Well, just for an update.. we're finished, and he has finally shed. After letting him soak for a little under an hour (and I noticed that while he was in there, he was rubbing himself against the washcloth trying to get the skin off), his old skin layer was literally looking like a wet doily paper... falling off in most places. Not wanting to just dump him back in the cage and get a repeat of this whole process, I squeezed his body inbetween the washcloth (hard enough to have effect, but gentle enough not to hurt him) and let him move himself through to slough off the skin. It took a little while but we did it. Now I have a beautiful, freshly shed BP who is currently exploring the bottom of my baggy pajama shirt. I inspected his new scales and there doesn't seem to be any damage to them Thanks guys!