Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently bought a corn snake as a hatchling. Its eating great and a little shy but still pretty easy to handle. The other day I went to clean his cage and his face was all milky colored (hes a particularly dark colored snake) I assumed he was getting ready to have his first shed. Well I went to change water today and he had shed his head and a little neck area (if thats what we can call it) and the rest of his body is all flakey and crinkled...I heard that its bad to shed in pieces and I was wondering if theres anything I can do to help him or change something in his tank???

What you can do right now to help him remove the skin is take a rubbermaid or sterlite container, or something simular, and place very damp papertowls or newpaper inside. Place him in there for around an hour or so, and the skin should come right off.
As far as why he had a bad shed, you may need to make adjustments in your setup to increase humidity. Maybe increase the size of the water bowl, or decrease the ventilation area, or slight adjustments to both. What type of setup to you have him in?
Steve

Alright I have him in a tub with very damp paper towels but it gotten really cold so I have a heat lamp on him and I can see the condesation building inside...how wet does it need to be and do I need to rub him down or anything to help remove the skin...hes still very young. Maybe 6-8 weeks and I got him at a pet store but they had no tips on how to help...

You can have the papertowls/newpaper dripping wet, or wet but not dripping. Either works. The snake crawling through the papertowls/newspaper in the enclosed container offers resistance for the snakes skin. After about an hour or so, most of the time the skin will have come off by itself. If not, you can gently work it down with your fingers, or let the snake crawl through a moist washcloth. Or put him back in the container for a little while longer. The headlamp on the container is fine, just don't let it get too warm. Hope that was helpfull.
Steve

>>Alright I have him in a tub with very damp paper towels but it gotten really cold so I have a heat lamp on him and I can see the condesation building inside...how wet does it need to be and do I need to rub him down or anything to help remove the skin...hes still very young. Maybe 6-8 weeks and I got him at a pet store but they had no tips on how to help...

it did work out just fine thanks! He was upset with me for getting him all wet but once he'd soaked for awhile his skin got all sticky and i actually got a dry paper towel and let him crawl through it and his skin slid right off and he's been so much nicer I really didnt expect it to be that easy THANKS SOO MUCH

.