Stuck in shed or just lazy?

[-Silvia]

Hello everyone, after a month or so of research i got my first baby ball python 6 days ago! The first 2 days he wandered around the tank (I guess to explore) but on the third day ( so 4 days ago) he secluded himself in his hide in the cool zone and never came out since. At first I thought that he wanted to be left alone and eventually came out at night so I let him be.. Today out of worry I slowly lifted his hide and saw that his skin was starting to shed, which caught me off guard because when I bought him I checked very carefuly and didn't see any sign of pre-shed (milky eyes or dull color), nor did I see them during the 2 days he spent roaming around.

I immediately bumped up the humidity and partially covered the tank to give him some privacy/security but I noticed that his skin was cracked around his neck as well as around the folds his body made when balled up (I guess due to moving inside the hide).. He was making zero effort to get it off!

I searched a few threads regarding retained shed, but I don't really know if this could be it since my snake never actually shed and just lazily kept his old skin on.

Considering the old skin being already partially damaged do you think he will be able to get it off by himself? I though about giving him a bath in a few days if the situation doesn't get better, but I'm afraid to needlessly stress him even further and causing him to refuse food afterwards.

Temp is fine on both sides and humidity is now around 70%, he hasn't eaten since arriving because I wanted to wait at least a week before offering a meal and haven't picked him up yet.



Any word of wisdom?

[kevall1]

I'd suggest playing the waiting game a little while longer. Tanks do make keeping temps and humidity at the proper levels difficult but you seem to have that handled just fine. The main reason I'd wait to try anything is because he is just getting acclimated to his home. Keep the humidity high and give him a week or so to get it off on his own.

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[-Silvia]

Thank you for your reply, I live in a pretty humid zone so it's not a huge problem keeping high humidity levels in the tank. I guess I'll wait a week and see what happens. Hopefully he does it by himself.. I'm not very experienced with reptiles and I'm afraid I will do more harm than good if not well informed. Thanks again.

[FlynnTheBP]

My BP took a week to shed, but he did retain an eye cap, so I'd keep the humidity around 70 percent if possible. Good luck!