New snake owner, New snake, Bad shed- Please help.

[Fstarr]

Hello-
I just got a year-ish old lemon blast two weeks ago. He'd just fed a couple days prior, and he hasn't eaten yet. Lucky me, he's also going through a shed.
I've got a UTH, uvb and heat, and nightime heat lamp. I bought a 40 gallon for him so he'd have room to grow, but I've got four or five hides and some foliage so that it's not too open.

I've been using aspen shavings- that's what they had him in at the pet store- and a carpet substrate to see how it worked out.


He's going through a terrible shed. I've misted the tank several times daily, whenever the gauge dipped, but he's having a terrible time and peeling in pieces.
I let him soak for about 45 mins this morning, and that's certainly helping, but I didn't want to add to his stress too much by having to handle him with a moist wash cloth to help him shed.

Could there be an underlying illness with the snake, or do bad sheds just happen sometimes? He'd been eating pretty regularly according to his feed chart- about every other week, if not every week. He seems fine, hiding mostly, sometimes exploring and tongue-flicking. I haven't seen him rub much to try to remove his shed himself, but now that it's started pretty well, should I give him some time to do his thing, or should I just let him soak again and use a washcloth to help him out?

Any tips or suggestions to help me out? I'm getting pretty anxious here.

[BCS]

I am not too sure why it happens but when a ball python is in the care of a new owner, it seems the first shed with the new owner is always a bad one... I had this problem for a while. I thought of it as a coincidence but it happens too often for it to be. After this shed, your BP should shed normally. I wouldn't jump to "sick ball python" right away. That would cause you unnecessary stress, bad sheds happens, whether it be on the part of the owner or the BP itself.

Get a DAMP pillow case and stick him in it for 20 minutes and place it on the warm end of the enclosure. This should loosen the shed enough for it to be pulled off.

[Merk]

i too am a new snake owner but i own a few, and i love handling my snakes so when thy are going into shed i bath them and add a lil aloe vera to the water and play with them while they swim so they know that i am there while they swim and i let them rest on my hand as they are often blind at the time, also keep misting the tank keeping in mind you will have to change out the substrait(sp) as soon as he has shed, i also add aloe to the mist that i spay them with, and regular water for the tank, then if i have an open top tank i wet a towel and leave it on top of 3/4 of the tank not touching the light and yet keeping the moisture in i like to keep the humidity at 65-70 when in shed so you will have to re-wet the towel often to keep the humidity up...and if the shed is still bad then i bathe and wipe with towels at least once to twice a day i have pushed away more eyecaps than you can believe they will usually let me do it i try to think to myself "self how would they scrape their heads in the wild" lol then i proceed and push from the nose back with the towel or wash rag, they usually just snuggle down and let me do it, I would advise VERY STRONGLY AGAINST USING TWEEZERS as some you tube videos show because my snakes are spastic when they are blind, and even when they are not...
to make your aloe mist
put 3 Table spoons pure clear aloe in a spray bottle add 16 oz of warm water replace lid shake well before each use...sometimes it will clog the nozzle but if you keep it near but not touching your heat lamp it usually stays liquid, if clogs just rinse well or soak in hot water...keep us posted on this...ours seem to she fine now...

[Merk]

thanks for that good info!!!

[bcr229]

First, a good shed starts when the humidity is appropriate while the new skin is forming. I'm guessing your snake was too dry at the pet store.

Second, you state that you have to mist the tank a lot to keep the humidity up. No surprise given that it's a 40-breeder with lights. Do you have any kind of a cover on it to keep the heat and humidity inside the tank? Also UV lights are unnecessary for ball pythons.

Third, I hope you've got thermostats regulating those lights and the UTH, or your setup will be both too dry and too hot for your snake.

[MysticMoon001]

Are you using a digital thermometer/hygrometer to measure your temps and humidity? You said gauges so I was wondering if it was those stick on dial ones, which can be very inaccurate.

If you don't have one, there is a $12 Accurite at Walmart. I'm pretty sure you can find them at any hardware store but I found mine there.

