Bad Shed

[Vengeance]

Welp, one of my new Ball pythons is going through a bad shed for some odd reason. I thought the hummidity was fine staying between 40 - 60% but I guess I was wrong. But I;ve never heard of a shed this bad. Basically she has gotten her head and tail skin off and that's it. The rest of the body is still in tack with retained shed, 1 full piece of retained shed. I thought I saw a very small piece still retained on the eye, but I didn't get a good look as she was obviously not it a mood to sit still for me.

I soaked down her cage and left her in it for the night in hopes she will remove the rest of the shed on her own. If by tommorow night she hasn't I'm going to try the damp towel and a rubbermaid trick. Further then that can anyone offer any other suggestions, I've heard baths are ok but can cause stress. If there is an eye cap I don't know how comfortable I feel trying to stick a q-tip in her eye with mineral oil in order to remove it. So any suggestions would be helpful

[Jayson]

Put it in a wet pillow case, then put it back into its tank/cage and check on it in the morning. If you want faster resaults put it in a bucket of luke warm water and with a lid you can see through so you can monitor it be sure it is not drowning then remove in 20-30 min. The old shed will fall off in your hands :)

[marisa]

I would simply soak the snake in shallow water for a half hour. It will then come off.

You MUST take the temp of the water though, what most herpers put their snakes into thinking its "just warm" is incredablly (sp) hot. A friend of mine (Shane actually) told me when you have your hand under the facuet and the water just feels wet, not warm or cold, its approx 78 degrees. (I think thats what he said) And it is quite true as I tried it out with a digital thermometer. So when a herper puts warm water in you can imagine how much hotter it could be.

Anyways I am rambling. Soak 'er. :D

Marisa

[Vengeance]

Will do, I can't understand how this happened. Her first shed was perfect. She is in a rubbermaid with a thermostat contolled hot spot. Up untill like 2 weeks ago I was having too high hummidity, in the mid 70% so I put more holes in the rubbermaid to bring it down and for some reason she is having a bad shed. She eats every 5 days without question, so I'm befuddled as to why she is having a bad shed this time around.

[Jayson]

You might want to check the accuracy of your thermometer and humidity guage.
Just a thought !!

[cjice]

I keep my humidity at 50-60% at all times EXCEPT when in shed. I think your humidity is too low for shedding, try to keep it at 75-80% during shed next time.

[mykee]

Your humidity is too low. Basic husbandry. Time to buy a book on bp's.

[Vengeance]

I've read the ball python manual, and all my other Balls are doing fine. Also I fail to see how having a hummidity for 2 weeks at 40 - 50% would result in the horrible shed she is having considering that I had the hummidity around 60 - 70% for a month and a half prior to that. Since it's hit winter the air has gotten dryer and the hummidity lower. I'm going to fill the holes in an attempt to get the hummidity higher and going to use another digital hydrometer to make sure I'm getting the right readings in the cage. But further then that I can't see what I could change.

[mykee]

You fail to see how having your humidity at 40%-50% would result in a horrible shed???? Seems the answer is right in front of you. Go look at your ball and reconsider your question.

[Vengeance]

Don't really feel like trying to argue this but oh well here it goes.

I understand the fact that 40 - 50% humidity is lower then required for a Ball python. The point I'm trying to get across is that these conditions have not been this way for extended periods of time. So during the course of the last month, month and a half, the Ball python has been exposed to proper humidity levels and has only been exposed to lower then regular humidity levels for a short time span of 2 weeks. So what confuses me is not that she needs the humidity more that after being in a proper environment for a longer period of time, would the skin not have absorbed the proper moisture during that time or is the harshness of a lower humidity so detrimental that it canceled out the conditions that it lived in prior?

I'm not trying to argue the fact that she needs 50 - 60% and I am taking the steps to fix that, what I'm curious about is after living in an optimal environment for an extended period of time how living in a sub standard humidity level for a very short period of time would have such a detrimental effect.

[cjice]

I understand what your trying to say BUT, even if your humidity levels are "proper" for a month prior to shed, that doesnt mean your snake does not need a little more humidity during shed. If that were true, you wouldnt be posting a bad shed thread, correct? You seem to agree that she needs 50-60% regularly, but she needs closer to 80% during shed. Whether you understand "why" or not, thats what she needs, period.

[Vengeance]

I don't dispute what anyone is saying, I'm just trying to learn as much as possible. Best to learn everything I can from my mistakes as opposed to just working at correcting the problem. Learn what I can, reasons behined what happened and correct the problem, that is the approach I like to take.

I can't allways tell when they are heading into shed, I'm taking a very hands off approach when it comes to my newest trio. Keeping stress levels as low as possible. Only time I enter the cage is to change water, clean and feed. Also 9 times out of 10 when I'm in that room it is at night as too not distrub them during the day when they are sleeping, so I can't allways see if their eyes have gone clowdy.

Again I'm not disputeing what anyone is saying in that higher hummidity levels are needed, I'm just trying to gather as much information as possbile.

[Jeff_Favelle]

2 weeks is MORE than enough tim to dehydrate a cage and its occupants. I mean, we can get dehydrated within 2 hours, so 2 weeks for a snake is totally plausible. More thanm plausible, it happened.

In the wild, these guys burrow (or use existing burrows) that go deep underground where plant roots and the water table are holding quite a HIGH moisture level. All of a sudden, we put them in out artificially-heated cages with the wrong kind of setup, and we wonder why they have a bad shed. LOL! I would classify BP's a moderate humidity species. And I would say that 90% of people (excluding people that actually BREED them) keep them as a desert species. Its a shame.

I would raise the humidity, but not by misting.

[Vengeance]

Thanks for the explination Jeff. I've already taken steps to raise the hummidity in the cages without having to mist. I've filled the holes in the rubbermaids with a Hot Glue Gun. Hummidity is up 62% now, and I will keep a watchful eye on it over the next week or so.

[cjice]

Im sorry if I came off harsh...not my intention at all. I agree with you to learn all you can. I wish tones could be heard on this site, I wouldnt have sounded snippy at all...lol...Good luck and again, sorry.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Sounds good to me! Once you find that happy medium, you'll see a HUGE improvement in the snake. It takes a bit of calibrating, but hey, you're MILES ahead of the people that are more worried about the bad shed and how to fix the shed, rather than fixing the problem that caused it. That's what makes you a GOOD snake keeper as opposed to people who just don't get it.

Ball Pythons are also tough in that repsect. They love the heat, but how can you give it to them without drying them out? That's the secret to keeping them.

Bets of luck, keep us updated!! :D

[Vengeance]

Cjice

I didn't take it as harsh, just your opinion, nothing wrong with that. No one has a complete background history on evey person that posts on a forum so you give out the advice you can and that's the best you can do.

Jeff

Yea I'm still trying to find that nice middle ground. The hatclings have been great otherwise, couldn't have asked for a better trio. The one that just went through a bad shed has one amazing feeding response. To the point that when feeding her I have to hold the lid of the rubbermaid between me and her because once she gets a whiff of that rat pup it looks like she is ready to tear my arm off before the rat pup hits the floor. I'm hoping this didn't stress her out to a point that it is going to effect her feeding response, I guess I'll find out tonight as it's feeding night.