Incomplete shed

[Surge]

One of my balls failed to shed completely, just the head piece (and thankfully the eye caps) came off. I realise this is because of my poor husbandry, i obviously didn't get the humidity high enough:(

I have bathed the snake twice now and most has come of without intervention from me minus the bathing itself. But one piece around the neck of the snake has remained, and the snake was due feeding 2 days ago. I realise i cannot feed with this piece still around the neck, but im wondering what else i can do besides soaking the snake, the baths have already stressed the snake out enough, and after this i just hope she will feed and the whole ordeal will not have stressed her too much. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

[BoidKeeper]

This trick never fails. Get a plastic container, like a rubbermaid and put a few air holes in it. Take a thick bath dowl and wet it with warm water. Not too warm. Wring it out and line the insided of the container with the towel. Put the snake in the middle and wrape the snake up in the towel. Put the lid on and put the whole thing back into the snakes cage. Leave it over night. The next morning you'll find a clean snake and a dirty towel. This is a lot less stressfull then have the snake swim in water or be picked at. It's dark, tight and warm all the thing a ball loves. The snake can slither through the towel and while doing so the skin will come off.
Let me know who it works out,
Trevor

[Clownfishie]

Surge,

Give the snake another soak for a few minutes... while she's soaking, find yourself a terrycloth towel (you want something with some texture to it, not just a dish towel) and then dampen it with some warm water (not hot). It doesn't have to be sopping wet, but definitely damp. Once she's soaked enough to loosen the skin a bit, take her out and let her run through the towel in your hands a few times -- the skin should come off no problem. I've yet to have this method fail on me with stubborn sheds.

When there's more than a piece or two of shed left on the snake, I use the method that Trevor mentioned above -- works like a charm every time :)


Hope that helps :)

Jen

[mykee]

If any of my balls have bad sheds, I just use a moisturizing lotion or mineral oil, and rub it all over, and use my picky little fingers and pick it all off myself. Not the most scientific method I know, but it's never failed.

[BoidKeeper]

Probably the most invasive way I've heard of so far.lol
You rub down your snakes with creams and oils then you pick at them. mykee just because something never fails doesn't mean it's the best way to get the job done. My Tracker gets me to work every time but I'd rather drive there in a hybrid.
Cheers,
Trevor

[mykee]

Trevor, it takes me less than 2 minutes to get the job done, as opposed to hours with other methods. Who's the invasive one?

[marisa]

I just grab a warmish wet washcloth and let the snake run through my hands over and over again. Usually works in a couple of minutes, if it doesn't I stop and do it again the next day.

Marisa

[BoidKeeper]

Snake crawls through a damp cloth on its own. No handling, no touching, no swiming, nothing unatural against it's skin. How less invasive can you get?
Trevor

[marisa]

My snakes never seem to run through the wet cloth "hard" enough to work unless I leave them in the tub with the cloth for quite some time.

Holding the cloth and running them through it seems to work in a couple minutes for me and it doesn't seem any more invasive than when I pick them up to clean cages. That's what I do anyways. :D

Marisa

[Surge]

Thanks for all your replies,
I left her in with some damp towels for 4 hours, checked and quite a large chunk had gone, had a bit of a pick and left her for another hour and picked again. So now all is gone from the belly and there is just a tiny bit 4 or 5 cm long near the back of her head, im sure ive stressed her enough with the whole ordeal, so i figured atleast eating will be possible now, and i can get that last piece of skin off in a couple of days when things have settled down.

Was really caught by surprise that she hadnt shed properly, im certain i raised the humidity, and shes shed successfuly multiple times before.
I just hope now i havent stressed her too much and that she will continue to be a great feeder, the only one ive yet had to refuse on me!

Many thanks!

[marisa]

Sometimes bad sheds just happen. A couple weeks ago I went to feed two baby balls I have....one I started dangle a rat for, she grabbed it and started eating.

I realized while I watched her that she had JUST started shedding when I offered the rat, and instead of finishing took the food! :D

I had to help her out of the shed later as she seemed to forget all about it.

