Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Dumeril shed a few days ago but it's skin did not come off in one piece. There are still quite a few patches of old skin on his body. What's the easiest way to get them off? Should I soak him first in water? If yes, then at what temperature should the water be and for how long? Any other methods for removing unshed skin?

Thanks.

For patches I usually put the snake in a water soaked pillow case for a few hrs and they usually work it off. I leave the pillow case in the cage while they are doing this.

For larger areas and difficult sheds I put them in a tub of luke warm water that. In these cases I've left them in for up to a day and when this is the case I'll put a portion of the tub over heat tape so they have a warm spot. The water should only go halfway up their body.

Lastly, if it's only a few small spots and they are tame just do it by hand under a faucet with light running luke warm water. A pair of gardening gloves with those little rubber gripping beads helps too. As they move through your fingers the beads catch the skin and it slides right off. It's less stressful for the snake because you are not picking at them.

Thanks for the information. I will try soaking him for half an hour tonight and see what happens. I'll try to manually remove anything that he won't take off by himself.

I soaked him in the bathtub for about 20 minutes and then used a towel with which to wipe his whole body. The unshed skin just came right off. I didn't even need to put any effort to pull any skin...it just slided off.

Thanks for your help.