Bad shed please help

[snakehunter]

last night i noticed Fark was rubbin her nose oneverything, i assumed she was going to shed. i was so excited, i could not sleep, and decided to watch tv, b/c i would be sitting there watching the whole time, and that might stress her.

when i woke up this morning she was in her usuall spot, just curled up. the top of her head, and an inch back had pealed off, but her bottom lip did not peel. i emidiatly soaked her for 20 min., and called the vet for advice, she said to soak, and to manually peel it back, but not to if the skin was not coming.

on to the questions,
appart from soaking, is there anything else i can do to help?

is it possible that that part of the body was ready to shed, and the rest will catch up later?

thanx, i think i had another question, ill post if i remember thanx again
-Jacob

[Pixie]

I've had a couple of bad sheds to deal with in the past and it's fairly easy to take care of. You did good by giving her a soak to help soften and loosen the skin to be shed. Your snake may need some assistance though to get it all off.

What I personally do is give the snake a good soak in warm water for 30-60 min and with a wet washcloth start rubbing the skin off. I like using a washcloth as it has a rougher surface to help pull the shed skin off but is still plenty soft as to not damage or hurt the snake in the process.

I've had one especially bad shed in the past with one of my ball pythons. He had only managed to get the skin off the first 4-5" of his head and neck and the rest was still firmly stuck to him. It took 3 soaks to loosen the old skin enough so it could be removed and it was still pretty tough to get off. All went well in the end and I got all of his old shed off but it was more work than I ever expected. Usually when I've helped my snakes shed their skin before, after a good soak it would peel off almost by itself. But with that particular shed, it was stuck on pretty well.

I've never heard of a snake going into a partial shed and I don't think it is possible. They replace their skin over their entire body simultaneously.

Pixie

[BoidKeeper]

When ever I have a bad shed this is what I always do because it always works.
I take a dark rubbermaid and a damp towl. I wet the towl with warm water(check the temp so you don't go over 90) and place it inside the container and then I wrape the snake in it. Use a big thick towl. I put the lid on and place it in the tank over night. It works very well. The next day I always find the same thing, a clean snake and a dirty towl.
The advantages to this method is that the snake is feels safe and secure in a nice warm tight dark place so it can relax while shedding.
You don't have to do it and worry about pulling to hard or anything like that. It's much more natural to let the snake do it.
Good luck,
Trevor

[snakehunter]

well i just got home, and little has been shed since this morning, i think i will give her one more soak tonight, let her try it over night, and if no progress i will use one of the above suggestions, thank you all for your help, and i will post with my results later on. thanx again
-Jacob

[Andy_G]

I put snakes with touble sheds in a small shoe box rubbermaid with a damp towel for about 10 minutes, then I take them out and wrap the towel gently around them and let them crawl through it and it comes off every time.

[snakehunter]

sorry to post late, my computer was down. well yesterday after i soaked her i used my thumb to peel back some skin, and than with a damp rag removed most of it, then i had some chores to do so i left her to do it herself. about an hour and a half later she had gotten it near her cloaca. with the damp rag method i got it to the cloaca, than it broke. with some gentle rubbing i got it to the last bit of her tail, and the rest would not come off. i got the tail bit, and the skin under her chin off today. she is gorgeous, her colors are great. ill post some pics later, i fed her today, and shes digesting in her hide. thanx to all!
-Jacob

[sapphire_moon]

congrats