Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My ball (which I mentioned in an earlier post "Bad Shed" HATES water and when I put him about a half an inch of luke warm water he FREAKED OUT! I left him in there for a few minutes to see if he would calm down. NO WAY! He hissed at me when I tried to pick him up and take him out. He was being crazy. I don't know what else to do! Has anyone tried SHED-OFF oil to help snakes shed?

The water may be too hot. What feels warm to you can easily be near or even over 100 degrees. Too hot for your snake. Get a good quality thermometer to monitor the temps in any water you use for soaking.

VOT

I usually find a very damp towel works as good or better than soaking, and snakes don't hate it AS MUCH.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Other methods you might try:

Wrap your BP in a damp towel and as it crawls around on the towel the shed should come off.

Place BP in a damp pillow case and let sit for about an hour on the warm side of the tank.

Put damp moss in a small container with holes for ventilation and leave BP in there for about 30 minutes - 1 hour. It's the same as a humid hide but holes for ventilation instead of a hole for the snake to get in and out. I place it on the warm side of my tank. This seems to have worked the best for me. I actually used a combination of this with the soaking and damp towel and it worked great for me!

I have a BP that hates water also.. I take a pillow case and a soft terri cloth towel and soak the towel in very warm water "it will cool a bit in the case". Place the loosly balled towel in the case then place your ball in and tie a knot in the case. place it in a plastic container and place it on some heat, either in your rack or in the snakes tank.. It worked like a charm and being in the case calms them down nicely...

Good Luck!

A