Sent from my SGH-T399N using Tapatalk

[Crowfingers]

I also use a 40 gal breeder for my snake. I have cypress mulch to aid in humidity, it doesn't mold if it gets wet, as aspen sometimes will. I have to keep the lid covered with aluminum foil and a damp warm towel to retain the humidity. When I see that my snake is starting to get dull and a pink belly I place damp moss in his favorite hide and add extra towels on the screen. This keeps the humidity around 65-75%. Just make sure the towels don't touch the lights.

I don't use an UTH, but have heard that you can put the water bowl over that as well to help boost humidity. As long as you keep your humidity up, he should not have bad sheds in the future. Good Luck



I have pics of my set up on my profile page if you need a visual aid
Seeing other peoples' set ups helped me a lot

[Fstarr]

I gave him a second soak and he shed all those bits. Now he's in a nice, clean cage and seems to be in a chiller mood.

Thanks for the info about the digital theromostat. I considered getting one over the gauge that I had, but it was way cheaper than the gauge options so I wasn't sure how credible it could be. I'll definitely get two of the digital ones to keep an eye on each side.

I think that humidity is okay- at least now that he's done with his shed. His tank is next to a 30 gal aquarium so the room stays fairly humid. The temperature I've checked with two thermometers and the ambient is 80-82 with the cooler side being 77. The UTH doesn't take up too much space, but he tends to stick around that area, so I imagine it's pretty comfortable there.
The wet towel idea is great. I've been covering the wire top- aside where the lights are - to help it retain more moisture. I've also moved his water closer to the light instead of leaving it on the cool side, so that might help with that.


I don't have anything regulating the UTH or the lamps, but I wasn't aware that was a necessity. I switch them at night and things seem consistent.
I'll look into upgrading from my starter stuff, regardless.

[bcr229]

Thanks for the info about the digital theromostat.

The info was about a digital thermometer. A thermometer measures temperature. A thermostat regulates heat sources.

I don't have anything regulating the UTH or the lamps, but I wasn't aware that was a necessity.

Then go kick the pet shop employee who sold you everything, that is the #1 most important piece of equipment you can purchase. Without a thermostat a UTH can get hot enough to burn your snake in minutes. Go unplug the UTH before you have to pay for a vet bill and a thermostat.

[Slim]

i too am a new snake owner but i own a few, and i love handling my snakes so when thy are going into shed i bath them and add a lil aloe vera to the water and play with them while they swim so they know that i am there while they swim and i let them rest on my hand as they are often blind at the time, also keep misting the tank keeping in mind you will have to change out the substrait(sp) as soon as he has shed, i also add aloe to the mist that i spay them with, and regular water for the tank, then if i have an open top tank i wet a towel and leave it on top of 3/4 of the tank not touching the light and yet keeping the moisture in i like to keep the humidity at 65-70 when in shed so you will have to re-wet the towel often to keep the humidity up...and if the shed is still bad then i bathe and wipe with towels at least once to twice a day i have pushed away more eyecaps than you can believe they will usually let me do it i try to think to myself "self how would they scrape their heads in the wild" lol then i proceed and push from the nose back with the towel or wash rag, they usually just snuggle down and let me do it, I would advise VERY STRONGLY AGAINST USING TWEEZERS as some you tube videos show because my snakes are spastic when they are blind, and even when they are not...
to make your aloe mist
put 3 Table spoons pure clear aloe in a spray bottle add 16 oz of warm water replace lid shake well before each use...sometimes it will clog the nozzle but if you keep it near but not touching your heat lamp it usually stays liquid, if clogs just rinse well or soak in hot water...keep us posted on this...ours seem to she fine now...

I can't tell you how many posts I've seen over the years that say, "I try to keep my humidity up when my snakes go into shed". By that time, it's like closing the barn door after the cows are already out. The key to a good shed is to maintain the humidity at recommended levels at all times.

What do you think you're accomplishing by putting aloe vera on your snakes? I've never heard of this trick before...I'm thinking there's probably a reason why I've never heard of it, but I'm always looking to learn new things.

I'm glad you advise VERY STRONGLY AGAINST USING TWEEZERS on your snake's retained eye caps. I would further advise not to mess with your snake's retained eye caps in ANY way what so ever. Really really bad things can happen when you do anything to muck around with eye caps. If you're having that many problems with retained eye caps, you should really take a hard look at your husbandry.