Terribad Shed

[mattchibi]

If the humidity is right from the get go there usually isn't any reason to aid in the shedding, this one started off bad so that's why it took so long, Also I wouldn't give baths unless she has already started to shed and its stuck, if you bathe her before she has shed (when its just starting to peel on her face) then you are removing the oils under her skin that are needed for her to shed. Also i'm confused about what you are talking about with the dehydration, as long as she has a water bowl and the humidity is right she won't be dehydrated. And it wouldn't take multiple baths to get her "rehydrated". I would just make sure to get the humidity right for next time. Good luck!

Yup this is spot on. Soaking before a snake tries to shed on its own will only make it harder for them to get it off. Im assuming your bp has already tried shedding some of it off, the old skin that it was not able to get off is called "stuck shed". The reason stuck shed can be bad is because when it dries up, it can possibly shrink and constrict blood flow. You will have to gauge yourself how badly it is stuck. Generally, people suggest soaking for 15-20 minutes; however, I have found that with really bad stuck sheds, the old skin needs more time to actually soak up the water in order to become more loose and stretchy. If the stuck shed is bad, soak from 30-60 minutes and try to get as much off as possible in one sitting. Make sure the temps are above 80. When the old skin becomes wet or soggy enough, you will actually have to assist the shedding, in other words, you will need to use a damp towel and your hands to "roll" the old skin off. There's sticky's and plenty of threads about stuck sheds, just search "stuck shed" in the search bar above, thats what I did and I found tons of helpful threads. You need to apply only gentle pressure, if the skin has been soaked enough you wont need to pull much to get it off. Make sure you dont pull too hard because scales can come off. Here is a picture of my lesser after my first soaking session, where I managed to get half of her shed off. It was stuck from neck to tail, but as you can see in this picture, I managed to get a lot off. The parts that still retain the "stuck" shed appear whiter in colour, almost like the whitish glaze, I dont have Microsoft Paint otherwise I would have drawn some arrows in to show you. If you look at the picture, there is still stuck shed on her tail as well as on her body (just above her head in the pic). Good luck!



Edit: to answer your last question, I believe stuck shed on the tail only really becomes a big deal if its covering the vents.