Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi not been on for a while as all has been going fairly smoothly, until now.
The problem i have, or rather my desert king has, is with shedding. He has always been bad with his sheds but generally soaking him a bit sorts the problem out.
He has retained his head piece and is now onto his 3rd shed, i left this first time hoping it would come off on his next shed but he has retained it again. Its really starting to worry me now as he has trouble opening his mouth and is refusing to feed, took one mouse 4-5wks ago and regurged that a day or two later.
Any ideas how to help him or a visit to the vets?

He does have access to shedbox and water 24-7, i have tried soaking him (last night he was VERY placid, quite worryingly so, and held his head under the water for an alarming amount of time, 7-8 mins before i pulled him out) Both heat and humidity in the enclosure are fine, i just don't understand the problem.

Any advice appreciated

Thanks
Mark

Neither poor shedding or anorexia are diseases. They are symptoms of other things

Your heat and humidity are probably not fine, as you suggest. Mind sharing what they actually are? Have you tried a humidity chamber?

Shedding issues are a symptom of poor husbandry or parasites. Assuming he doesn't have mites, its the former.

For right now you have to get that skin off. soak him and them gently pull/rub it off with your fingers. If it is being really stubborn, some tweezers or scotch tape might help.

Once its off, find your underlying problem and fix it.

Also, the not eating and acting lethargic could be more due to the fact that it is November than the fact that he has some skin stuck to him.

Hi
temp is 85 hot end and 75 cool end, dropping 5 on both in evenings, he does have a humidity chamber through sheds consisting of repti bedding moistened daily, humidity 85-90%, humidity in tank is 55-60%
Are these correct? He does not have mites as i check regularly and thought that my husbandry was ok? I clean fesces and urine almost daily (as it happens) change water and bowl daily, clean and disinfect once a month.
I have soaked him on many occasion and even tried cotton buds to remove the skin from his head. It seems stuck right at the bit where his top two scales on his head meet his kneck (if thats any help) I just can't budge it!
One thing i havn't tried is pulling it from his neck forward, but i was told to always go in the direction of the scales not against. Plus i have had a couple of nips already when working on his head! Little bugger lol.
Thanks for the help hope this gives you the information you need to let me know where i'm going wrong as i love this snake ahhhhhhhh! LOL and i would hate to lose him.

As far as the skin goes, if its covering his head and it has been there for three shed cycles it needs to come off now. If you can't do it than you should really have a vet do it. However I think that you will be able to.

You can definitely go from the neck forward. Its not as easy to pull off big pieces that way but if thats the only edge to start with, you won't hurt the snake by pulling against the scales.

How much of his head is covered with skin? Are his eye spectacles covered? The lips are a good place to start peeling the skin as well, although they are also a good place to get bit. A second person and some good lighting will help you a lot.

In the future help a snake right away with any stuck skin. Even healthy snakes occasionally miss the tip of the tail or a few head/nose scales. Letting it harden and dry for months will always make it worse.

Also how are you measuring those temps and humidity?

Thanks for the advice, i will persevere!
Temps are measured using basic reptile thermometers in the enclosure and a digital thermometer to take readings from enclosure floor. Heat mat is thermostatically controlled at 90.
Thanks again