Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My BP started to shed yesterday/last night. But she's shedding in pieces and not one big nice shed. I don't know what to do as I've never encountered this problem with our other snakes. She was using her humid hide, but that doesn't seem to help, so I soaked her and that did help, but she still isn't fully shed. Her eye caps and belly have completely shed, so it's mostly her back. Should I give her another day or try to help her?
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0.1 Ball Python (Cambria)
1.0 Honduran Red Tail Boa (Mitch)
0.0.1 Rosy Boa (Thorn)
0.1 Leopard Gecko (Lucky)

Try putting her in a small rubbermaid container (a shallow one; length does not matter as long as she can move around easily.) make sure the container has about a half-inch of water in the bottom and the sides and inner lid are misted before you put her in. Warm water should be used, of course. If you leave her in there for a few hours, the leftover skin should easily peel away.
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"One man's pet is another man's feeder."

I've had the same problem in winter when the humidity drops so low. Soaking every day for a couple of hours should do it. As prevention, I've started soaking mine every day as soon as I see signs that he's going to shed. Since I started that, its been one nice complete shed ( which is far less stressful on both of you).

I've had the same problem in winter when the humidity drops so low. Soaking every day for a couple of hours should do it. As prevention, I've started soaking mine every day as soon as I see signs that he's going to shed. Since I started that, its been one nice complete shed ( which is far less stressful on both of you).

I do the same thing. As soon as somebody goes "dark", I know that it's BATH TIME. I use one of those "Critter Keeper" things - the one that's long and low and nicely escape-proof. I put it in the tub, put about 1/2 to 1 inch of warm water in the container, and then plug the tub and fill the tub with warm water up to the level inside the container. I've found that this keeps the water warm longer. I usually leave the snake alone for an hour or so (this is a good time to perform cage maintenance).

Once the bath is over, I *pat* the snake dry and put him back in his cage. After the eyes blue and then go clear again, the skin will shed nice and clean.

REMEMBER to clean and disinfect the bathtub - snakes carry germs that could infect humans.

For stubborn bits, a gentle Q-tip dipped in warm water does the trick. I just hold the Q-tip against the stubborn scale, no rubbing. After a few minutes, the scale will just come right off.

Why no rubbing? Ever get a sunburn so bad you peeled? Ever pull the skin off yourself or have someone else pull skin off of you? Hurts like heck, doesn't it? Snakes feel pain, too..... Patience is a virtue, and I've had no problems with the gentle wet Q-tip method.

My younger snake, Bubba, seems to like being helped to shed. When he's ready to shed after his bath (and he's the best judge of when he's ready), he will start rubbing his nose against the towel until the lip scales come loose and then he can get the rest of the shed going. All I do is provide gentle resistance; he does the rest. For lack of a better term, it's kinda cute.

Cute it may be, but I cannot think of very many things that are ickier to handle with bare hands than a freshly-shed wet snakeskin!