I got into a discussion on Iherp answers about how to remove stuck shed from snakes.

I have always believed that a damp pillowcase for 15-20 minutes is the safest and most successful.

A few people on there then began to reveal their horror stories about how many snakes they have killed from trying to get stuck shed off in a pillowcase.

Now I had never heard of this death by pillowcase but I have heard of death by tub soaking.

I have never soaked my ball pythons. I have only once had an issue with stuck shed and putting them in a damp snake bag worked very well.

Now that I am hearing all these horror stories it has got me thinking, what can I really do to get rid of stuck shed quickly that has no risk to my snake? Well I could use a damp towel but that doesn't really up the humidity and mostly just helps to roll off loose pieces.

Then it came to me after I made some clarifications with these snakes suffocating in pillowcases. Apparently they just left them in the wet pillowcase OVERNIGHT. That to me seems pretty irresponsible. Then I thought about how the snakes in the tubs of water died, irresponsible owners leaving the snake along in a sealed container of water.

So it isn't the method that is the problem, it is the carelessness of the owner. Yet people still seem to blame the methods.

So for this topic of discussion, what method of shed removal do you recommend and what do you think about the other methods?

If you have any stories of snakes dying during one of these processes, and under what circumstances, I would like to hear them.

Maybe we can think of some new magical method that works just as well as the more "dangerous" ones.