Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What would cause ball pythons not to shed completely? Their cage humidity is fairly high when shedding and they have humid boxes when shedding. They also get soaked when shedding, yet they don't shed completely and have retained sheds.

Sickness or stress. Maybe the temps aren't high enough, maybe they don't have a suitable rough surface to rub the shed off on...
Check to make sure your snakes don't have mites or something along those lines as well.
Try putting in a rock or bit of wood when shed time comes around, see if that helps any.

G'luck!

~jenny
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1.2.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, Periscope, and dah bebbies)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard (Freckles)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

incomplete sheds are the result of not enough huimidity or moisture in their enclosure during the shading period. This is why it is very important to observe and handle your snakes , look at them very closely balls will develope a blueing of the eyes when its time for them to shed , watch for this and when you observe this starting to happen raise the humidity level in their enclsures by misting their hide or misting them directly this should solve the problem.

He soaks them, which pretty much takes care of the issue. I've had perfect sheds at 40 percent humidity when I soak right after they go 'clear'.
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1.2.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, Periscope, and dah bebbies)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard (Freckles)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

Ball Pythons....need to be at least in the 55 humidity range..IMO....
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Nick

They do. But I can't help things like the Santa Ana winds, which drop normal humidity down to almost nothing. They're usually over in about a week or two, but naturally, that was when the snake went into shed.
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1.2.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, Periscope, and dah bebbies)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard (Freckles)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

If I were you I'd stop soaking your snake prior to shedding - if your husbandry is correct and your snake is properly hydrated with a good humid environment it should shed properly.

Although there are always exceptions to the rule Balls in general DO NOT LIKE TO SOAK - soaking actually can stress and dehydrate your snake and work completely against what you are trying to do.

And although some people swear by them I've yet to have a ball use a humid hide. So I wouldn't count on a them as your only humid area for your snake.

Barring any other problems like stressors, illness, injury, parasites, etc. simply providing fresh water daily and bumping the humidity up in the cage to about 70% right before they shed (when they go from blue to clear) should provide with good sheds.

What kind of cage/set up are you using?
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Tosha

I work at a pet shop and I here a lot of stories about shedding. If all the humidity is right, and you have proper shedding aids (branch,rock,bark,etc) most of the time, an increase in feeding helps. The snake could just be slightly under fed. Most customers have told us once they increased the feeding, their snakes began to shed completely in one piece.

If an increase in feeding doesn't work, sprinkle some calcium powder on the mouse or whatever it is you are feeding. Actually try the calcium powder first and if thet doesn't work, then try increasing the feeding with calcium.

what are you talking about?
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Nick

I know I'm coming into this thread late in the game... but DON'T do the calcium thing!

I read through the entire thread to this point, and couldn't hold myself back here. Given the humidity that was described in the original post, I suspect that the problem is not humidity, but rather nutrition. In that much, I can agree with jfrreptile.

I DON'T however think that you should automatically increase the feeding rate or the amount fed to your snake, or to mess with calcium supplementation. I have no idea what about shedding issues would lead someone to believe that your snake does not have enough calcium. Lizards run into a lot of issues with metabolic bone disease because of insufficient calcium or vitamin D, but snakes don't as a general rule.

What I think you SHOULD do is look at the rodents you are using as feeders and try to evaluate their nutritive value. That means, if you are feeding several adult mice to a large snake, maybe rats would be better from a nutritional standpoint - less hair and mature bone (which are largely undigestible, or at least require more effort to digest) for the weight. Also, what the rodents are being fed makes a HUGE difference in their nutritive value to the snake. Some people who breed rodents for feeders will only feed their rodents CHEAP dog food and leftovers. Make sure the rodents you feed your snake are in the peak of health before they are euthanized (best if they are fed a lab diet, perhaps supplemented with fresh fruits or vegetables), and you should see a big difference.

The important thing is to change the nutritive value of the feeder rodent through general husbandry (whether you breed your own or buy them from someone else), and not by injecting or dusting any vitamin supplements into or onto the prey item after the fact.

I hope you see this, and I hope this helps.

~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

Well, they aren't actually my snakes, they are my friends.

They are in a 150 gallon tank. The humidity is usually around 70%. They have a bowl of fresh water and they are fed once a month I think. The two smaller ones eat a large mouse each and the bigger one eats a small rat. The smaller two she has had for a long time, I think like 6 years.

Thanks, I will give her all the suggestions.

-Melissa

If she is keeping three snakes of varying size in one large tank and is only feeding them once a month (an probably not the appropriate size feeders but that isjust a guess) it sounds like extremely poor husbandry and stress problems - not to mention that they could be malnurished. She needs to get a care sheet or book on Balls or get rid of them altogether.
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Tosha

She should at least be feeding four times a month per ball.I hope you educate her or please have her read this forum she is proably or could be slowly starving her poor balls to death over a long period of time.

Something that seems to work soak a sponge and put it over the heat source as soon as the eyes clear up.