Shed question!!! Please help??

[RaeDee]

About a week ago, my BP had a nice pink belly, then a few days later went blue-eyed. I raised the humidity in her tank from 50% to 70-75%, and have been leaving her alone to do her shedding business. However it's been several days and I haven't seen any skin or any signs of shedding (peeling skin, etc.) And now her eyes are dark (not blue anymore) but still no shed action?? I've looked for pieces of shed in the tank but haven't found anything. She has plenty of great surfaces to rub on, a water dish to soak on and a nice warm humid hide. (I put damp sphagnum moss under her warm hide in like a semi-circle so she could be wrapped up by it kinda if that makes sense). She's spending plenty of time hiding and isn't coming out much at night. But I took her out today to look at her and her scales look totally normal?? Is she in the process of shedding or not?? Any advice is welcome!!

[DVirginiana]

She's still shedding. Their eyes go clear again before they actually shed off. The time between going blue and the actual shed can be anywhere from days to weeks, so nothing to worry about.

[AlexisFitzy]

As the previous comment said they clear up and look normal at the end of their shed cycle so she should be shedding any day now

[lorrainesmom]

That bothered me the first time I saw the entire process, but after it was explained to me, it was all good. If you are planning on doing a pre-shed soak, the clear-eyed phase of shedding is the time it will do the most good. During the winter months, I've found that a soak really helps Lorraine have a good shed. During the summer months, here in humid filled NC, it isn't needed.

[Eric Alan]

That bothered me the first time I saw the entire process, but after it was explained to me, it was all good. If you are planning on doing a pre-shed soak, the clear-eyed phase of shedding is the time it will do the most good. During the winter months, I've found that a soak really helps Lorraine have a good shed. During the summer months, here in humid filled NC, it isn't needed.

A soak while they're pre-shed can actually be detrimental to the shedding process. A snake's skin actually has increased permeability during the shedding phase. They have natural enzymatic lubricating fluids that help them separate old skin from new and a soak during this time could compromise these fluids.

Just keep humidity up (60%+) and they'll do their thing on their own.

[Sauzo]

Like Eric said, don't mist or soak a snake in blue because it will screw up the liquid between the skins. You can raise humidity after they come out of blue but I have run 50-60% humidity all the time with no moist hides and my snakes all shed in 1 piece like a rolled up sock. Also some snakes just take longer to shed. Both of my BCIs take about 2 weeks to shed where as my BP only takes about a week. I wouldn't worry about, they will shed when they shed. Just keep a constant 50%+ humidity and you will be golden. Also some snakes will look wrinkly especially around the head/neck area just before they shed(like a day or 2) so that can be a good indicator too.

Oh also one other thing, once your snake sheds, check that both eye caps came off and the end of the tail is shed free. Those a 2 important things to make sure after a shed.

[Jhill001]

For my rat snakes I mist the cage when I see them in blue and right after but I never put any water directly on them.

[RaeDee]

She shed last night and I got to watch some of it. Pretty cool. She didn't seem to mind me sitting there with my night vision camera light on her lol anyways, I never misted her directly. Only the inside of the tank while she was in her warm hide. She got it off in two big pieces but did have to work at her head a little. But I watched her do that part and she did get it all off. So yay!! She's a cranky noodle right now so I'll leave her be but I got the old skin out of the tank and did a little tidying up in there. She looks beautiful!! Hooray!

[200xth]

She already shed, so you're familiar with the shed cycle now, but there's an excellent thread sticked on the general forum about the shed cycle.

It's got pics and gives general timelines so you know what to expect and when to expect it.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...edding-Process