Horrible shed Plz help......

[probe7899]

Hi I have a ball python that is about a year old. His eyes changed colors about a week ago and the last two days some pieces of shed came off but a lot is still on him. I spray his cage two to three times a day for humidity and i also tried to give him a bath to help him get the shed off. This is his first shed since I got him. I have other snakes that all have had great sheds. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Please any suggestions. Also a piece of shed is still on one of his eyes. If it does not come off by it self how would I take it off with out hurting his eye/?????
Thanks
Brian...

[Pixie]

The thing that always works for me in this type of situation is to put your snake in a warm damp/wep towel and in a restrained container for an hour or two. When you take the snake out it's perfectly clean of all the skin that needed to be shed off. I think the combination of high humidity with the gentle roughness of the towel is the perfect thing, it's worked for me every time without fail when I've had a shedding problem. I put my snakes in the folds of the towel and keep the container in a warm spot, usually on their UTH in their own tanks.

[Linds]

I agree with Pixie, that seems to be the most effective, least stressful way of removing stuck shed. Either put it in a container in with a towel, or in a wet pillowcase, and you should eventually have a clean snake, though the retained eye cap may be left behind. I do not recommend trying to remove retained eyecaps. This can be rather invasive and you wouldn't want to injure the eye. No harm will be done if they are left on, just make sure that you increase the humidity (especially around the next shed cycle) and it should come off next time. Do you have a hygrometer in your cage now to measure the humidity levels? What is it?

[BoidKeeper]

Yup a wet towel is all I use.
Cheers,
Trevor

[probe7899]

Yes I do have a humidity gage in the tank. Where should it be warm or cool side, towards the top or bottom???
Right now its on the cool side upper part and it reads about 40 percent.
Brians.

[Linds]

40% is far too low. Your just waiting for a respiratory infection with humidity levels that low, not just bad sheds. The ideal level for a BP is about 60%. Just put the hygrometer in a neutral location such as the centre. Hope this helps :)

[Sir Hiss]

I know it is possible to remove the eye caps using tape. Take a normal peice of tape and put it on you r finger sticky side out. In one somewhat quick movement sort of roll past the snake's eye and hopefull the tape can pull it off. This does not hurt the snake and I have seen it done before so it can work.

[Big Mike]

Personally I would not risk using tape on the snakes eye. Some people do use this method but unless it's risking the health of snake I would do it another way.

Humidity and a damp towel works well. A wet pillow case works well too. Even leaving it on until the next shed would be OK if you make sure to raise the humidity.

[tightsqueeze]

wet q-tip!

[BoidKeeper]

I would not go pulling on it with anything. Soaking in a wet towel will remove everything. Use a big thick towel that is really damp, almost wet. Place the snake in the centre and wrape it up an place the whole thing in a rubbermaid.
Good luck,
Trevor