Quote Originally Posted by LadyOhh View Post
Circulation can be cut off by bad sheds.. But only if it happens often and isn't handled/fixed at all..

It can cause problems. I've recieved an animal back in the olden days that had almost all of the tip of her tail disected by bad sheds. It was ALWAYS a problem spot after that, as there was a significant divet in her tail that always had stuck shed in it.

One shed can cause an issue, but in most cases it doesn't.

As long as you are on top of your husbandry and watch your animals for signs of worsening, it is really not a huge issue to let it run its course if it only happens once.

Being proactive is the best suggestion, but being as this guy is a newbie and worried about hurting his animal, it may be better off letting the snake handle it...
Heather, thanks for this great explanation. It helps a lot to align what my instincts were telling me (that an animal is unlikely to be hurt by one bad shed), with what I had read (that even one bad shed is a problem if a complete circle is left behind). If I understand your response, it really is both: one bad shed is UNLIKELY to cause an issue, but it CAN.

As far as letting the snake handle it, I'm a big fan of that sort of approach to things, when appropriate. I'm sure that's part of why I used humid hides when I used to have humidity and therefore shedding issues, because it seemed a good compromise between doing something, but not quite the take-over-and-do-the-snake's-job approach of peeling the shed off by hand.


Bleepr, I'm glad to hear that things seem to be headed in the right direction!