Marisa

[mykee]

I'm with Marisa on this one. When I speak of invasive, I'm talking about putting your ball in an environment, adding something to their environment, or moving them to an environment that is foreign, causing stress. How is it NOT stressful for a BP to be put in a tub for a few hours in a towel to remove a shed?! Common sense would tell me that running a BP through your hands moistened with a "shed-eeze" or reptile moisturizing lotion for 3 minutes to remove a shed if FAR less stressful. 3 minutes of stress (if that, I hold my BP's all the time) VS. a different environment in a damp towel (that by the way will be much cooler to the touch 7.3 seconds after you wring it out). Just becuase "everybody recommends this method" isn't a reason to jump on the bandwagon. Most of us have the knowledge and experience to know that there' more than one way to skin a cat (47 actaully).

[hhw]

My method is living somewhere humid :P

[BoidKeeper]

(47 actaully).
You're too much. Knowing that you have that kind of knowledge, I'll make this my last argument for which method I believe to be the less invasive.
I think my method like a moist hide box is all. It's dark, warm and damp. Aren't those the things that balls look for in a hide?
I think it also has to do with you views on handling. Unlike you I don't touch my breeder balls. Jack is my only pet ball.
Cheers,
Trevor

[hhw]

Looks like Mykee is arguing quick pain over slow pain, whereas Trevor is arguing no pain over pain. In each of your own arguments, the answer is obvious, but the problem here is you're not arguing the same thing. Both seem to work just fine, and unless one of you feel like chopping the heads off of 100 ball pythons or so and slicing up the brains to analyze the chemical indicators of stress, it's probably not worth proving out which method is better :P

[snakehunter]

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!!!!

[lucky8926]

The rubbermaid and damp cloth thing...wouldn't the damp cloth get kind of cold after a while?? Do you put a heating pad or anything under it to keep the temp up?

My BP just shed today and it came off in 2 pieces and I can't tell if his eye caps are still on (this is my first snake and first shed). I tried to keep the humidity up but I guess it wasn't high enough. I made him a moist hide but I don't think he even went near it.

[hhw]

The first shed is usually more indicative of the care of the previous owner rather than your own, so don't feel too bad about it.

The evaporation effect wouldn't be THAT major... if the container's inside the enclosure, it should just be roughly the temperature of the enclosure.

[mykee]

Trevor, you're right; hide box, tight, dark, but COLD, so cold!! Now I'll let sleeping dawgs lie. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf with the goings-on here over the last while, I've decided to be more helpful and nice and less mean, rude, condescending, short, ignorant and arguementative.

Btw HHW, my method causes zero pain, think about it.

[hhw]

Perhaps I should've phrased it differently; I was just incorporating a cliche there. I just meant pain as a variation on stress. Whereas you were stressing time, Trevor was stressing magnitude. All in all, if you were to make up a points system to measure what each one came out to, who can really know for conclusively which comes out ahead barring some quite involved research. After all, I doubt either is intrusive enough to cause a ball python to go off feed, require a weekly therapy session, or any other really substantial negative consequences.

Now, in my total honest personal opinion though, a beginner may find your method a bit more challenging, as they may be nervous or not do it properly. However, for an experienced breeder with multiple animals, your method would be more efficient (I really wouldn't want to setup 10 different humid towel hides).

Anyway, it's good to learn about as many options as possible. I really don't see any major caveat to either that would exclude it from consideration, so everyone can just think for themselves and use whichever method's right for them.

[BoidKeeper]

The rubbermaid and damp cloth thing...wouldn't the damp cloth get kind of cold after a while?? but COLD, so cold!!
You put the rubbermaid snake and all back into the cage over the hot spot. That way if the snake escapes from the rubbermaid it escapes back into its own cage. I said that part already though right?lol
I'm trying to turn over a new leaf with the goings-on here over the last while, I've decided to be more helpful and nice and less mean, rude, condescending, short, ignorant and arguementative.
mykee, please this is me you're talking to. I know your personality and you could never offend me because I wouldn't take anything you say personally. I think we older memebers should be able to throw ideas about each others methods back and forth and be a little more critical of each other with being offended and with knowing the other guy knows what he's doing anyway. I'm not trying to say your way is wrong of change you mind about it, I'm just trying to be critical of it as you are with mine. I see nothing wrong with that, that's how we learn.
Besides like I said knowing you can list 47 ways to skin something is no motivation to get on your nerves.lol
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!!!!
mykee has like 6 tats, I don't think so.
Cheers,
Trevor

[marisa]

"mykee has like 6 tats, I don't think so."

