I'm not an advocate for thermal gradients with ball pythons, I consider most enclosures far too small to use this method effectively. My enclosures only have an ambient temperature and a belly heat temperature (via under-tank heating element).
I really have no shedding issues with my collection, however, occasionally there is one with shed stuck around their face/neck. Normally I just take a large water bowl-big enough to soak the entire snake but shallow enough that the snake can rest on the bottom, and then I put the snake in and add a perforated cover (for ventilation). I weigh down the cover with something heavy so the snake cannot escape and I stand there and wait (only for a few minutes). The hardest part is making sure the water temperature is correct, and I do this by letting the water temperature stabilize to the ambient temperature of the enclosure (80-85F). I've found they only need a few minutes of a soak. Interesting thing about stuck sheds is how the water wicks under the shedding scales...the entire snake does not need to be submerged-just a portion of the trapped shed. If you have a particularly stubborn shed you can take the snake out of the soak and then wrap it in a bath towel and then gently squeeze it and make the snake wriggle out of the towel you are holding it in. I've only had to use the towel method a few times in decades of ball python husbandry. Sometimes there is stuck shed across the snakes body: I am only concerned with the head and neck-as the rest should come off in the next shed. This is just the method I use, I don't deal with rescues or extreme cases.
Note: If you are using town water then you probably want to add a chemical dechlorinator to your water that will cancel out any chloramines that might bother your snakes eyes.
Reply With Quote