Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My adult male blue's old skin never shed off and now it is stuck to his body, and getting yellow, which looks to me like it is rotting. I am not quite sure why this happened because he is housed in the same rack as other large colubids, and they shed fine. Humidity is lower now in the winter months here in VA.

After I soak him, I can scrape of the skin in places, but it almost like it is "gluey"..it does not come off like a normal bad shed does.

Any suggestions? I really don't want to lose him. He is proven and his mate lives one tub down in the rack.

He has been looking this way for several weeks at least - I was waiting for him to shed himself, but it never happened, now it looks like I waited to long to assist him.

Thanks!

Assuming you soaked it long enough, you could try placing the animal in a plastic container with moist sphagnum moss for a few hours.
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Now some questions:
Is it possible the animal damaged the newly forming skin when it was in the blue?
Is it possible that the animal’s cage was too humid (condensation apparent) for too long before the shed?
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Regards, Bill McGighan

i've had success with a product called "Shed Ease". i'm not sure of the manufacturer but i can find out when i get home and will post that information as well. i had a juvi. corn and a larger, rescued black rat that both had shed issues (once each). the Shed Ease worked wonders and the old shed came off completely.

i'll post the manufacturer info as soon as i can get it. hope this helps.
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1.0 Abino Striped Cali King
0.1 Amel Corn
0.1 Anery Corn
1.0.1 Black Rat
0.0.1 Eastern Garter
1.0 Normal Ball Python
2.1 Bettas

I don't think he damaged his skin and I know the cage is not humid at all, actually the cage prolly needs to be more humid, at least during the winter months.

I am thinking maybe some type of bacteria.

Try all the above methods. Sometimes a snake will go into a rapid shed cycle to correct any problems with the previous shed. I have a juvenile coxi that I let get to wet before shedding(condensation was in cage). She developed some sort of skin irritation, I don't know if it was bacteria or something else. Anyway, she went into a rapid shed cycle and I made sure all the conditions were right in her enclosure(humidity, temp., etc.) and she shed out fine. Snakes can be pretty resilient sometimes. Hope everything turns out alright.

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Matt Kauffman

"I am thinking maybe some type of bacteria."

Might very well be. Maybe time for a Vet to see what can be cultured.
Good luck and keep us posted how it turns out.
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Regards, Bill McGighan