Ball Python Hasn't Shed

[kthoms104]

I have a baby male ball python (Lesser morph.) He was born in October 2017, and arrived to me in January 2018. I'm sure that he probably shed at the store he was from, but he hasn't shed at all since he arrived.
I figured it was something with humidity, and have been working more to try to keep the humidity up recently. He has a few small dots of white-ish skin near his spine, which looks like he were about to shed, but he's had it for a while now, and still hasn't shown any other signs of shedding.
He's also not the best at eating, (He was fed live at the pet store with some frozen, but I only feed him frozen, so I think he's picky or just stressed somehow) so it's not like he's grown a sizeable amount without shedding.
Why might he not be shedding? How could I fix it? Also- Is there anything that I can do to try and get him to eat more consistently?

[Hamsnacks]

You're probably going to be asked to provide the weight of your python, temperature of your hot/cold side and how you're measuring them, plus the humidity. Or any pictures. That's usually how the veterans on here determine what may be wrong.

[kthoms104]

Got it-- Thank you, I'm new to the forum

I'm not sure about his weight, but here's a picture of him: https://ibb.co/bTn0Kc
The hot side of his tank is set to about 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and the cold side is about 72 to 75 degrees, depending on the temp. of the house. I've got a heat mat hooked up to a thermostat that reads for the hot side, and my hygrometer reads the temps. on the cold side. I try to keep the humidity between 50 to 60 percent, but have increased it recently to mid 60s and 70s in an effort to help him shed.

[Craiga 01453]

As for the shed, he'll shed when hes ready, nothing yo worry about. Their shed frequency is relative to their growth rate.

What size prey are you feeding?

Also, your temps are too low. 75 should be rock bottom for BPs. You should aim for 78-80 cool and 90 hot. This may be part of the reason your snake isn't eating well too.

So, depending on your prey size, combined with the infrequent eating may explain the lack of a shed yet.

[kthoms104]

Thank you so much! I feel dumb for having the hot side temp so low... A boa-owning friend of mine said I should DEFINITELY shoot for 86 ish. Upon more internet research I've increased temps to 90 for his hot side.
As for feeding, I feed frozen small adults.

[Zincubus]

Thank you so much! I feel dumb for having the hot side temp so low... A boa-owning friend of mine said I should DEFINITELY shoot for 86 ish. Upon more internet research I've increased temps to 90 for his hot side.
As for feeding, I feed frozen small adults.

Please don't ever feel dumb !!

Its a hobby that you will continue to learn about as long as you carry on ..


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[Raptor10457]

A good rule of thumb to tell if you’re feeding the right side is either: feed a prey item which is either the same size or slightly larger than the widest part of the BPs body or feed a prey item that is 10-15% of the BPs body weight. I prefer to use the latter as I weigh my BP before going to the pet shop, as where I buy my (frozen) rats from they have the weight range listed on the packet, so I know if I’m buying the right weight. It is possible that the prey items might be slightly too small and thus the snake isn’t growing much, resulting in not shedding very often. Of course, if he hasn’t been eating often this would cause the same problem. Hopefully now that you have bumped the temps up he will eat more regularly for you


(I realise I’ve just assumed that you don’t know how to tell if you’re feeding the right prey size but I just thought I’d check as this was why my BP wasn’t pooping/growing properly when I first got him due to misinformation I received.)

[Craiga 01453]

Thank you so much! I feel dumb for having the hot side temp so low... A boa-owning friend of mine said I should DEFINITELY shoot for 86 ish. Upon more internet research I've increased temps to 90 for his hot side.
As for feeding, I feed frozen small adults.

Sounds good. Get thosetemps right and offer again in about 5 days. Hopefully that'll do the trick.