Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

My male has been shedding all morning, going in circles upon circles over his body, under his body — all while sloughing his skin off on the wooden stump in his cage. Most of his skin came off in one piece, but there is one ring of dead skin that is still present near his cloaca. He had a big meal a few days ago, and it looks swollen a bit on the sides of the ring of dead skin.

How do I help him? Or should I just leave him alone?

(The humidity is at about 70-80 in his cage last night and today because I knew he would be shedding. Also, he has 3 surfaces to slough against, and a water bowl with fresh water)

best,
jen

"swollen"? A pic would be good. If he is just getting ready to poop then the shed skin may come off when he does it. You can soak him and gently rub it off, rubbing in the direction toward his tail....

Sorry for the "swollen" alarm, he was getting ready to poop and did just poop a few minutes ago. There was lots of liquid surrounding the poop, as if he peed as well. Is that normal? I usually don't catch the poop as fast as I did this morning, so maybe the "liquid" is usually dried into the coconut husk substrate by time I clean it up.

And, I'm happy to report that about 20 minutes ago he just had the last inch of his tail to remove, and now it's almost all of... with teh exception of a few milimeters. It is so cool to watch him slither around his cage all morning... snakes are such amazing animals!