Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 5 month old ball python and this is the first time he has shed since i got him... it has been over a week and he is shedding in pieces which i know isn't good. Could someone please tell me what to do to help i have tried a couple of things and they haven't worked. should i bring him to the vet or what please help my baby.

Let us know what you have tried that has not worked. We had a really difficult last shed with ours (before that it was always one piece and perfect). We soaked it for a while and actually put a stone feature from the cage in the water with him. He rubbed against it and got most everything that was left completely off of himself. You can raise the humidity in the cage and make sure that there are things in the cage that he can rub up against (branches, rocks, hide, etc). There are some products (oils, rubs) that can help the process but I would try anything else before putting any of those on ours.
-----
Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

well i have tried misting the cage to raise the humidity and we gave him a nice rough rock, he has a log hiding house that is rough to rub up against. but what really worries me is that he isn't shedding around his eyes or head i am afraid that the new skin is going to cover his eyes and blind him like i saw in a picture once with a snake that didn't shed properly. and he has a good size water pool to soak in. i don't know what else to do. besides take him to the vet or get a shedding aid. any suggestions

thank you
courtney

Try putting him in a container of warm water. he shouldn't be able to get out of the container, and the water shouldn't be high enough that he can drown, but high enough that it covers his body (I use a critter keeper to soak my baby). If you let him soak in that for about an hour it'll help out quite a bit. Maybe put a rock in there, too, like bps said.
-----
1.1.1 Ball pythons (Diablo, Mercedes, and Ciqala)
0.2.0 Cats (Kate and Clarice)
1.0.0 Rabbits (Milosh)

Easiest way to fix a shed like this is to wrap him in a warm damp, not sopping wet, towel and place him in his home. He will get the shed off without any trouble. The only time this hasn't worked for me was with a CH that had multiple retained sheds and she couldn't even get hers started to come off, otherwise it has always worked for me.
To avoid this in the future when he goes into shed place a small tupperware container with a hole int he lid filled with damp sphagnum moss in his enclosure on the warm side, he'll use it if he needs it.
-----
Nita Hamilton
--------------
Ball Pythons