Another incomplete shed.. Help?

[ceca2015]

My juvenile ball python has not had a complete shed since I've had her. I thought I did everything right to prevent the bad shed. I have her in a 32 quart tub (I know that's kind of big, but I didn't want to have to upgrade anytime soon.) She's eating really good. She eats a small mouse (10-12g) every 4-5 days. (f/t) She weighs 105g. When her eyes cleared, I gave her a soak. I've kept the humidity at no lower than 65% (at most times it was 70-75%) Her warm side is regulated with a thermostat and set at 92 degrees. The cold side fluctuates. I try to keep a space heater on when I'm home, and it gets up to 82 degrees. But when I'm at school, I have to turn it off, so the cold side temps drop to about 70-72 degrees. She has a lot of things to rub on, but she doesn't use them. There's three rocks in the enclosure and two wooden logs. Theres also some plants. I was able to watch her try to shed. She could only get the top part of her head off and that was it (eye caps included. i checked) I left her like that for a day and still no more shedding. I soaked her again. The next day, she had shed the rest of the skin off except for under her chin, her neck, and the underside of her belly on her neck (started at her head and ended about an inch or two from her head) She also had not shed the tip of her tail, but i got that off. She's been with that shed on her chin and neck for three days, so today, i soaked her again. I tried to help her get it off since shes had so much trouble with under her chin, but it was really stuck. if i pulled, it looked like i was pulling her mouth open, so I stopped. I heard that if stuck shed is under her chin, it can make it difficult for her to eat. Is there anything I can do to get that off? And what did I do wrong? How can I help her have a complete shed?

[martin82531]

I would stop on the soaking, at least until she has tried to she'd on her own. If husbandry is correct the is no need to presoak before shed. Being such young snake, her next shed should not be to far away. I would just let her be until then. Once the next shed starts, bump the humidity to 75% or so and you should be fine.


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[martin82531]

Also how are your measuring your humidity?


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[ceca2015]

http://m.petsmart.com/mt/www.petsmar...AvailInUS%2FNo

I got it when I first got my ball python. Now, I don't use the thermometer on it because I have a thermometer on my thermostat and a probe digital thermometer that a friend game me.

[martin82531]

I would recommend getting some of these: http://amzn.com/B0007VWEQA

They can be easily calibrated to ensure accuracy, here is a YouTube link on how to calibrate.

http://youtu.be/d7Ap96SlGZA


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[ceca2015]

Thank you! I will definiately try that. Why do you think she didn't shed correctly?

[KMG]

Create humid hides by either putting damp moss in the current hides or get a container and fill it with damp moss and put a hole in the top.

I use a tank for my bp and using humid hides gives me perfect sheds. The humid hides creates a micro climate within the hide that is higher in humidity than the tank. I maintain my hides and don't even track the tank humidity now. I Do have a cardboard cutout on to that wrapped in foil but it is more for retaining heat.

[martin82531]

To me sounds like your humidity was off. The gauge your using now is one of the worst tools you can use to measure humidity, just poor quality.

What also may help is next time she is going through shed, pick up some of this stuff, get it nice and wet, just enough that it is not dripping, and put it under the hide that is above your UTH, this creates a very nice humid hide.

http://amzn.com/B001B5DKN2


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[BHReptiles]

I think most of your issue is the fact that you do a pre-shed soak. This washes off the natural oils that they make in order to shed properly. That coupled with a possibly dysfunctional humidity gauge may be your problem. Try to get a better gauge and stop the soaking and see if you can't get her to shed right.