Shed with skin on

[Lferg]

Ok so my wife works at a small town vet. They do cats and dogs. A guy comes in with a small ball about a foot or a tad more. still a baby. Anyway he says it smells bad and wants to know whats up. She calls me I look it. I swear this snake has had a full shed and ALL of its shed skin is still on it. It does have a gross odor and is dull as can be, ruff and well it looks like it should be sheding but it already has, just no skin came off. She soaked it a couple of times and still nothing. Any ideas?

[Ezekiel285]

rub him with a moist handtowel or put him in a wet pillowcase for a while, those usually do the trick.

But it sounds like the people keeping him aren't controlling the humidity like they need to. So even if you help it this time it will most likely happen again. I would ask about their setup to prevent future shedding issues.

[VEXER19]

Wet pillow case with a wet wash cloth. In hot/warm water obviously. Let the snake set in there for 45-60 min.

Wash cloth goes in the pillow case with the snake.

[kitedemon]

Do not use a wet pillow case! Especially natural fibre containing ones. The fibres swell and can become very close to air tight and cause suffocation.


I would suggest holding in in a tub with correct husbandry and just let it be and not cause any more stress. Stress can cause poor sheds and often a stressed snake will not work to get shed off just leave it a few days with correct conditions and give it a rock to rub on and let it be.

[Ezekiel285]

Do not use a wet pillow case! Especially natural fibre containing ones. The fibres swell and can become very close to air tight and cause suffocation.

I thought people did that.
good thing we have people like you here

[RestlessRobie]

I use the Damp towele in a dry pillow case trick for stuck sheds works great but I have never heard of a wet pillow case that could casue problems quess I will have to make sure people know not to wet the pillow case. As for the snake I would definatly make sure the people who own the snake get a copy of the care sheet so that they can correct the problem with thier husbandry causing the stress or bad sheds

[SlitherinSisters]

I thought people did that.
good thing we have people like you here

Considering that snakes have a really small, basic, respiratory system and that you shouldn't soak them for more than 15-30 minutes at a time (to ensure the temp is correct) they aren't going to die. If you get carried away and leave them in there forever, then sure, but you are also going to be dealing with the risk of URI, scale rot, and death from being too cold.

To the OP, that sounds horrendous. I haven't heard of that before, but I would definitely try a soak and running a wet hand cloth down his body. I soak mine in a plastic tub with a hand towel for 15 mins, then run the wet hand towel down their body.

Do you have pictures in case it is something else?

[Homegrownscales]

It sounds like a case of bad scale rot under multiple stuck sheds. That poor baby. If it has an off odor that's a serious sign of infection. Id get that shed off and then see what's going in underneath.


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[kitedemon]

Considering that snakes have a really small, basic, respiratory system and that you shouldn't soak them for more than 15-30 minutes at a time (to ensure the temp is correct) they aren't going to die. If you get carried away and leave them in there forever, then sure, but you are also going to be dealing with the risk of URI, scale rot, and death from being too cold.

I was only referring to a wet pillow case. It allows little to no air and it is unsupported so it is in contact with the snakes head and if it cannot get any air it will suffocate. I have sadly seen exactly this happen about a month ago with a rescue and a well meaning person whom got exactly this same advise from somewhere online. The snake was dead in 15 min or less. Wet pillow cases are dangerous.