Shedding Issues

[Lucidht]

Sorry for the extensive read:

So, ever since I ever got my snake Rico, he has had shedding problems. I have done everything I can to make him able to shed in one piece but it has never happened in the 3 years I have owned him. Although very healthy, strong, and active, he just has issues shedding.

Right now I have a bit of a problem pertaining to his shedding issues. Everytime he sheds I usually soak him in a tub of warm water and then let him pass through a rag and it gets everything off in a couple passes. The problem is, about 3 days ago he shed, and I did the usual and everything came off except his head.

Now he has had retained eyecaps from the past shed which I/He could not manage to get off and now this shed is stuck on his head (first time a shed isn't coming off from his entire head) and it's also covering up his eyes. I tried every trick in the book (of course excluding the stupid ideas like using tweezers and such, which I will never do) including, a warm soak and then the use of the rag, moistening a pillow case with warm water and letting him sit in it for a while (this helped him get a start on the nose, but no-go on the entire thing).

Am I missing something? Is there something that I can get to help him shed better? As I said I have tried everything that I have read on here, and heard from snake owners and nothing seems to help his shed problem, and now it is causing a bad issue because I don't want eye caps to back up on him.

Once again sorry for the long read, and thanks for any help.

[hawaiianice99]

also if you put it in a pillow case make sure you put a rock or something to help so it can rub off the shed.

Are you monitoring the temp and humidity levels, if you have been having this problem for so long i would think that your humidity levels are off or fluctuate to much.

[dr del]

Hi,

Well if you are gentle and carefull about it the fact he has started at the nose means you should be able to help remove it yourself - with a few details prepared first;

A nice long soak (about 45 minutes minimum in 80-86f water no higher than half way up his sides. This should soften the retained shed as much as possible to make it easier to remove.

You need to be extremely gentle and carefull when you reach the eyes so as not to do any damage - and if it looks as though keeping going is causing damage then stop and leave it for either a vet to do or advise on whether or not to continue.

You will almost certainly need to restrain his head to do this and it often helps to have someone else there to control his body while you are doing it - but one person needs to control both the head and the peeling process to avoid accidents.

The main thing however is to try and find out how to prevent it happening again.

You didn't actually say what the humidity in your tank was and how and where you measure it? That might help us suggest a few ideas.

I had a male (with old scars) who was a truly horrible shedder for years and years - touch wood since moving to the rack and providing a waterbowl with a much larger surface area he has actually shed three times on his own.

The humidity he was at obviously wasn't high enough for him for some reason but now it hits 80%+ when he is clear after the blue stage ( I mist the substrate twice a day at this point in the cycle) it seems to help him.

If you run through the setup then we can, hopefully, give some specific ideas you can try.


dr del

[Lucidht]

Sorry for the long wait on the reply.

I have him in a 75 gallon glass aquarium and I use the Bark substrate that is basically mulch. I keep his warm side up at 80+ and he has a warm/cool side of the tank. He has a hide that i have under-tank heaters under to keep him warm and to let him do the whole ball python chill-out thing.

I have a humidity meter just about between the center of the tank and the warm wide. I usually try to keep the humidity around 30-40% cause I have read that is what's ideal for him regularly (and I raise it during shed periods). Lately I have kept it at 50-55+ to see if his eyes improve (I read this on the forums somewhere). I have read that it could be that he is dehydrated so keeping the humidity higher could help his eyes get better.

I really can't decide if his eyes are crinkled from dehydration or if it's retained shed. Either way the problem won't go away. I have soaked him numerous times, I keep the humidity at a good level and lately higher (in hopes to fix the problem) and I see him drinking regularly so I don't think it's that he is dehydrated.

I will post a picture of his eyes if I can manage to get a good one so someone can give me their opinion on it.

[Lucidht]

here's 3 pictures of him where you can see his eyes pretty well. These are from months ago, but his eyes still look the same. It's driving me nuts

Just look closely and you will see what I mean

[Lucidht]

Here's another one that you can open up, make it bigger and have another look.



Thanks for any feedback

[Slim]

30-40% is too low, and you didn't say if you are using a digital hygrometer or one of the analog types from the pet store. The pet store type are very inaccurate, so your 30-40% could really be 20%. You can pick up a digital model from Wal-Mart for less than 15 bucks, and you might want to think about having one on each end of the tank. 75 gals in a pretty big tank, even for an adult BP. I can't even imagine how hard it must be to keep any humidity in a tank that large. I had a bad enough problem with a 20 gal long.

[Lucidht]

Okay I'll do that.

Do you have any input on the condition of his eyes after lookin at the pictures?


It's not too hard to keep the Humidity up, I just put towels on the top except where his spectrum light is. Keeps the moisture in

[Slim]

Sorry, I'm not experienced enough to comment on his eye condition. I'll search some of the older threads and see what I can come up with.

[starmom]

As was mentioned, humidity ought to be kept at a continuous 50-60%. If this is achieved, shedding issues will be a thing of the past!!

I can't quite tell about the eyes, other than the retained caps. If they are crinkly, it is from humidity being too low. Again, if you address the humidity concerns, I bet they'll come off with the next shed

As for the temps, warm side ought to be about 90-94F and cool side about 82F with ambients of about 82F. How are you controlling your heat?

As for measuring your temps, the stick on dials are not to be trusted. The digital Acu-Rite thermometer/hygrometer is a pretty accurate monitor and can be purchased from Lowes and other places for around $12.