Shed Issue

Ive had my Ball python for about a month now. Hes going into his first shed since ive had him. He had some obvious bad shed on him when i got him fromt he pet store so ive been keeping a close eye on him and misting to keep it around 70-80% since i noticed him go into shed. Today he started workin the shed off, looked like it was going well, his head was clear of shed and he was beginning to go down his body when i check on him this morning. Came back a few hours later after running errands and noticed the head piece of shed was gone (on floor of tank) but he hadnt shed much further. It looks like a tornado went trhough his cage, everything is over turned from him rubbing. He has a moist hide he could use and a water source big enough to soak in, though i never saw him use it. I am a bit concerned. i have read and know about soaking and useing a cloth to let him slither through to remove a bad shed. Was wondering when i should start that, and what could have caused this. My humidity never drops below 60%. i use digital acu-rite to monitor it.

I have never actually witnessed my snakes shedding so I am not sure how long the process takes. I think if has taken a few hours and you are concerned you should start the soaking or towel thing, but I have not had a snake that has bad sheds so someone else may say different. If it were me I would probably take "remedial action" lol and do something to try to help out a bit...

i dont know if it's bad but when ive seen my snakes shed i always help them out by rolling the shed till it comes off

Many times the head piece will come off first and not be attached to the shed skin. You can soak it in water now if you want. Just remember, warm to us it hot to them. Use a thermometer to make sure the water is a good temp.

If your misting and your humidity has been good I'm sure he will shed soon by itself. Just check every hot to make sure it doesn't get stuck around it, cutting the circulation off to the rest of the body.

soak him in water about 78 to 84 degrees F. well vented tub with lid on. water level no higher than half way up his body. soak 20 mins. if still hard to come off, do another 20 mins keeping water at the correct temp range. if he was going thru bad sheds, it sometimes takes a little time before he will start shedding in one piece. too high of humidity will also cause shed problems too. also make sure you get the shed off the tip of his tail. this can cause some bad problems. give it time, good luck don

Thank you, will give him a soak and keep a close eye on him.

An hour long soak and a lot of slithering through the towel i put in with him and all shed finally came off, includeing the remaining bad shed he had when i got him. I purchased a second acu-rite temp/humid guage today and it reads the same as the last one, 50-60% hunidity. If anyone has any thoughts as to why he had such a horrible shed and ways to prevent it in the future, i would be greatful.

An hour is pretty long for a soak, must of us will do 15 to 20 mintues. Why do you say this was a bad shed? If it came off well and it looks good now, whats the problem? It just took alittle longer than you wanted.

About the tornado in the tank.
What kinda things are in the tank with it. I mean, is everything smooth or are there some rougher items for it to rub on? If its all smooth and your snake is trying to use it to shed it will not get any good friction and therfor move everything around. Also you might try anchoring the items in the substrate. I anchor all my items in the substrate and it never moves. If your using a paper then moving the items will be a regular thing.

If your concerned about the next shed I would make a shed box. I am a naturalistic keeper and choose the Exo-Terra Snake Cave for mine. It looks nice and it comes with moss that will stay as damp as you want it creating a nice humid hide. If you dont care about looks you can use any sturdy container. Cut a hole large enough for your snake and place damp material(paper towels, moss, etc.) inside. I also suggest using a container that is not clear so it will feel more secure using it.

He has a humid hide with moss inside, always kept slightly damp. He has 2 plastic rock shaped hides, and i have a half log i kept in for him to rub on when he sheds. All items were burried into the substrate. It came off in all tiny pieces, and he worked him self exhausted trying to get that far over the past 2 days. I admit im new, but with a 2 month old snake and proper humidity i would have expeted it to come off failry easily. As for the hour, i planned to do 15-20 then let him be till tomarrow and see if i need to saok him again. But when i checked on the water temp and him he was rubbing away on the towel so i made sure the water was ok and left him be.

Oh. Its still not a bad shed if it all came off and he looks good, just not ideal. Just keep his numbers right and Im sure it will get easier. Not seeing him previously I cant say for sure but, it is possilbe that because of the last bad shed it caused this shed not to come off in one piece. Next time you can start using soaks earlier and I bet you will have a great shed.

As it gets easier he wont need to rub as much and should stop messing up his house, though this may just be his thing. I had a king snake that would always move things around.

Keep us posted on his next shed.

Yeah, tossing his room isnt a big deal lol. It is possible the old shed caused him issues, all the bad spots were in the center top and bottom of his head. I will definitely try soaking him earlier. I was hopeing he would use his water bowl or moss hide, but maybe he hasnt quite caught on yet. But your right he looks 100% better without the brown ruff spots of old shed on his head. I expected a little agression but he didnt even hiss at me handleing him, he just worked his shed off and curled up in my hand lol. I was pretty sure i could handle it but always like opinions of those more experienced. Should be a bit more ready for next time, though hopefully no complications will come up next round haha.

