Preparing for our First Shed

[shy519]

I have had my lovely lady Reagan the fancy ball python since May 1st. She is my first snake and her scales are poking out a wee bit and she is getting dull white spots so I believe I have figured out that she's going to have her fist shed in my care. I have placed a large dish for her to soak in and I have begun misting the sphagnum moss more often to help keep the humidity up. She doesn't have cloudy eyes yet and doesn't seem to have any cranky symptoms. I will feed her this upcoming Friday. I worry that she will shed when we are away at vacation in the next couple weeks. We will only be gone a week and if not already shedding will be fed her weekly meal before we leave. We have a very good friend of ours spending the week at our house to care for all the pets while we are gone. I know shedding is going to be snake PMS essentially. No touching or reaching close to the snake while shedding. I know that she may or may not want to eat and that her shed should be in one entire piece if the tank is correctly humidified. What else should I know? What tips do you advise? What should my friend know about Reagan's behavior and shedding?

[Mirakuru]

Exciting! It sounds like you're doing good already. I would just tell your friend to leave Reagan alone, and to just change the water every day.
Also, even if you do everything right there's still the off-chance of some stuck shed, which you don't have to panic about! There's a great thread here that tells you how to fix it.