Shedding

How long does it take a bp to shed? Ribbon's skin started getting scratchy-ish about a week ago, and last Wednesday her eyes were looking cloudy and you could see little flakes starting to come off. Not much change until today, when I took her out her face skin was lying on the bottom of the tank, but that's all she's shed so far. How long do you think it'll be until she's done?

Emily

It's normally a two week process, from when their skin starts getting scratchy until the time they shed. If she already shed her face off, make sure her eye caps came with it and bump up the humidity (mist the tank or put her in her water bowl to soak). She'll do it on her own, just leave her be for today until she sheds. She should be just fine.

Mine takes a week from start to finish, I think there is good info in the caresheet.

usually when i notice the skin start to crack on the tip of the snakes nose it takes an hour or two.

She still hasn't shed, and I tried soaking her in water and I've been misting the tank since I noticed she was shedding two weeks ago. The care sheet said to slide the skin off of her... but it's not sliding. Any advice? SHould I just wait?
Emily

I would just wait, snakes have a tendency of doing these things on their own. :P If you can see the actual skin sitting there, not coming off; then I would say try rubbing it off gently with your hands again. I have had to do this before, it works pretty well. But since you say it isn't coming off, that probably means it isn't ready to come off. Just wait awhile longer. When you tried rubbing the skin off, did you start from the neck? It's most likely not going to work if you don't start from the neck, or the point in which the skin stopped coming off.

Jennifer

lol I tried but unsurprisingly she didn't want me rubbing the back of her head. =)

Emily

Yeah, they don't like it, but it is for the best. If you don't want to, then don't. She will most likely do it on her own. Another thing I could suggest that has worked for me, is put her in a rubbermaid if you have one. You could either fill it with water and just have her soak, or fill it with some water, and put a wad of paper towels in there so when she is going to finish shedding, she has something to rub on. Both have worked for me. And when you put her in there, if you notice her starting to shed, you could finish helping her out. Leave her in there most of the day unless you see that she shed quickly.

here's what i've done in the past and its worked for me well

i soak a towel in luke warm water and fill a rubbermaid or bath tub up with about 2 inches of water. let the snake crawl through the water soaked towel and "play" in the tub for 20-30 mins then just take the wet towel and gently rub the skin off
good luck

It's day 3 of her skin being flaky and hanging off but not coming off. I've been soaking her every day, is there anything else I should do?

Emily

take a picture...


i dont think ive ever seen a snake begin to shed and not at least try to finish unless it was really sick.

Sorry, I don't have a digital camera. =( She's acting fine.. Flicking her tongue and exploring everything. From the tip of her nose to behind her eyes, she shed that already, but you can see the old skin behind her eyes where it starts and then the rest of her looks very dull (because of the old skin) except for a few pieces that have already been shed. Her belly is flaking off a lot of pieces but they only pull off easily up to the colored part. I've tried rubbing the skin off of her head, but I didn't want to try too hard and squish her, you know? but it won't come off. Should I take her to a vet?

Emily

When mine had trouble with shedding in a million piece and some of it still stayed on him, I let him soak for about 15-20 minutes and when I took him out, all but one little piece was still hanging on which was removed very easly.

What kind of water bowl do you have? I use a 5 quart rubbermaid container with a hole cut in the lid, and about 2 inches of water in it. Mine likes to get in it and hide and soak. Just got to make sure the water dosent get to cool. I have mine partially over the heat pad to keep it at a decent temp.

try the towel soak thing
its worked for me in the past with corns and bp's
if that doesn't work then i'm all outta idea's!

Make sure you get that humidity up there when all of this blows over.