab a pillow case, and throw a towel that has been wet down with warm water in the pillow case and then put your snake in there. Keep her in the pillow case for 20-30 minutes and then see if any progress has been made.

There are other methods as well, but that one is my favorite.

I have a few questions for you:

1. was the UTH regulated by a thermostat?

2. how are you measuring your temps/humidity?

3. when you say the UTH couldn't get the hot side over 76 are you talking about the air temperature in the cage or the temperature of the bottom of the tank? (UTH's do not effect air temperature)

4. what type of substrate are you using?

Giving your snake a bath is actually bad for the shedding process and is unnecessary the rest of the time. By forcing them to soak they get stressed out and the water can remove essential oils from their skin that are necessary for the shedding process.

read through this thread, it will help:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...Basics...*DUW*

To answer your questions;

1. No, the UTH isn't regulated by a thermostat. When i got it the guy said I wouldn't need one.

2. I have dial Temp and Humidity gauges. I know people say to have digital ones, but I'm not sure where to get them.

3. The gauge is 1/2-1 inch above the substrate, tops.

4. I'm using aspen shaving.

As for bathing her, I was going off what my cousin was telling me, but she also didn't have to do that very often because her snake liked its humidity box. I can't get Yuki to stay in it, though, and it took browsing around a while to find a method that worked to raise the humidity.

Ok, UTH's must be on a thermostat, whoever said that they don't don't know what they are talking about. UTH's get so hot they can kill your snake.

As for the digital thermometers you can get this ne at wall mart for $12 it has 2 temperature sensors and a humidity sensor

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...nt/photo-3.jpg

How thick of a layer of aspen do you have?

Let your snake decide whether or not she wants to be in the humidity... as long as you provide ever the ability to sit in a high humidity environment she will decide whether or not to do so.

Not that thick. I'd say 1/2-2/3 inch at most. And as for the heat from it. I tried setting up the tank a couple weeks in advance (which is what showed me I need to get a heat lamp) and I could rest my hand on it and find it barely warm. I'm thinking I got a faulty one, or something, and the place I got it from is over an hour and a half away.

is it still plugged in?

No. I'm only using the heat lamp right now. It gets the tank plenty warm.

ok, good. The heat lamp should be all you need.

I would get the thermometer that I put a picture of in one of my previous posts then go from there.

What type of bulb are you using and does it stay on 24/7?

It's a 100watt red bulb, and it does stay on 24 hours. I'm going to get a 75 watt one tomorrow, though, for I'm afraid it might be getting a bit too hot at times. The hot side stays around 90 degrees, but if my room temperature fluctuates too much it can get to 95 or so. I was gonna pick one up today but was so tired after work that I forgot.

ok, I suggest that you get this particular bulb: in the 75 watt version

If you posted a picture it's not showing up. And if the pillow case method doesn't work should I try feeding her or waiting for her to finish shedding?

Hold off on feeding for about a week.

Here is the picture again.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...nt/photo-3.jpg

Alright. Thank you very much for your help. :)

No problem

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Himitsu

If you posted a picture it's not showing up. And if the pillow case method doesn't work should I try feeding her or waiting for her to finish shedding?

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That's a stuck shed she's not going to get it off by herself you have to help her get it off...I wouldn't feed her until you get the shed off.

What I have found that works best for smaller ones is wrapping them in about 4-5 continuous sheets of wet paper towels...Fold her up in it really good and put her in her enclosure over the heat...By the time she works her way out the shed should come off.

Personally I'd work to stabilize the temps and not be overly bothered with the stuck shed until the temps are done. Temp regulates everything and when they are not correct and run-a-way like you have mentioned (76º hot spot and then 90º hot spot) this should be thought of as critical and take priority over everything else.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Personally I'd work to stabilize the temps and not be overly bothered with the stuck shed until the temps are done. Temp regulates everything and when they are not correct and run-a-way like you have mentioned (76º hot spot and then 90º hot spot) this should be thought of as critical and take priority over everything else.

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I think you have misunderstood what I said. I was saying that when I tried using only the UTH the hot spot got to 76 degrees max. I switched to red bulb and it stays within 5 degrees of 90 now. Switching to a 75 watt bulb, though, because it can get up to 95 with the 100 watt, so I'm guessing it will stay between 85-90 degrees.

Ok it was a bit confusing when I first read it. Temps should always come first.

I take in a lot of rescues for rehab and then pass them along to good homes (hopefully good homes :please: ) we often get animals with stuck sheds. It is likely yours isn't dehydrated so that makes it easier. All I usually do is just correct the humidity to 55-65%. Sometimes I will place a damp rag in the enclosure over night (remove it in the am) and just let the snake deal with the shed by themselves (less stress on the animal) it usually works well. If that does not work I just leave it UNLESS there is a unbroken 'ring' of shed anywhere (like the tail tip) or multiple eye caps (3+) the tail tip can be soaked for 20 min and rolled off same for most body circles the eye caps I have seen only once and the animal was taken to the vet to get help. Under normal circumstances the eye caps will come off on their own or at the next shed I would strongly argue against trying to remove them your self. and NEVER use tape to try to remove them!

I would agree with what has been said so far get your husbandry in order and the shed should take care of itself pretty quick. As for your setup I am thinking its a tank and I have a great solution for Humidity and temp stabilization in tanks.


First I covered 3 sides of the tank with aquarium background (the only good item I have found from Petsmart) just to make it look nicer for me to look at.

Second I took some cardboard and cut it to fit the 3 covered sides. Then I taped one side of the cardboard with foil tape to reflect heat back into the tank and taped the cardboard to the 3 coverd sides of the tank as seen below.

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...83841836_n.jpg

As for the screen top I purchased a peice of plexi from HomeDepot and cut it to fit just inside the slider top for my tank. Drilled a few holes in it for ventilation and one large hole for the CHE. Taped a portion of it with foil tape and left the back untaped for the tank light. I do like to see my snake when she is out

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...64496118_n.jpg

Heat is supplied from a 60W CHE and Flexwatt 11 taped to the bottom. The CHE is set at about 50% on a lamp dimmer from HomeDepot (plan to get a dual T-stat for it in the future) The Flexwatt is set on a Vivarium VE 300 T-stat set to 96F. This keep my hot spot at 91F and ambient at 78-81F as room temps fluctuate a little. My Snake seems to love it she just got a great checkup from the vet and is eating like a pig. Hasn't refused a meal yet. As you can see in the photo below room temp was about 68f and tank temps were exactly what I wanted them to be. Hope this helps out and feel free to ask me any questions you might have.


http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...84084614_n.jpg

i baught this stuff called repti shed aid by zoo med it says it aids in removing dry sheds, conditions reptiles skin and keeps the skin moist and pliable, i talked to a few people at an expo that use it and love it and i also looked up reviews for it and never saw a negative comment, its also cheap about 5 dollars a bottle

Quote:

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Originally Posted by warlord

i baught this stuff called repti shed aid by zoo med it says it aids in removing dry sheds, conditions reptiles skin and keeps the skin moist and pliable, i talked to a few people at an expo that use it and love it and i also looked up reviews for it and never saw a negative comment, its also cheap about 5 dollars a bottle

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I'm not sure I trust that stuff, it probably isn't bad for the snake but what does it actually do? (I know what he bottle says it does...)