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I've read in several articles that womas don't have shedding problems because they come from such arid environments, but this female always has trouble shedding. Her mate sheds about every 14 days and it always comes off in one piece. I've added a large water bowl to raise the humidity in her cage during her shed cycle and it doesn’t help at all. I have to let her crawl through a wet warm towel to get it to come off. I'm thinking about adding a humidity box full of damp moss as soon as she goes into blue. Anyone else have womas with shed problems?

I keep mine on Aspen and do nothing when they go into shed and they've never had a problem. I'm not sure what that substrate you have in there is, but it could be the problem.

Honestly, I'd be more worried about the one who's shedding every 14 days. That's not at all normal, unless the snake is only a few months old and is eating like a pig.

-Anthony

>>I've read in several articles that womas don't have shedding problems because they come from such arid environments, but this female always has trouble shedding. Her mate sheds about every 14 days and it always comes off in one piece. I've added a large water bowl to raise the humidity in her cage during her shed cycle and it doesn’t help at all. I have to let her crawl through a wet warm towel to get it to come off. I'm thinking about adding a humidity box full of damp moss as soon as she goes into blue. Anyone else have womas with shed problems?
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Anthony Caponetto

He's much darker than her. I'm hoping to be able to breed them this comming season. I don't know why he sheds so much. He only eats one small rat a week, never saw a mite, just grows like a weed.

Hey Joe,

That looks like cat litter in that cage, or am I tripping? Your snake may be shedding excessively to get off something from the substrate.. I'd switch to aspen (as Anthony suggested),Newspaper, Corrugated sheets, or even cypress mulch would be a good option. It can easily be kept dry and then lightly misted for a shed cycle. Shedding every two weeks does not sound proper, and dry sheds are obviously a sign of improper care.. Look at what your doing, figure out what's wrong and fix it.. simple as that.

Take it easy,
J

The bedding is made of recycled newspaper like care fresh. I don't want to keep their cages humid because I don't want to breed bacteria. The other one is pefectly healthy. I think the fast shed cycle is just because he's growing so fast. He's less than 2 years old. I have no worries about him. I've had boas shed frequently with no health problems too. I'm sure its just growth. Thanks for your input Jordan.

Good to hear... I've seen that substrate before. It's somewhat like a carefresh compressed into a pellet. Shed cycles that frequent are generally indicative to something. Heavy feeding, mites, or something else wrong. You know your snakes, you SHOULD be able to tell if you're doing something right now or not I would assume. If you think that feeding like that to induce shed cycles that fast, totally cool.. your animals your philosophy by all means.. but as far as the dry shed goes, that is something simple to notice and simple to fix. If the snakes having dry sheds you're doing something wrong not the snake. And if it's something that easy to fix, might as well fix it. Snakes have dry sheds from time to time, but if it's continuous why not fix the problem is all i'm saying.

Take care of yourself, you going to the show this weekend?
J

Snakes will often shed a lot if their skin is too dry. This could explain your female's problem, too. My advice would be to try another substrate.
Having said that, I'd be more concerned about the fact the the male's head is no longer attached to his body. That's almost always a bad sign.

G