Bad shed, need help

[murray2213]

So my little guy went through his first shed with me and here
is the problem. The skin on his head and just behind the head wont
come off.

He went a week or so where the old skin was still on and you could
see it was ready to come off. Took 3-4 days for most of the skin
to peal away. For the most part it has all come off
except for his head. The last 2 nights I have given him a bath and
let him move through a wet face cloth but the skin on his head does
not want to come off. He has been very active
during the past couple days rubbing his face on everything in the tank.

He is in a 20g glass aquarium and the humidity is %50-60. I have placed
a plastic container with a small hole in the bottom on top of the tank
to drip water on the log I have inside just to raise the humidity to
%70-75 the past 3-4 days to no avail.

Is this cause for concern? Is a vet visit in order?

[tjteach14]

In the past I have gone to the old pillow case to help with tough sheds. Take a pillow case and get it wet with warm water. wring the pillow case out well, then place the snake in the case and tie off the end. Put it back in the warm tank and give it 30 min. as your Bp explores the pillow case the moist atmosphere should help remove the skin.

I don't think you have cause for a vet visit yet. Pics also help others offer suggestions.

hope this might help.

anyone else??

[wafisherman]

I"d be careful of the wet pillow case trick. I"ve heard of possible suffacation issues...

Instead, try this:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=74290

I did something similar with my new boa that came to me with some left over shed and it worked great.

[disabled.101]

I soaked my BP for 4 hours the day his eyes cleared up and he had a perfect shed. Just make sure to secure the top and remember air holes. He escaped by me and it took me a while to find him. Good luck

[murray2213]

I'm gona give the pillow case a shot tonight, with closes supervision.

I tried soaking him and using the washcloth but he doesn't put his head
under the water so the skin is still sticking.

Crossing fingers the pillow case will work

[dr del]

Hi,

I"d be careful of the wet pillow case trick. I"ve heard of possible suffacation issues...

I know how to avoid that.

Use cheap (low thread count ) pillowcases - you can test one by soaking the pillowcase entirely, try and catch as much air in it as possible (yes this makes a mess ) then, holding the top closed, compress it and make sure the air can escape.

Since we normally don't use the pillowcase soaking wet you are testing it under far worse conditions than you should ever encounter in real use.

Of course you could just be as cheap as me and use pillowcases you can spit peas through.


dr del

[mystika802]

stuck sheds happen all the time, I see you have already tried to raise your humidity, if you dont do that successfully you will have bad shed problems over and over again. If a snake is not shedding properly, usually the humidity isnt where it should be. The shed should just come off on its own, next time, when you notice him shedding just start "misting" with a spray bottle and water, that should raise the humidity and help in shedding.

[llovelace]

My Neemo is in a big 36 x 18 x 13, I start raising his humidity when starts going into blue by adding moist sea sponges to tank and inside his hides to get humidity over 65 - 68%, he has always had a perfect shed for me.

[zombie&lemons]

let him swim around in warm water in the bath tub. thats what ive done

[Oxylepy]

I typically ust let them swim around in warm water for about an hour, by then the water should have soaked through most of the skin, after that the skin will slide off.