New owner

[Maddie A.]

Hello everyone so I'm a first time snake owner. I got my 2 year old Ball Python about a week and a half ago. Since I bought him home I been alittle concerned since I'm not really sure how snakes are suppose to act, I fed him the first night I bought him home he ate and eveything. Now he's shedding. The skin is covering his eyes and he moves all about his tank at night like he's confused or delirious. I can't seem to get the temp in his tank at the right degree during the day and he's having from what I understand is called a "bad shed" because I can't figure how to make his tank humid enough for him to shed properly! Someone help me! Tips and advice would be much appreciated!!!

[mikesmelly]

What size is your tank, how are you heating it, what substrate are you using? Do you have a hide on the warm and cold side? Heavy bowl of water? "Clutter" around the tank? Pictures help as well. What helped me was putting foil over the screen top of my tank with a couple inches around my ceramic lamp to let some air in. Doing that is helping me keep humidity and heat inside the tank. You will have to mist the tank daily as well probably.

To help with a bad shed, get a rubbermaid container with warm water and a wet towel, put your snake inside it for an hour, and then when you remove him gently rub his skin. Only do that 24 hours after he attempts to naturally shed.

[Maddie A.]

It's a 50 gallon tank with a screen top. I have a heat lamp I put on at night and a zoo med heating pad on the side of the tank. He does have a hide and its on the warm side his water is on the cool side. I use aspen snake bedding to line the tank. There's nothing surrounding the outside of the tank. It sits up on a table against the wall in my living room. As far as soaking him im nervous about because I haven't handled him yet since I bought him home and his eyes are still covered with skin so I don't know if he will be sketched out if someone he isn't familiar with yet is trying to handle him. Thanks for your help!

[anicatgirl]

OOoook. Lemme see. What are your temps and how are you measuring them? Humidity? How much activity is in that room?

[mikesmelly]

It's a 50 gallon tank with a screen top. I have a heat lamp I put on at night and a zoo med heating pad on the side of the tank. He does have a hide and its on the warm side his water is on the cool side. I use aspen snake bedding to line the tank. There's nothing surrounding the outside of the tank. It sits up on a table against the wall in my living room. As far as soaking him im nervous about because I haven't handled him yet since I bought him home and his eyes are still covered with skin so I don't know if he will be sketched out if someone he isn't familiar with yet is trying to handle him. Thanks for your help!

I meant dimensions wise. 50 gallons doesn't really tell us a whole lot because it could be a ton of different shapes. Why is your heating pad on the side of the tank? BP's need belly heat, so you should have that underneath his warm side with his hide on top of it. What are your temps and humidity at?

[Sonny1318]

After you stabilize your temps, you could try putting damp moss in his hide. it has never let me down. Only drawback is having to know when your snake is going into shed. And that's definitely a nice thing to learn. You can also make a humidity chamber out of a Tupperware. Just cut a big enough hole in the Tupperware for your snake fit through. Fill with damp moss and if all goes right, perfect shed.

[200xth]

I can't seem to get the temp in his tank at the right degree during the day and he's having from what I understand is called a "bad shed" because I can't figure how to make his tank humid enough for him to shed properly!

What temp is the tank during the day? How are you measuring it? Where are you measuring it?

As far as humidity, make him a humid hide.

[AnnaK231]

Hello everyone so I'm a first time snake owner. I got my 2 year old Ball Python about a week and a half ago. Since I bought him home I been alittle concerned since I'm not really sure how snakes are suppose to act, I fed him the first night I bought him home he ate and eveything. Now he's shedding. The skin is covering his eyes and he moves all about his tank at night like he's confused or delirious. I can't seem to get the temp in his tank at the right degree during the day and he's having from what I understand is called a "bad shed" because I can't figure how to make his tank humid enough for him to shed properly! Someone help me! Tips and advice would be much appreciated!!!

Welcome!! Check out this post about setting up tanks. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-With-Pictures!

As others asked...what device are you using to measure humidity/temps?

your UTH would "help" more if it was under the tank. MAKE SURE IT IS ON A THERMOSTAT (this will regulate it or it will burn your snake).

Humidity wise, try setting his water dish closer to being underneath the heat lamp, cover 90% of the screen with foil or get sphagnum moss (found at pet store) and spray it down and set it in little disposable (Dixie) cups in his tank.

[Maddie A.]

I have a thermometer to measure the to but I don't have anything to measure humidity. Thank again for all your help everyone!!

[AnnaK231]

Something to measure humidity is important, I would go with something digital (plenty of brands out there) because the dial ones can be either close to the real % or extremely off.