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Originally Posted by KMG

An hour is pretty long for a soak, must of us will do 15 to 20 mintues. Why do you say this was a bad shed? If it came off well and it looks good now, whats the problem? It just took alittle longer than you wanted.

About the tornado in the tank.
What kinda things are in the tank with it. I mean, is everything smooth or are there some rougher items for it to rub on? If its all smooth and your snake is trying to use it to shed it will not get any good friction and therfor move everything around. Also you might try anchoring the items in the substrate. I anchor all my items in the substrate and it never moves. If your using a paper then moving the items will be a regular thing.

If your concerned about the next shed I would make a shed box. I am a naturalistic keeper and choose the Exo-Terra Snake Cave for mine. It looks nice and it comes with moss that will stay as damp as you want it creating a nice humid hide. If you dont care about looks you can use any sturdy container. Cut a hole large enough for your snake and place damp material(paper towels, moss, etc.) inside. I also suggest using a container that is not clear so it will feel more secure using it.

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as long as you can keep the water temp around 78 to 84 F and have good ventilation, you can soak them over night.

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Originally Posted by Seth702

An hour long soak and a lot of slithering through the towel i put in with him and all shed finally came off, includeing the remaining bad shed he had when i got him. I purchased a second acu-rite temp/humid guage today and it reads the same as the last one, 50-60% hunidity. If anyone has any thoughts as to why he had such a horrible shed and ways to prevent it in the future, i would be greatful.

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the acu-rite temp / humidity guage can be mis-leading. I have about 7 of them. and if I place new batteries in all of them, place them in my incubator on the same level. I will get different readings on most of them. as much as 20% humidity and a few degrees difference.

what I would do is, keep your humidity around 60 - 65% with acu-rite. when he goes into a shed you can raise the humidity some. if he sheds in one piece, then you're good. if not, I would go thru another shed cycle before adjusting the humidity. sometimes it takes a little time after being in dry conditions. (talking about how he was kept before you got him). If you still have problems with the shedding. raise the humidity by using the acu-rite a little. the reading of it could be off. and see if this helps with the next shed. don't soak him before a shed, only after a shed if needed. and when you have him shedding correctly, and after a few good sheds you get a shed thats not as good as what you want. don't panic, sometimes for no reason they will have a shed where it's in many pieces or some stuck on shed. this happens even with correct humidity and without changing anything, corrects itself. I use the acu-rite as a reference, I use how the ball python sheds as my guage to where to set the acu-rite.

There's a really good sticky over in General BPs on shedding, Seth702. With pictures! :D

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


I wouldn't recommend what I saw a breeder doing to one of his BP's at the show, it had shed in pieces and he was holding it in one hand and "picking" off all the shed with the other while the poor snake writhed and thrashed and looked like he very much wanted to smack the guy in the face with his tail. I'm new to BPs, but that can't be good. :X

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Originally Posted by don15681

the acu-rite temp / humidity guage can be mis-leading. I have about 7 of them. and if I place new batteries in all of them, place them in my incubator on the same level. I will get different readings on most of them. as much as 20% humidity and a few degrees difference.

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You bring up a really good point, something that I think a lot of people take for granted: Accurately measuring relative humidity not straight-forward. Hygrometers can drift over time, may not be calibrated to the temperatures you have set in your environment, may become contaminated, may have condensation on them, or may just be plain flat-out bad. In my field we care about humidity measurements being accurate within a +/- 1-2% range, and to get that level of guaranteed accuracy you have to shell out big $$$ and send them out to be re-calibrated often. For most reptile hygrometers, a +/- 5% accuracy is tolerable and sufficient, but check to make sure if you get a pet-store hygrometer that the temperature range for which it's calibrated covers the temperature of your enclosure, and keep in mind that the farther you get towards the ends of that temperature calibration range the less accurate they are. It's still not a bad idea to test and calibrate your hygrometers once in a while though, don't rely on the gauge to be accurate right out of the box and don't rely on it to stay that way for all time!

For reference, here's some decent posts on how to calibrate your hygrometers and some of the science behind it:

http://www.kingofthehouse.com/hygrometer/

http://exoticpets.about.com/od/herpr...hygrometer.htm

And here's a nice table of different salt solutions at different temperatures and the humidity readings you should get:

http://www.tainstruments.co.jp/appli...l.../TN056.PDF

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Originally Posted by OmNomNom

There's a really good sticky over in General BPs on shedding, Seth702. With pictures! :D

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


I wouldn't recommend what I saw a breeder doing to one of his BP's at the show, it had shed in pieces and he was holding it in one hand and "picking" off all the shed with the other while the poor snake writhed and thrashed and looked like he very much wanted to smack the guy in the face with his tail. I'm new to BPs, but that can't be good. :X

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This is the thread i used to help remove the remaining shed. I also purchased the second acurite to double check the one i have, which is only a month old. both were exactly the same when left in the tank over night. I realise they could both be wrong but, ill keep doing what im doing and see how his next shed goes, since he wont have any stuck shed on him this time. Thank you for the useful advice on the calibration though.