whats taking so long?

[jlax786]

my ball is taking forever to shed hes been showing signs for like two weeks, and he shed his head up to behind his eyes, and thats been like that for like 5 days, why isn't he shedding the rest of his body, im pretty sure its ready to come off....the humidity has stayed about 70% for the past 5 days as well....anyone know whats going on? am i being impacient or what?

[smeagel]

I haven't heard of it takeing that long to actually shed the skin, but maybe it can. Spray with a water, give it a bath. I'm just throwing ideas out here. maybe some of the more experienced keepers and breeders can help out.

[eddiezahra]

what works for me is putting a tupperware or sumthin he can fit his whole body in with a lid that has a hole for him to go in and out thru. place a damp towel in it, not soaking, but not too dry and he should sit in there and get all moist and probably shed right inside there

[jlax786]

ok heres the update....i gave him a nice warm bath (like trying to put a cat in a bath tub) and hes right now just sitting in his hide not trying to shed or anything....the warm bath just made him take the biggest crap from a snake iv ever seen in my life....lol

[smeagel]

what I would do I wet a towel, line a conatiner with it and put your snake in the towel and cover him with the rest of the towel. leave him in there for a while, then when you look at him later you should have a freshly shed snake. Good luck and keep us posted.

[nita]

When a snake sheds the skin should come off in one complete piece if he shed his head and the rest didn't come off there is most likely a humidity problem. The damp towel method mentioned above works great. When you notice him go blue, mist the enclosure good every night until he sheds, you will have good sheds that way.

[mykee]

Sounds like an incomplete shed to me. A husbandry issue perhaps?

[jlax786]

ok well as i type this i have him in a bucket with a wet towell around him....working out alot better than the bath did....thanks guys for all the help....im getting my rubbermaid tonight too to solve any husbandry problems i may have! :)

[Princess Erica]

that's what happened with my first shed. The head shed fine, but from the neck back it stayed on firmly. I let him try to get it off on his own for a couple days, but finally soaked him in a lukewarm bath for like 45 mins and the skin was literally hanging off. I just had to lightly rub it with a wet washcloth and it all came off. Really an unpleasant experience for us both.

Next time, it's really worth your while to absolutely jack your humidity from the time you see the blue eyes. I kept mine between 70-80%, and misted twice or three times a day. My guy wouldn't touch his humid hide, but alas, had a perfect shed thanks to the cranked humidity. Learn from your mistakes this time so next time it's a whole lot less stressful! :D