Sticky head shed

[gob144]

My BP shed recently but had a bad shed. I did the wet pillow case method first and it got most of it off. I tried the bath and wet towel method that's stickied on this forum. Still most of his head including his eyes still have the old scales on and i cannot get them off. I cant grab them or anything because they are really stuck good. He wont it and i think its because of the shed and the fact he still cant see well. any suggestions.

[seclark]

What's your humidity? If it's not 70% then I would suggest misting frequently to help keep the humidity up. Typically they say 60% is the idea humidity and 70% when in shed.

[gob144]

my humidity wasn't high enough at the time because i wasn't home. What should i do now though is my question?

[steveboos]

Well don't stress him out more now, let him chill for a few days with a LARGE water dish and frequent misting. Some times you are able to get eye caps off with a q-tip, but i would not do this unless you have someone to help and ARE EXPIERIENCED. Best thing you can do now is keep misting the tank and how he gets them off his self.

[gob144]

alright thanks. I'm going to buy some of that moss and make him a moss hide and keep misting. If it just wont come off does that call for a visit to the vet?

[gob144]

is there anything else i can do other than just hope it fixes it self. Iv upped the humidity, got a large enough water dish that he can go in(although i doubt he will), I bought some moss so i can make him a moist moss hide. anything?

[Jeo123]

Well, my first shed was a bad one(humidity was too low and she couldn't get her nose to start). I wound up soaking her along with a warm towel, then using the cloth to kind of catch the old scales and let her move to peel.

If you're going to help shedding though, make sure you stick to helping. Don't force it.

Also, for me, there were some scales on the bottom of her neck... those didn't come off for a while. The trick with really stuck scales is don't do anything(granted the eyes may be an exception because of the vision issues)

[Lolo76]

alright thanks. I'm going to buy some of that moss and make him a moss hide and keep misting. If it just wont come off does that call for a visit to the vet?

I don't think one bad shed is worth visiting the vet, unless it's obviously impeding his ability to breathe and/or eat. One of my Stimson's Pythons had stuck shed on his head & chin, which I couldn't get off despite MANY attempts... ended up just leaving it alone, and everything came off with the next shed (about 5-6 weeks later). He's perfectly fine now! Stuck eye-caps are a bit more concerning, so if you know anyone experienced you might ask for help with removing them.

P.S. Do you keep yours in a tank or tub? I rarely have bad sheds with the tub system, and never have to mist except occasionally with my JCP... just something to consider.

[Adam Chandler]

Whenever I have a BP that goes through a bad shed I soak. them for about 20min (supervised always) in water with some Shed-ease from Zilla (http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/shed-ease.htm) You can buy it from any Petco or whatever petstore. It's got a bunch of aloe and epson salts and stuff, makes the skin fall right off. I give 1 soaking with that and any skin that doesn't come off I leave on until the next shed. If there is still skin stuck after 2 sheds in a row then I would take a big look at my setup and do more Shed-ease treatments, after 3 stuck sheds then I would find a vet.