Help! I cant tell if bp is beginning a shed or suddenly dehydrated.

I got my bp about a month ago. He took awhile to eat but he finally did and has eaten 3 fuzzies(one a week). Ive seen him drink one time but i know they can be secretive. Anyway the pet store said he was 4 months old and had just shed...but also had not eaten while there. He looked good...till a few days ago i noticed him rubbing on himself and a few skin flakes came off but thats it! Hes been periodically rubbing on things. I didnt know if this means hes still shedding, stuck or dehydrated...Ive attached pictures...you can see the skin folds and the scales pointed upward. Humidity has been a struggle but with a humidifier its between 50 and 60.
Temp is 90 and 75.https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c1/f9/34/c...15510e79f7.jpg

Fuzzies are way to small for a BP. I'm going to assume Petsmart. Move him up to adult mice asap. You need to get his weight up. Bp's right out of the egg ar eon hoppers then go onto adult mice within 2-3 feedings. While in shed humidity goes to 70. Ambient temps are 80. Hot spot temp at the glass bottom should read 90. Get some fat on that baby. If you have more fuzzies feed him 2-3 more now. You should be feeding 10% of his body weight.

Thank you so much! And yes petsmart. I will try a adult mouse right away as soon as i can get to the store(snowing here lol) his mouth is so small and this is my first snake so i wasnt sure how big. He does act like im going to feed him every night....what do you think about his skin though? Should i help him shed yet?

Also he is 78 grams as of last week

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Originally Posted by SWiseman

Also he is 78 grams as of last week

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Small adult mouse. Can someone link the feeding chart please. Make sure your humidity is at 70 while in shed.

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Getting back to the snake itself ... it's not a great photo to be honest ... it does look a bit wrinkly and so possibly dehydrated but it could simply be in early stages of shed .. given it's rubbing itself which is a sign of trying to start the shedded skin off ...

I'd start spraying the viv a few times a day until hopefully the skin comes off..

If there's no shed off by ten days another couple of photos will help ..


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It is tough to tell with the pic, but from the pic and the back story, my guess is you have an undernourished, dehydrated snake. It may be starting shed as well.

First and foremost, it's important to get the snake eating and eating appropriately sized meals. The vast majority of the snake's hydration comes from its prey.

I would also boost humidity in anticipation of a shed.

1)You need to boost humidity, it needs to be MINIMUM 50% at all times, I prefer 60-80%, and my pythons are all very comfortable in that range. I’ve even had the ambient air at 99% and they were still perfectly fine, as long as it was just the air and the enclosure isn’t damp.
He is scratching because he wants to shed but he looks very dehydrated. A dehydrated snake will be very uncomfortable, and can even get sick or die.
I don’t have time right now to go into it, but if you do a forum search for “humidity problems”. You will find a thousand discussions with tons of advice for you to research and learn.
Go to the “ball python/husbandry section of the forum and research.


Ideal Ambient air temperature (on the cool side) and humidity of two of my python enclosures:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e323a5de40.jpg


2) you need to feed him meals as thick around as your snake is thick around. If your snake is as big around as a hot dog, feed him rats as thick around a hot dog.
They can even eat things larger than that, but it is not necessary. The largest I have fed was a rat ¼ the weight of my snake in one big swallow!
This is crazy extreme, but my point is that pythons can eat much bigger meals than most beginners realize, as they unhinge their jaws and stretch their throats open to an astounding degree.

My 6 month old hatchling about to eat a hefty “weaned rat.”
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...29b867aeba.jpg

My 1000 gram subadult eating a hefty “small rat”:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...16399936d5.jpg


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looks like what i just went through with my youngest beep, Pumpkin Pie. he only got his head shed off and refused to work off the rest. i had to hand-shed his whole body.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b5daa588b3.jpg

if it's already been a few days of them looking like a wrinkled mess you might need to intervene and assist the shed. you don't want to wait until that skin gets dry as it will become harder to remove.

It looks like its in dire need to shed its skin. Like a couple people are saying raise the humidity and hopefully he'll just shed.

I'd be tempted to give it a 20 minute soak in 'snake temp water' as it will instantly help to rehydrate the snake ( if it IS dehydrated) and will aid the shedding process.

Soaking snakes does seem to be more common in the UK than over there in the US though ...


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That to me looks like a "full body" stuck shed.

The petstore said "he just shed", but would not eat..

What probably happened is that the snake went into a shed cycle at the store, where they turn very dull, opaque and "blue eyed". A few days into that, they completely clear up and look normal again. After they clear up and look normal again, they usually shed within a day or two.

I bet he cleared up at the petstore and they figured "he shed". Never bothered to look for the skin or thought someone else cleaned it up.

After that you got him and during all of this the humidity was probably critically low (either at store, during transition or at your home). Hence, the full body shed is still on the snake. Which can make them look AWFUL once it dries to their body.

Now that it is dried to the body, you don't have those oils and lubrication under the shed anymore, which normally help them to get rid of it.

What I would do is to get a small rubbermaid tub, just big enough for the snake. Then make sure you have some air holes in the lid or high up on the tub. Put lukewarm water in (by the time you are done it cools even more, which will make it perfect) and a small hand towel or two. Only make the water about and inch or two high. Make sure there is enough water surrounding that towel, so that the snake can slither around. You want the snake to rub around the wet towel as it moves through the water.. Put the baby in and OBSERVE. After 20 minutes or so that old skin should begin to loosen up. If parts of it come off, leave him in there a bit longer. If you have stubborn areas, you might want to take him out and keep running the wet towel over his body as he slithers around, rubbing lightly. Don't let the water get to cold, but remember...90 degrees feels only lukewarm to us, so NO warmer then that !!!

If nothing loosens up at all, it may not be a full body shed, but I'm pretty sure it is...

Good Luck !

Thanks all for your help! Good news is he took a small mouse with no problem and acted full even. I weighed him yesterday and hes already up to 111 grams from the 78 he was. He is shedding in patches so i may still need to help him. I wrapped him in a warm rag and more came off and it made him pee and poop lol.