Adopted my first BP

[reptile65]

Today I adopted my first ball python from a fellow student who could no longer keep him. He was being housed in a very dirty 55 gallon tank with aspen bedding and 2 heat lamps. He has quite a bit of stuck shed all over his body and seems a little thin, but is very active and seems otherwise healthy.

I know he needs more humidity so I have him temporarily set up in a plastic bin with coco fiber as substrate. I'm planning on misting his enclosure a couple times a day to help get the stuck shed off. Any other tips to help with this issue? I'm most worried about the end of his tail, because it looks like there is more than one layer of stuck shed. Please let me know if you have any tips for me. Thanks in advance!

[Reps4life]

I had a shed problem with my spider ball. All i did was soak him in warm water with a bit of shed-ease from zilla for 30 mins every few days and it eventually came off. the cage on the other hand should have about 65% humidity. hope this helps.

[lk_holla]

congrats on your first BP !

as far as stuck shed goes, try soaking him and seeing if it will just rub off easily whenever he gets settled in to his new home. Keeping the humidity up will help in the meantime. If it doesn't come off right away though I wouldn't be worried too badly since its on his tail as opposed to his eyes. With the right environment they seem to work things out pretty well. i hope this helped somewhat, good luck!

[youbeyouibei]

Congratulations! As to the tail shed that's stuck, keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't occlude the blood flow to the tail tip and cause the tissue to die. As to the rest of the stuck shed, here's what I found on BP.net:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hed-No-problem.

I've used it on mine before and it works like a charm, as does placing them in a Tupperware or similar plastic container filled up to a little over 3/4 of their body height with warm water (you don't want to snake to have to constantly swim). You then put the lid back on and put the tub back in their tank for an hour or so and "dry" them with a towel while they slither through your hands. The towel helps dry them and also peel the shed off.

MAKE SURE the water temperature isn't too high, as "warm" to humans, with our body temp of 98.6, is waaaaaaaay too hot for snake. I'm not positive on what the temperature range of the water should be but maybe someone else will know that and could get you that info. Good luck and kudos to you for taking in that poor snake. Good luck!

[wax32]

What I do: wet a towel with warm water. Put the snake in a small tub (make sure the snake can breathe!) and cover the snake with the towel. Come back in a couple of hours. The skin should be off.

[reptile65]

Thanks for the great advice everyone! Is it okay for me to soak him tomorrow or the day after, even though he just ate today?

[Vypyrz]

Thanks for the great advice everyone! Is it okay for me to soak him tomorrow or the day after, even though he just ate today?

wait about 3 days after feeding to do this. That way he has time to digest.