Bummed! Im A Bad Mom!

[Artemis]

Well, omega shed last night while I was at work, and when I got home this morning i found not one little neat sock like piece of skin, but several quite large ones =(.

I cant figure it out, save perhaps stress from just the whole being bought and sold thing. He was on the warm side all day yesterday and now has returned to the cool side, and Im guessing he had a busy night so im not gonna take him out and bug him until after I wake up this evening.

Aside from making sure he shed everywhere, and soaking him/dealing with eyecaps if needed, what else should I do, and what can I do to help his sheds be better in the future?

Did anyone else have this problem with their BPs first shed when they brought it home and then after that it was ok? thats my secret hope at this point, but any thoughts are welcome!

Temps have been stable and good, and humidity with misting has been staying at 62- 65 on the warm side and 70-73 on the cool side.

=( Im so bummed!!!

Art

[nita]

If it is his first shed and you haven't had him long than it is likely that it is due to the previous care he was recieving. Make sure your temps and humidity are ok and his next shed should be fine. A good way to get off any left over skin is to place him into a small rubbermaid with a warm damp towel and place it into his normal cage so it stays warm for a couple hours. Should end up with a nice clean snake! I have used this method on my rescue snakes when I have gotten them in the middle of bad sheds and never had any trouble with it. Good luck.

[Artemis]

Thanks so much Nita! It is his first shed and I have had him for almost 4 weeks- is that too long? He did have a rough first couple weeks as we discovered and had to treat mites =(. He was in the hide and Im going to let him chill until tonite. I cant see him in there, for all I know he could still be shedding some, and I didnt want to go in and bother him yet. I will look tonite to see if he has a lot of retained skin. The pieces I saw were pretty big though, and not flaky, just not all one piece, so Im hoping it wont be a hideous shed, if it cant be a good one =)

Thanks for saying that though- it made me feel a bit better =)

Artemis

[Derrick]

you should be able to tell from the shed If the eye caps were retained. You may have to unroll it.

[smeagel]

When i bought one of my ball pythons she couldn't shed properly for a while, even though my temps were 88-90 on the warm side and 75-78 on the cool side, and i misted her whenever she went into shed. But eventually she did come around and she now sheds in one piece.

[Artemis]

Thanks so much for all your replies guys- I took out the pieces that there were, 3 relatively good sized ones. He shed his head completely and beautifully- see the pic below =)

For those also waiting for their first sheds, this is what the head part looks like when the eyecaps DO shed clean =) YAY!

http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Coolbean/snakeshedeye.jpg

I am now CERTAIN he is shedding the biggest piece, as he is in his hide and peeking out but I cant see his body, and there is definitely the bulk of his shed still to go. Ive misted and im just letting him alone until he finishes =)

Thanks for the support. At least now I dont have to stress about the eye caps!

Art

[RepTylE]

I got my ball almost exactly a year ago and his first shed was alot like what you described and yes I was feeling as concerned as you do right now but you know what that was the only bad shed that he ever had and is doing great :D