Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all!

I'm still relatively new at this. My baby king just had his first shed. After hiding for a week in his burrow, he crawled out last night looking beautiful, however only his head, neck, and a third of his body has shed completely, along with his eyecaps.

The last 2/3rds of his body is still dull in appearance and dented since the skin didn't slough off. It's only been the morning after he crawled out last night and he's been cruising around his cage rubbing himself on everything.

Should I help him out with the last of his shed or just let him do his thing for another day or so?

I also upped the humidity a bit by adding a lot of damp sphagnum moss and filling his water bowl with fresh water to soak in.

Kingsnakes do not normally soak, unless trying to stay cool or getting relief from mites. Don't expect a kingsnake to soak on its own to shed.

A plastic container with a hole cut in it, filled with damp moss 1/2 way over/under the heat is the easiest and best way in your case to allow your snake the humidity it needs to shed the skin itself. Kings love the moist hide described.

I had this exact same problem: head, neck and eyecaps shed, everything else still stuck to the body. markg is absolutely right.
When I noticed my snakes bad shed, I made an "emergency" shed box by cutting a hole in an empty margarine container (thankfully my girlfriend likes to save these), and then threw some moist paper towels inside. Within 15 minutes, the snake was inside the hide and finished his shed.
Since that day, I place the margarine container - with paper towels and sphagnum moss - in the tank as soon as I see the snakes gone into blue phase. Haven't had a bad shed since.

Shed box with sorghum moss or lightly mist the entire interior of cage my coastal brown had several bad sheds until I found misting helped or place a damp waterfowl over his favorite hide... works like a charm BOW HAS BEEN BAD SHED FREE FOR A YEAR NOW

I think you can skip the "damp waterfowl" over his hide. It might try to peck the snake, unless it is a dead damp waterfowl. A young Mallard might work though.