Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My BP just shed and it wasn't a very good one this time. I had the humidity up high like I usually do before and during a shed but didn't workout this time. Anyway, I tried the wet pillow case trick but that didnt work. Any other suggestions on how to get the rest of it off? At least he shed the eye caps ok anyway. Just from his neck down he has a good bit of shed still on him. Thanks for any suggestions.

i have been doing this for a while now, almost two years. i will fill up a water bowl with half warm water and half ALL NATURAL red tea. not alot of tea, just a little little bit. some people in africa bath in it, it helps clean out their systems and helps with healing and stuff like that. so i tried giving one of my snakes a bath in it. and a few days later she shed perfectly. at first she was unsure but then i could feel her hole body relax and enjoy it.
i personally dont see anything pyhsically unhealthy about this. we are careful, and we watch how our snakes react to the baths. if i feel like they do not like it in any way i will never try it again with that animal. i have noticed that after a nice little bath that i give some of my snakes they get so relaxed that when after they are done they go potty...lol. sorry.
again i dont feel like its bad for my snakes. ive done this alot of times and i have seen no changes in how they eat or their temperments or anything.
well sorry for the babbling, just thought i would share to you all how i get my snakes to have a good shed. lol in other words... theres my two cents...
here is a picture of one of my females after a little bath, the bowl is empty but shes loving it. enjoy.
~Ssamantha

I fill a plastic sweater box about half way with warm water and let mine soak for a half hour or so with the top on. Then I dry them off with a towel. The excess skin usually comes right off.

Most people will tell you to soak your ball - however many balls don't care much for water some fear it - soaking creates stress and dehydrates your ball - both of which you need to try to avoid during the shedding process. In fact if your snake really needs to soak it will do so on it's own.

To remove eccess sking prepare a nice wet warm towel (or wash cloth is your dealing with a small snake). Put the snake inside of it cover it up and let it sit there for a few minutes. Then gently coax the snake to wiggle around inside the towel apply a bit of pressure and the skin should come off fairly easily or gently rub with warm wet wash cloth/towel from front to back. Towels work much better than pillowcases as they have a rougher surface. It's not quite as easy as just plopping it into a bowl but it's less evasive.

If you don't get all of the skin off that is ok - most of it will fall off on it's own or come off in the next shed. Do the best you can and try not to stress out the snake too much.
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Tosha

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that wash cloth trick really works, it did wonders for my snake.