Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I recently bought a pair of ball pythons and they both have had shedding problems that i didnt notice whn i bought them. the male has shed well, except for on one eye. And the female has skin left on the end of the tail. I've tried soaking them, and gently tried to get the skin off, but it isnt shifting. Is it ok to wait until the next molt and hope it comes off then, or do i need to urgently do something about it? they are both about 20" long, so quite young. how often should i expect them to shed at this age? Thank you.

Dan.

How long did they soak? Sometimes too short a soak leaves them even drier. It can take an hour to have much effect. Raise the humidity in the enclosure and provide rough surfaces for them to crawl between and around. It may help loosen the old skin. Is their waterbowl big enough for them to coil in? If you are certain there is an eyecap you can sometimes remove it by GENTLY pressing a piece of tape at the edge of the eye to catch the cap. It should stick and lift away. As for other skin patches, I find if I stroke and work gently at them when the snake is being handled they eventually come free. Soaking seems to work best though.

thanks for the reply. I have just managed to sort both of them out. i placed them in a tupperware tub filled with wet newspaper for a couple of hours and then worked the skin off the females tail with my finger, and used the tape method to get the skin off the males eye. I'm so much happier now. They've both been feeding well, so this had been my one source of concern, and i wasn't looing forward to any potential vets bills, so its great to have sorted it out myself!

Dan.

what i do and it has worked for me so far is i have a tupaware container and i cut a hole in the lid of it so my ball python can go in and out but you put some moss in there and spay it with water and make sure that it is pretty moist and then it keeps it humid in the container for the snake so the old skin comes off a lot better and is in one whole peice and if the eyes caps don't come off i just carefully put a little bit of tape on it and take it off and that works really good.

let me know if you are having any more problems and i will find some info for you about shedding.