Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My ball python has not had very good sheds the past two times. Her setup is in a 20 gallon terrarium with adequite hides and water. Her heat is provided by a UTH a lamp. Her hot spot is 95-100 degrees. The warm side is 90-ish and the cool side is 80. I've been taking good care of my 9 mo. old ball and she is healthier than when I got her. She as eaten a steady diet of one adult mouse once a week. She had mites when I first bought her, but I got those taken care of and her first shedding resulted in an incomplete one (HUMIDITY--85 in the humid box).
2) Her second was complete (HUMIDITY--85 in the humid box).
3) Her third was incomplete (HUMIDITY--85 in the humid box).
4) Her fourth and most recent was incomplete as well (HUMIDITY--85 in humid box).

I've become curious as to why most sheddings have been incomplete and one has been complete.

I have attached a picture of her only complete shed. I was lucky enough to catcher in the act. The shed ended up coming off in one peice.

Any suggestions are gladly welcome.

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--0.0.1 normal ball python
--0.1 orange cat
--2.0 dogs
--1.0 parrotlet
--3.0 beta fish

Is she using the humid hide at all? If not, you may need to raise the humidity in the whole cage. Does she have a water dish large enough to soak in?
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Tosha

8.10.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

i think your prob. is that you have the big cage and the humidity is not built up enough. make sure you have a big enough water dish so she can soak. you might also try misting her when you notice she is about to shed and keep her moist. it is sometimes hard to get the right humidity level in glass cages with mesh tops.

I had some problems with this as well. The whole large aquarium/mesh top thing. Eventually I figured out a good way to keep humidity in the whole cage by keeping moist towels over the top. It keeps the humidity in and holds water to keep humidity over the day. I spray the whole cage two or three times a day as well. My ball has a huge water dish, but never uses it for soaking. If all else fails, just pull her out and soak her in water for 20 minutes or so every once in a while during the pre-shed cycle. Hope this helps some.

Chris

Something I use for stuck pieces of shed is to run about 2 inches of warm water into the tub wet a towel in the water, open it up and lay the snake on it. Then fold it over so that everything but the snakes head is covered. I find that the heat from the towel will relax them, and they will sometimes lay in this for 30-45 minutes. Let them stay there as long as they will. You then can rub the patches with the towel. Should come off, no problem. Good luck.

Quig

use a pillow case soak it dowm then leave it damp. put the ball inside and leave it for about 30 minutes.

this works for me every time.