Hello BP.Net! Firstly I love this forum and stalked it for a few months before diving into the world of owning snakes. I have one low white pied male for a year and he is a well-fed, happy snake. I believe one of the best ways to gain knowledge is to ask, so I have a few questions for the community.

Firstly, I gained a beautiful normal female about a month ago and she was very malnourished at the time. She is about two months old and feeding well on f/t hopper mice. Last week she shed almost completely except for the last inch of her tail. The shed is rather dry and the scales look a bit malformed, as if there is healed scar tissue. The skin underneath is otherwise healthy and there is no sign of blood or inflammation. Soaking didn't help remove the shed. Should I take matters into my own hands and help remove the shed?

Second question, I see a lot of members have collections in their signatures such as "2.0 spider". What do these numbers mean? I can't find a clear answer online.

Third question, substrate. I am using ground coconut husk and my pied male absolutely loves it. He likes to mound it inside a hide and then burrow a little. It holds moisture well and I don't feed him inside the enclosure, but I am worried about possible ingestion and impacting problems. Anyone have experience with this? Is newspaper a better substrate for a happy snake?

Thanks for your time, this site is a treasure trove of information!