HELP!!! Ball Python's skin cracked, folded, looks shredded?!

[pythondad]

so, i feel like an awful python parent right now. I've only had two snakes in my whole life and this is my first ball python.

my little guy, named pretzel, was doing absolutely great for the first year, but all of a sudden, THIS happened (pictures below)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx...09kdmU4Zm5TT2c

I can't remember this slowly coming on, i can really just remember seeing him one day and feeling shocked at how he suddenly looked!

I try to give him water bi-daily (sometimes I'll be so busy I forget, but I never leave him too long without fresh spring water in his bowl), I just recently put in a hiding rock for him (thinking he could rub off the skin on it possibly), he eats once a week and I have a red heating bulb on 24 hours a day.

these are things that petsmart told me to do when i got him, and i've been strictly following along to the T.

I called petsmart back because he had stopped eating for a few months, and they said he had probably had some kind of "snake flu" and said he'd be alright. he started eating again, but his skin didn't get any better!

this has been steady for about 5 months now, as I was told it might just go away on it's own. I don't want to lose my little guy, please help! I can't afford to take him to the vet anytime soon. I just need to know if he'll be okay!

responses ASAP would be appreciated. hopefully pretzel will make it through his bad skin days

[Sauzo]

He has stuck shed. I would soak him in a little plastic tub with a lid. Put lukewarm water(barely warm to your touch) deep enough to cover half his body. Then put in some paper towels so he can have something to grip. leave him in there for about 30 mins. Then let him crawl through a wet washcloth or paper towel to get the shed off. Try and make his head push through too so it removes his eye caps.

Then you need to raise his cage humidity. he should be around 60-70% 24/7 with a hot spot of 90F and a cool side of 79-80F.

If he is eating, that is at least a good sign. Do the above and raise the cage humidity to what I said and he should be fine. If the eye caps don't come off, then watch for them the next shed as they must come off then or you could have problems.

[redshepherd]

I would stop calling petsmart for advice... do research online on snake communities like this forum. The reason he had stopped eating before has a few possible reasons common with new owners, but "snake flu" isn't one of them lol.

It's good you're on this forum now! You can read through the stickied threads in the Husbandry section, and also the care sheet.

He's also quite skinny, tiny, and dehydrated looking, on top of his stuck shed, for being over a year old. The size indicates he's being underfed.

I'm sure there are some improvements to be made to his enclosure and bunping humidity to 60%~70% to prevent this from happening again.

get a digital hygrometer like an Acurite to monitor humidity. The round analog ones from persmart don't work.

[Vipera Berus]

Looks like stuck shed to me, I suggest a lukewarm bath about 1/2 his body height and a towel added. It can be done in a plastic box with air vents. Leave the snake there for 10-15min and replace the water while getting the reptile to climb through the towel. This has worked if I get bad shed.

[redshepherd]

Ugh I know I am double posting, but.... "SNAKE FLU"!!! The bogus that petsmart employees can come up with is beyond words.

[pythondad]

He has stuck shed. I would soak him in a little plastic tub with a lid. Put lukewarm water(barely warm to your touch) deep enough to cover half his body. Then put in some paper towels so he can have something to grip. leave him in there for about 30 mins. Then let him crawl through a wet washcloth or paper towel to get the shed off. Try and make his head push through too so it removes his eye caps.

Then you need to raise his cage humidity. he should be around 60-70% 24/7 with a hot spot of 90F and a cool side of 79-80F.

If he is eating, that is at least a good sign. Do the above and raise the cage humidity to what I said and he should be fine. If the eye caps don't come off, then watch for them the next shed as they must come off then or you could have problems.

I will do this tomorrow afternoon! thank you so much!!! I was afraid somebody would break it to me that my baby was slowly dying or something ;;;

[pythondad]

He's also quite skinny, tiny, and dehydrated looking, on top of his stuck shed, for being over a year old. The size indicates he's being underfed.

Can you possibly tell me what I can do to help him gain weight? feed him two mice at once? feed him twice a week? bigger mice? I want my little guy to be in tip-top shape asap!

[pythondad]

Looks like stuck shed to me, I suggest a lukewarm bath about 1/2 his body height and a towel added. It can be done in a plastic box with air vents. Leave the snake there for 10-15min and replace the water while getting the reptile to climb through the towel. This has worked if I get bad shed.

doing this tomorrow! thank you so much!!

[redshepherd]

Can you possibly tell me what I can do to help him gain weight? feed him two mice at once? feed him twice a week? bigger mice? I want my little guy to be in tip-top shape asap!

What size mice is he on right now? If he is not already on jumbo mice, you can bump him up to that size. If you currently can't get ahold of larger mice, feeding two mice within one feeding will also work! Don't spread it out within a week, it is best to feed one full meal (total of whatever you wanted to feed). Try to feed once every 7 days for now.

As a general rule for his size, the width of the prey's body should be the same~slightly wider than the widest part of his body. (This is assuming you are feeding one prey item)

I'd start this maybe 4~5 days after he gets his stuck shed off.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Start with reading the care sheet and fix all of your husbandry.
A wet pillow case would do this one a lot of good.