An Issue With a Bad Shed...

[zmd0827]

Alright, I'm new here. I have come here to hopefully get a question answered that I just can't overcome.

I have two ball pythons currently, and I have bred them in the past. Generally speaking, I haven't had an issue in the 8 years that I have owned BPs...

But the female I own, a granite morph, shed... but when everything was supposed to be said and done, she had one patch of "shed skin" that didn't separate from the skin underneath. IT didn't flake or anything, it just turned white and refuses to come off. I've tried everything from soaking her in water, to dampening a hand rag/towel and letting her "run" through it.

The problem is that it's on the top of her head. Usually she doesn't mind if I have to get one or two flakes off her that are stubborn... I'll hold on to the pieces and let her move to cause the force by which it removes itself... But she won't let me grab anything from the top of her head... and I'm not going to push it.

This hasn't happened before. She's going on 10 years old. The humidity is right in her environment, I guess it's just a one-in-a-thousand chance that this happened?

Any advice to remove this skin would be appreciated. It's only about 5 cm long patch that didn't entirely separate. It's been 2 weeks since her last shed, and I'm trying to do my best to make sure that part comes off... Half of an eye-cap is still on one of her eyes... It concerns me.

Thanks guys.

[Alexandra V]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hed%3F+problem

Try this. I used it when my ball gave up on shedding after he got his eyes uncovered, it works like a charm. And don't be afraid to just hold her head and try to rub off the skin with a towel after she's soaked, even if she doesn't like it.

Good luck!

[zmd0827]

That is what I have always done with bad sheds. I just took a look at the tutorial. I've already done that with her, and you know you'll get the broken-up sheds, where it is a bad shed and doesn't come out as a solid piece... right? Well it's not even that. You can see the "white" skin on top of her head, but it hasn't separated and flaked out at all... And the rest of her body, the shed was perfect... except for this patch.

[zmd0827]

I'm trying to show ya'll what I'm talking about but neither my phone camera nor my computer camera are high enough a resolution to display the detail... I'll see what I can't do about borrowing my friends digicam later.

[Alexandra V]

I'm trying to show ya'll what I'm talking about but neither my phone camera nor my computer camera are high enough a resolution to display the detail... I'll see what I can't do about borrowing my friends digicam later.

Yeah, pictures could be a big help.

[zmd0827]

I completely forgot to ask my buddy for his digicam. Anyways, I came up with a means by which to explain it better. Let's say for whatever reason you have really dry skin on your arm. You can see it, other people can see it. You can see the white skin particles that are dry over your healthy skin. It's kind of the same way on the snake. No matter how much rubbing, you're not getting that skin off your arm. Through conventional soaking and using a rag, that seems to be the case with the snake. Today, I tried soaking her, and forcibly holding her head still (not hurting her, but she doesn't like it at all)... It's one stubborn piece of shed skin... Any suggestions?

P.S. I will try to get a camera tomorrow.

[DZ Reptiles]

As a last option.... I would just let it be, and let it come off in the next shed. That's my 2 cents

[zmd0827]

That's what I figured as well. It's apparently bothering her... Not a day goes by when I have at least seen her repeatedly try to get the skin off the top of her head. She'll play with the wood structure in the environment and actually scrape back of her head against it over and over and over and over... To no avail. That's the first, and only, time I have ever seen a snake do something like that... But then again, this is the first time I've seen this issue, as well.

[blackcrystal22]

Take the wood structure out for now then, so she won't scratch herself.

Sometimes pieces of skin that were supposed to shed just will not properly come off. It sounds like a proper shed, but you'll just have to wait this one out and let it come off with the next shed. If it's still there after the next shed, come back with pictures.

[zmd0827]

Will do... But that's not for a long while, haha... She just shed prior to being stuck in with the male for breeding.