Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female milk snake that has had three bad sheds in a row. Obviously she eats well and seems to be healthy other than this problem. Her enclosure is on the top shelf and is the only one up there. Could the humidity be that much lower on the top shelf? I spray the inside surface with water every day when she goes opaque but this does not seem to help. I also have placed her inside of a wet sock to see if that helps. NOT. ( worked before with a different snake ) Any suggestions would be appreciated. I got 75 percent of the skin off by hand this time but her head and neck still have the old skin on them for now.

I think what you're seeing is a cronic 'disability' for that particular snake. I'm assuming that the rest of the collection is shedding normally but this one gets wrinkled or sheds in a few patches - either scenario requires a soak and peel session.
I have a single milk with the same issue (and a couple that don't have the problem any more) so when they're beginning to turn blue, I'll add a large deli cup with damp/wet newspaper strips to the cage - they'll usually sit in the cup until it either dries out or they shed and often the problem never re-surfaces for whatever reason.
The soak N'peel thing must be fun with venomous snakes....
Jeff

>>I have a female milk snake that has had three bad sheds in a row. Obviously she eats well and seems to be healthy other than this problem. Her enclosure is on the top shelf and is the only one up there. Could the humidity be that much lower on the top shelf? I spray the inside surface with water every day when she goes opaque but this does not seem to help. I also have placed her inside of a wet sock to see if that helps. NOT. ( worked before with a different snake ) Any suggestions would be appreciated. I got 75 percent of the skin off by hand this time but her head and neck still have the old skin on them for now.
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I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way. - Robert Frost, 1935

Thaks for the info. I think that is the problem. I soaked her last night and used some blue painter tape to pull the skin from her head and neck. Worked like a champ!!