Hey all, I hope someone can help. I have a pretty young ball python, about 1.5 feet long, and he just shed for the first time since I got him, apparently he shed just before I got him about 2 months ago. Anyway, it wasn't a good shed it was patchy, it took him like 3 days to shed most of his skin and he still has a patch of skin right on the back of his head that doesn't look like it is going anywhere. He has a good apetite, I just fed him 3 fuzzies, and he ate 3 1.5 weeks ago. The humidity is 50% on the side of the tank that has the water dish and 82degrees on the other side of the tank where I have a heat lamp. I also have a columbian boa in with him (it's a large tank) and the snakes are relatively the same size, my boa has never had a problem shedding, she has shed twice. What should I do? Could he have parasites or what?
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Patchy shed
Replies (1)
Patchy, incomplete sheds are are common problem starting this time of year. It is most likely caused by low humidity. The easiest way to avoid it is to provide a humid hide box, simply an enclosed hide with a small entry and an inch or so of damp moss. The remaining shed on top of his head can be rolled off after moistening it with a wet paper towel for a minute or so. An added note, if the 82 degrees is your hot spot rather then the ambient temperature I would suggest that you raise that to around 90 F for the species you are keeping.
T.B
>>Hey all, I hope someone can help. I have a pretty young ball python, about 1.5 feet long, and he just shed for the first time since I got him, apparently he shed just before I got him about 2 months ago. Anyway, it wasn't a good shed it was patchy, it took him like 3 days to shed most of his skin and he still has a patch of skin right on the back of his head that doesn't look like it is going anywhere. He has a good apetite, I just fed him 3 fuzzies, and he ate 3 1.5 weeks ago. The humidity is 50% on the side of the tank that has the water dish and 82degrees on the other side of the tank where I have a heat lamp. I also have a columbian boa in with him (it's a large tank) and the snakes are relatively the same size, my boa has never had a problem shedding, she has shed twice. What should I do? Could he have parasites or what?
