Bad/Incomplete Shed: What To Do

If you completely saturate the ground, it can mold. Aspen is very quick to mold (in Florida, at least) under a spilled water bowl, for example.

My little corn just had an aweful shed and I think it was because of something going with his head scales. Before he was even going into shed I noticed that the skin on the top of his head was flakey. But I figured it would be resolved by his next shed. Once he had his incomplete shed, I followed the advice on this thread and put him in a container with water and a washcloth. The tip of the tail came off easily in the water, and the eyes came off with the initial shed.
However, he didnt seem to want to get his head in the water, so the skin on the top of his head and a bit on the top of his neck is still unshed.
Do you guys have any idea how I can get this skin off?
His previous shed was perfect so I am not really sure what happened this time.
Also sorry for an spelling or grammar mistakes, its hard to make sure everything is correct when using my phone.

You could try putting him in a damp towel/wash cloth and having him squirm through it, so it would have to touch his head. I'd also make him a humid hide with moss and see if he will use it.

You guys probably think I'm crazy with all my questions and I don't even have a snake yet, but...
When you use a humid hide, you put it in the warm side of the viv, right, so that the heat and water would make it nice and humid?

Nope I put humid hides in the middle or the cool side. Heat and moisture invite mold to form more quickly.

And questions asked before you get your snake are preferred around here

Thanks Alicia! Glad I asked. The mold growth makes sense with warm moisture. I guess I just didn't think it all the way through. Thanks again!

I put the little guy in a damp pillow case and I can see his head rubbing against the material so hopefully that will help. Is it normal for the top of the head to be a tough spot to shed?

My adult corn (fairly new to me) seldom sheds the skin all in one piece. It comes all the way off, but in pieces varying in size. Is this okay?

I had a bad shed yesterday. 1 big piece, a few small pieces and I don't know which part is the head. His tail is still stuck on too. Maybe from overhandling?

My snake has shed now about 7 or 8 times since I've had him, he's just on 2 metres long. He does always have a 40lt water pool available to him 24/7. Now I'm no expect on snakes and can only go by what I have read and seen my snake do. But all his sheds have been perfect mostly all coming off in one piece (my kids love to keep those ones) but I have noticed that the broken ones are broken due to him sliding around objects in his tank which I presume the skin gets caught on. But (and I've never taught him this) LOL but I have noticed that he soaks himself for about 10 to 15 minutes by swimming in his pool before shedding and that it's always at night time when it's colder that he sheds.

In my personal opinion the weather (heat) around them may have a part to play in how they shed. think about it for a sec, the skin is not much different to a very extremely thin sheet of (lets say) some sort of film, If you expose a film to heat it gets soft and tacky (which is why it may stay stuck on the snakes body) and hard to work with but if you keep it cold it's stay firm and is easy to handle which would make the snakes skin none tacky allowing the moisture to separate the skin from the body much easier.
This may be a way off description of explaining it but I'm sure you can get the picture.

Try (only a suggestion of cause) when you know your snakes going to shed keeping him in a cold area or for lack of a better way of explaining it, turn off all heat sources in the viv. Only a thought.


You may say I'm talking out of my whatever here, but I'm the type of person to observe, look and remember things like weather, surrounding elements, individual circumstances etc for everything from live animals and pretty much everything and every element of every aspect of everything plays a part in how long it lasts, stays usable, fades etc etc. That's just me I suppose and probably due to my line of work but anyway it's a thought and only a personal observation which may help your cause.

Cheers

Quick note,, Moisture is also important which we all already are aware of. So having said that providing your snake with something he can completely submerge himself in only makes sense. If your a snake lover and you want your snake to shed properly then providing him with what he actually needs rather than trying to cut corners also only makes perfect sense for both your won peace of mind and your snakes well being. the snake knows what he needs and it's up to you to provide him with exactly that no matter what the small extra expense it takes to make that happen. Remember snakes aren't like dogs, cats etc, they don't have different face expressions when they want or need something.

If you own a dog or a cat do you only give yourself a spray bottle of water to wash them with or do turn on the tap and soak them wet. NO I bet you don't, you don't even think twice about turning on that hose tab to drench them, filling the bath to soak them etc. Again only my personal opinion but I feel that these snakes should have at it's disposal enough water to submerge in at all times as that is what they would have in the wild.
Sorry if that offends some of you as it's wasn't the intention.

My snake does have enough water. He used it as a hide for the first couple days before I got him a propeR hide. He s in it all the time. Still incomplete she'd. Maybe the branch in his viv is too rough

I have a question about this. This is an excellent thread. My girl Ophelia is was born in July and her last shed was difficult, so I gave her a soak, worked wonderfully. She's shedding again, and I just bought her this new cork log that she's hiding in and I can see that pieces of her old skin are coming off in it nicely. She refuses to leave the cork log and I can't get her out of it, so I've just been letting her be. She shed the skin from her eyecaps down to what I'd call her neck (I found that in her tank) but she's still working on the rest. Should I just let her be? Isn't it only supposed to take 24 hours or so for them to completely shed? It's been about four days. I'm going out of town for a few days and I won't have anyone to check on her so I'm awfully worried about getting this solved and getting her fed before then. I don't want it to continue to be a problem for her with every shed. I've been misting the walls of her tank and keeping her screen lightly covered with plastic bags to keep the humidity up. Is there anything else I can do or should I let her chill?

It should take minutes for her to shed. Maybe she will come out of the log if you remove it and place it on the floor, and prod her.

To help in the future, I would either, when she goes blue, cover the screen lid with plastic wrap, loosely, and mist the walls and her plants, daily, or make her a humid hide by putting damp orchid moss in a plastic container and cutting a little door in it, and giving her that when she goes blue.

Hi Nanci, thanks for the advice! I am going to try to get her out of the log tonight so I can soak her. It was cheap so if I have to maybe I can just crack it open. When I went to work today I lightly covered the screen lid with some damp paper towels to try and help. I have aspen for bedding and I'm considering switching to a better moisture controlling one. Which one would you recommend?

I pretty much only like aspen. The problem with a substrate that retains moisture is it is then prone to mold. Aspen will only mold if you have a big water bowl spill. It's fairly easy to just get in the routine of putting plastic wrap on- I get the holiday colored wrap and lay a sheet of it on top of the viv, and then just crumple it up and srote it right there until the next shed- and misting lightly.

Thanks for the advise. Worked perfectly.

Looks like it got more than the shed loosened up!

Nanci said:

Looks like it got more than the shed loosened up!

Click to expand...

Yes, easy cleanup.

its look bad to me..she shed last 2 weeks, and I noticed that got some incompleted shed on the belly area..then last two days she shed again..still got incomplete shed at same area..

I already soaked with warm water. look like this area very dry. can i put some baby oil or something?