O.k. I have 6 tats as well, I'll take him for you Trevor.

Marisa

[mykee]

A chick with tats! Now that's MUCH more scary that a dude with 6 tats for sure!!
Trevor, who you callin' old!! I totally understand where you're coming from, and I agree. With regards to the whole "my personality" thing, I'm glad that you, and a select few "get" my sarcasm, but there are 100 people who think I'm just being a dickslap for the way I post. With that in mind, this whole, "nice, kinder" Michael may not even work out, I may end up with an aneurism holding in all my snide, condescending remarks and have to go back to the old **** of a Michael that has gotten me this far in my life. Stay tuned.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Don't fight the dark side, Mykee... :D

I'll use either method depending on the situation. If I can pick the skin off quickly and easily, I'll give that a go. If it looks like I'll be bugging the snake for too long, I'll let it try to do it on its own. I don't have bad sheds often (maybe 1/500+) but I just happened to have 2 a couple weeks back and I used one method on each snake. I'm not a huge "black and white" kind of guy. I think most things in life are grey and there are very few "right" answers in life.... just more right and less right.

Now, like you both and I'd like to say you're both right, but I'd <u>much</u> rather say you're both <b>WRONG!!!</b> :D lol :p ;)

[marisa]

See Trevor? He is scared. Don't worry I'll keep this thug off your back.

It's probably true that it really doesn't matter how you do it with a healthy animal. Something sick or stress or not feeding, I would use the least bothersome method though.

Marisa

[BoidKeeper]

Tim. Say out of it! (jk)
Thanks Marisa. I've only got 3 tats and I'm a lousy 6' 230lbs. Hey I'm not above having a girl fight my battles for me.lol
mykee, it's like this, you gotta be you.lol
Cheers,
Trevor

[jglass38]

Dickslap. Love it. 4 Tats here and 6'2 240. Who wants some...

hahah...

Seriously, You guys (and girls) are all super helpful. I can deal with a little condescending arrogance! :)

[mykee]

Then you're first on my list....

[BoidKeeper]

I'm with ya mykee! Tag me I'm in!

[mykee]

Trevor, I think I'd much rather suplex you, but if you MUST be on my side....
Oh yeah, since we're sharing; 5'9" 240.

[Slannesh]

Man, room full of midgets around here ;)

Let's just suffice it to say that i'm bigger than all ya'll :)

only 2 tats though. But several piercings.


And as to the 'dickslap' stuff... Mykee.. if *I* can do it.. so can you :)

But in all seriousness, I think in general we do a pretty decent job of education rather than just ridicule and snydeness around here... but we all have our days, yes even sweet innocent me!

For the record, I too am trying to be a touch less snippy with people, cause really at the end of the day it doesn't help anyone to give more attitude than advice.

[BoidKeeper]

Suplex! There's a word I haven't heard since back in the hay day of the true WWF. Back in the 80s when it was still worth watching.
Cheers,
Trevor

[greenman1867]

You know your old when you actually remember the real WWF that was only on on Saturday afternoons. At least in my hick town where we could only get channel 2 and 6 on the old TV antenna.

[HumphreyBoagart]

YOU'RE ALL WRONG!!! I'M RIGHT!!!
I have the best way to do it, but I'm not telling any of you Dickslaps!!! Anybody has a problem with that, and I'll see you in the ring! I may be skinny, but I'm covered in tats. So I guess that makes me the toughest one outta all of you.
Tag teams!?! This ain't no stinkin' tag team match. It's a battle royal python!