possible bad shed?

[Karokash]

At first I thought he had finished shedding and just missed some pieces because he just had some head flakes, so I soaked him. But now It looks like he got all the skin off of his head but the entire body needs to shed. there are just some small holes in the shed on different places on his body. What i'm concerned about is that since he got the skin off of his head, he will either have a hard time or not try at all to start scraping the rest off.

you can see here how the dullness starts right behind the head. And you can sort of see how the skin on the belly seems to be shed off like hes just wearing a cloak of unshed skin on his back/sides.


Here the line between belly and sides is more obvious. It's flaky all along the sides of his belly almost his entire length.


Really obvious at the tail



I am worried I may have ruined his shed by soaking him before he started. My questions is whether I should continue to soak/gently rub with a wet cloth until its all gone or simple leave him alone to see if he gets it. I don't want to over-stress or over-handle him or risk soaking him too much so that he can't shed at all.

[KMG]

How did you believe he finished a shed with no shed skin in the cage? It appears that you were going to have a stuck shed regardless of a early soak. I would mist heavy and place a damp towel in the tank for your snake to crawl through. This will moisturize the skin as well as give it something to rub against. I would venture to guess you humidity is to low and would suggest adding damp moss to the hides. This will raise the humidity in the hides and give your snake the humidity it needs without having to keep the whole tank high. If the rock hide in the pic is the only hide you have this idea may not work and with more information about your setup I would be able to better assist you. Maybe a pic of the whole cage.

[Karokash]

There were flakes in the cage, a few different ones, so i thought he was done with the phase but just hadn't lost the skin. I've done the towel thing twice. I just didn't want to keep doing it if i simply misjudged and he has yet to actually try truly shedding.

Also I have two hides, one on each side for hot and cool. I'll try to grab the pic I posted in my other thread. Sorry, I should have put that setup pic here too

I know humidity is the culprit and I am adding a moss hide and coco bedding to the aspen bedding tomorrow to help. I also mist daily and have 2/3 of his mesh lid covered to keep humidity in. I can't get it above 35%, so the moss hide and coco bedding are the next step short of a mister.

[Karokash]

since this picture, the light has been moved to the right, over the UTH so one side is the hot because i heard it would help keep from dehydrating the tank, and the lid has been covered on the other 2/3. Also paper has been added to the outside of all but the front of the tank. The readings now are 88-90 hot, 80-81 cool and 35-37% humidity.

should also state I live in central Louisiana, I can't believe humidity is my biggest fight right now...

[Scottydont]

Get some repti-bark or cypress mulch. I switched from aspen to repti-bark and it bumped the humidity by about 10%. Also you can cover more of the screen top. Some people cover as much as 95%. I have mine completely covered except for some small gaps around the edges and a 1 inch gap around the light. You could also get a bigger water dish. The more surface area of water, the more evaporation will occur.

[Karokash]

bedding is now 60/40 coco/aspen, there's foil covering the lid and more of it, and there is a half log hide filled with moist moss. Humidity is now early 50's. I am ecstatic

also as mentioned his moss hide is wooden so its a little rougher (still within safe ranges) and he is all over it. I think it will help him get through this tricky shed with it being a little more abrasive and filled with damp moss he can go through to soften up.

[Saber402]

A few things that will help your humidity:

Top - It looks like a screen top which is a humidity killer. Place foil or plastic wrap over a good 3/4's of it to hold humidity in.

Substrate - As mentioned above move to a substrate that will hold moisture and not dry out as quickly as aspen. I use orchid bark/ReptiBark. Holds moisture very well.

Heating - Move to an under tank heater (UTH). The current heat lamp is another humidity killer. IMPORTANT - ALWAYS use a thermostat to control a UTH! Otherwise you could burn the snakes belly.

Soaks - Avoid soaking your snake prior to him shedding. It can wash away the natural oils under the shed. If you do have a bad shed, as is the case now, let him run through a damp hand towel a few times or even (securely) put him in a dampened pillow case for an hour or so.

Good luck!

[Cold_Blooded_Designs]

Sounds like everyone have you great advice!
I had a humidity issue when I built my 1st set up. I cut a piece of cardboard to match the size of the screen top leaving about a 1 inch gap around the edges. I then cut two circles on both ends. I used a day time light to make the cage look like a display price and the other side I had a CHE to help with ambient temps. I gave about a half inch of extra space around each lamp shade. I then wrapped the cardboard with the aluminum foil. I live in mid-west and our average humidity is somewhere in the low 20's, even lower when the temps drop below freezing outdide.
I picked up some moss from petco/pet smart that comes in a green box... i would soak the moss in warm water, squeeze out all excess water then put some inside each of his hides. Every few days I would remove the used moss and re soak it in really hot water then ring it out let it cool for a few minutes and put it back in the hides. I would replace the moss all together with a new box monthly or sooner as needed. A larger water bowl helps a lot! Depending on how small yours is you could see close to a 10% gain with just that.
When I would see the first sign of an up coming shed (gray/blue eyes and skin color becoming dull I mist a few extra times a day. You might have to play around with how things are set up but once you get a shed that comes off all in one piece then you've found the sweet spot and continue with it. Soaking him in warm water with or without a mild soap during each she'd cycle shouldn't hurt. If I did a soak I would do it after their skin becomes less cloudy and dull, almost looking normal again. I found with my experience that it worked the best for my snakes.
Please be careful assisting your snake with dry patches of skin as you could hurt him by pulling them off. I've heard of people using a small amount of vegetable oily right before they shed. I would look into using the vegetable oil before you use it... ive never used that method. Hope this helps!<
BTW you have a beautiful bm?*