My BP won't shed

I have two BP a normal and a fire. My normal is a few months older and I've never had a problem with her shedding. My fire is going through her 3rd she'd since I've had her and still isn't doing much. I have to help her through the entire process. I keep humidity up but she won't try to get the skin off her. She just hangs out with it. So I end up having to bath her and slowly take it off myself which I know ends up being really stressful for her. Any advice on how to get her to shed?

Whats the humidity like? It should come off in one piece if its flaking the humidity is to low

As above but if all else fails .... A 30 minute soak in an escape proof tub and then get a wet , rough textured towel and feed her head repeatedly so she's constantly crawling through the wet towel . This way never fails. . Just make sure the eyelids and the tail end are clean.

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Originally Posted by thegamejr

Whats the humidity like? It should come off in one piece if its flaking the humidity is to low

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I thought it was okay as long as it all comes off, as some bps like to rub on things sometimes causing the shed to break.


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Originally Posted by gameonpython

I thought it was okay as long as it all comes off, as some bps like to rub on things sometimes causing the shed to break.

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If it all comes off on its own then yes, that's fine. If the snake has to be helped through the process then no, it's not okay.

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Originally Posted by FireStarter

I have two BP a normal and a fire. My normal is a few months older and I've never had a problem with her shedding. My fire is going through her 3rd she'd since I've had her and still isn't doing much. I have to help her through the entire process. I keep humidity up but she won't try to get the skin off her. She just hangs out with it. So I end up having to bath her and slowly take it off myself which I know ends up being really stressful for her. Any advice on how to get her to shed?

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Never do this. If the shed does not come off on its own, the best you can do is soak your python, give it a towel to slither through, and keep humidity up for the next shed when the leftover bits will hopefully come off. If you're actually peeling the shed off, you're risking some serious damage, since there's usually a reason the shed isn't coming off on it's own. What process exactly are you following when your fire fails to shed? What are your actual humidity levels? Do you raise them whenever your fire shows signs of a shed? What kind of enclosure do you have your snakes in and what substrate are you using? Pictures of the enclosure would help identify the problem here.

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Originally Posted by gameonpython

I thought it was okay as long as it all comes off, as some bps like to rub on things sometimes causing the shed to break.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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A perfect shed should always come off in 1 piece. It might be torn here and there but it should be 1 piece. If it flakes or is sticking on, then the humidity is too low. 50-60% humidity should be fine. A lot say 70% but I've never had a bad shed is 50-60% humidity ever.

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Originally Posted by Daigga

If it all comes off on its own then yes, that's fine. If the snake has to be helped through the process then no, it's not okay.



Never do this. If the shed does not come off on its own, the best you can do is soak your python, give it a towel to slither through, and keep humidity up for the next shed when the leftover bits will hopefully come off. If you're actually peeling the shed off, you're risking some serious damage, since there's usually a reason the shed isn't coming off on it's own. What process exactly are you following when your fire fails to shed? What are your actual humidity levels? Do you raise them whenever your fire shows signs of a shed? What kind of enclosure do you have your snakes in and what substrate are you using? Pictures of the enclosure would help identify the problem here.

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I don't know how to upload a picture on here via my phone. The humidity is kept at about 50% normally and I mist it more bringing up to 60 to 70% when she starts to shed. I don't peel it off. I just soak her and let her run through my fingers while it comes off. But when she's in her tank she won't rub her head on things to get it started.

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Originally Posted by thegamejr

Whats the humidity like? It should come off in one piece if its flaking the humidity is to low

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the humidity while they shed is around 70% or so. Sometimes more if I have the time to mist more often. It's not that it doesn't come off in one peice... it doesn't come off at all. She doesn't rub her head on things to get it started. She's usually fairly active but as soon as it's time to shed she just sits there and doesn't move much.

Something I just found out about that might really help your snake is some wet moss in her hide!

My heat pump drys the house air out pretty bad, my humidity dropped into the low 40's DURING Ulfric's last shed for less than a day and he came out a little flakey. Humidity in the 70's and some wet moss in your gal's hide might just do the trick.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...oss-Damp/page2

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Originally Posted by FireStarter

the humidity while they shed is around 70% or so. Sometimes more if I have the time to mist more often. It's not that it doesn't come off in one peice... it doesn't come off at all. She doesn't rub her head on things to get it started. She's usually fairly active but as soon as it's time to shed she just sits there and doesn't move much.

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So you start peeling it off before she even gets it started ?????

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Originally Posted by mohawk

So you start peeling it off before she even gets it started ?????

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She's goes weeks like that. I talked to a few people at the reptile store where I got her and they showed me how to help her get started.

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Originally Posted by FireStarter

She's goes weeks like that. I talked to a few people at the reptile store where I got her and they showed me how to help her get started.

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Sometimes it takes a couple weeks, from the time their eyes get cloudy, till when they actually shed..............

Never do this. If the shed does not come off on its own, the best you can do is soak your python, give it a towel to slither through, and keep humidity up for the next shed when the leftover bits will hopefully come off. If you're actually peeling the shed off, you're risking some serious damage, since there's usually a reason the shed isn't coming off on it's own. What process exactly are you following when your fire fails to shed? What are your actual humidity levels? Do you raise them whenever your fire shows signs of a shed? What kind of enclosure do you have your snakes in and what substrate are you using? Pictures of the enclosure would help identify the problem here



Totally not true..there are times when you can help them along with the shedding process, and of course you do have to be careful, but it does not hurt them at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!:weirdface:weirdface:weirdface

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Originally Posted by mohawk

Sometimes it takes a couple weeks, from the time their eyes get cloudy, till when they actually shed..............

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I know it takes awhile but it's past that point. You can see the extra (?) Skin on her in folds almost. I don't know if I'm describing that very well. But you can tell it's at the point where she should be trying to get it off but she's not.

When I got mine she had a retained shed, and I did what you're describing; soaked her and let her slither through my hands to get it off. I think you may be jumping the gun on helping her shed if this is happening every time though. Especially if it's coming off well once you get it started... Next time maybe try soaking her but then seeing if she'll get it started on her own?

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Originally Posted by FireStarter

I know it takes awhile but it's past that point. You can see the extra (?) Skin on her in folds almost. I don't know if I'm describing that very well. But you can tell it's at the point where she should be trying to get it off but she's not.

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Are you seeing lateral folds in the skin? Like when she bends, do you see kind of fine folds going from the spine towards the belly?

Some snakes get dehydrated ....a simply 30 minute soak in an escape proof rub will also help rehydrate the snake and won't do any harm at all ...

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Originally Posted by FireStarter

the humidity while they shed is around 70% or so. Sometimes more if I have the time to mist more often. It's not that it doesn't come off in one peice... it doesn't come off at all. She doesn't rub her head on things to get it started. She's usually fairly active but as soon as it's time to shed she just sits there and doesn't move much.

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Which is perfectly normal. Mine become pet rocks when they're getting ready to shed. As long as we keep humidity where it needs to be, they'll shed just fine without our help. They know what they need to do without us interfering. They've been doing it just fine without assistance for quite some time now...