Bad/Incomplete Shed: What To Do

ok cause she was flaking before and she shed her full head and about 2 inches down her neck but its all pieces now and flaky the lower part of her body seems to be shedding slower.

I'm not sure what to do....I did everything exactly like you said...my snake FREAKED out...she hated every minute of it...when I opened it up after only 15minutes...she was coiled up tightly in a corner and didn't even want to come out! Usually when I take off the lid she climbs right out into my hand and she wouldn't even move! I don't know what to do...it looks like it may have helped with the shed...but will she get better with time because if she doesn't shed that well again I'm not too sure what to do...I don't want to stress her out...

Next time she goes blue, put a humid hide in her viv.

gsdbecca said:

Next time she goes blue, put a humid hide in her viv.

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right now she is only a baby still so she is in only a 10g tank so there isn't much room...any suggestions on what I could do for a humid hide that won't take up much room?

Hey guys

Recently my boy went through a bad shed. It's pretty normal for him to not completely shed the very tip of his tail, which I usually get off easily with a couple wipes of a damp towl. This time though it's the other way around. He lost a scale on his head and the tip of his face/nose didnt shed. I'm wondering if it's not more than one shed, but I'd like to think I've been more attentive at checking his sheds then that.

His cage is in my room so I have to hear him huff air out his nose every now and then because of the stuck shed. The problem I'm having is that leaving him in a bin/towl doesnt work well since he just keeps his head above water. And when I try to run a wet swab down his head he absolutly hates it, and it ends up not working so well in the end anyway.

Should I just continue the water filled bin treatment and hope after a couple soaks it comes off? Or would it be better to up the moisture in his viv during his next shed and hope that it comes off then? He's been huffing air out his nose more recently just today, though, so I'm not sure that second option will sooth my own worries about it.

When you put him in the bin to soak, try this:

An hour before putting him in, lay an old towel or two on the bottom of the bin. Pour in enough water to make them sopping wet, but *not* to create a layer of free water sloshing about. Cover all air holes/vents (I use clingfilm for smaller tubs) and put the tub on a heat source like a UTH to warm up. You're basically creating a snakey sauna and really building up the humidity inside that tub. After about an hour, check that the temp is in the mid-80s, pop the snake in and uncover a few of the air holes/vents. Leave the snake in the tub for at least an hour. You should find that the humidity softens the stuck shed, the towels give him something to rub against to try and get it off, and he isn't going to be able to escape the moisture in the atmosphere. If you crumple the towels slightly, he might even try burrowing to get under cover, which would be really helpful in trying to soften/dislodge that stubborn snout shed.

Good luck!

Nanci- my new baby tesserra male Maverick- just had a bad shed 3 days ago and I've been trying to rub the old skin off but it's his face area/eyes and back of neck that didn't completely come off instead of the lower end of him. I can't seem to get it off with shed ease and rubbing it with a paper towel or regular hand towel. With such a little baby snake does the method in this post work? If not do you have any suggestions that I could try?

Thanks,
Anjeanette Porter

I would either do repeated 20 minute soaks, or, did you see the thread about Krinkle that I posted recently? Instead of soaking him with a washcloth, I put him in his feeding bin with very wet sphagnum moss, like you'd use for a lay box. That really got it loosened up. If you don't have any, it's the Orchid Moss that Lowes and Home Depot sell. Then see if you can peel backwards from the neck up??

Thanks, I will try the soaks and see if that works.

I have him in a small deli cup with thick pieces of paper towel soaked with nice warm water. He's been in there for around 5-7 minutes and trying already to get it off himself by rubbing but he's having a hard time of it from what I can see. Hope he ends up getting it. He's been gaping at the mouth off and on and has a popping sound> I figured it was because of the bad shed with the face/snout area.

Water is the most important thing for a clean shedding, big enough they can completely submerge for a while. I have had my corn snake now for about 10 months and he sheds at least every 2 months. What I have noticed is he will not eat for a week before a shed and on the day he will sit in his pool for a few hours then he starts to roam his tank and the skin just slides off.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

We just have 3 very different corn snakes when it comes to shedding.

Ember, my Keys (AKA Rosy Rat) snake won't use a humid hide, won't soak in water. If I put wet moss or paper towels in his favorite hide (trust me, we've tried!!!) he just sits out in the open and gives me the evil eye. And he won't go into a separate humid hide. We live in NM and its very, very dry here. We don't worry about humidity in our vivs. We just gave up after a few months. It would be a full time job keeping the humidity up. As soon as we mist them, we come back 30 minutes later and it's all evaporated. I just keep a very close eye on him and if he has a bad shed, I immediately get a warm, wet hand towel and help him crawl through it and viola! he's smooth and silky in a few minutes. This last shed a few days ago he got it all off perfectly.

Flame, my younger daughter's Creamsicle, has a humid hide and if we put it under his heat lamp with wet paper towels or wet moss he will use it as soon as we provide it after we notice he's in blue. Then he always has a perfect shed as long as we keep the paper towels (or moss) pretty damp. My daughter's seen him soaking a couple times before a shed.

Trinket, my older daughter's Snow, is really hard to tell when he goes blue. The only clue is if you can not see his pupils clearly. They don't even look "blue" like the other two's eyes. They just get blurry and you can see them clearly. And of course the color is already white so hard to see it go dull or anything. He's just now a year old, but so far he's had perfect sheds all on his own. He's not a soaker or has a humid hide. That might have change as he gets older.

So, I don't think one-size-fits-all advice is going to work for every snake. Some just won't soak even if they are provided with a big enough soaking dish. The first bad shed I had I was freaking out and was running around like a chicken with my head cut off at 3am. I tried to get Ember to soak in a Rubbermaid bin with a wet towel, he wedged himself up on the top near the lid, as far away from the water as possible. That's when I learned the trick of helping him crawl through the wet washcloth or hand towel. His water bowl is big enough for him to soak in, but he doesn't do it.

Hi there. I also have a rosy rat snake; Thor is also a horrid shedder...maybe it is the subspecies? Wet towels wont do for him; he needs to be soaked in a basin of water for about 30 minutes before the shed will come off. He does not soak on his own accord, he has to be placed in a bin. And even then he needs major help in it. He is one of my special needs snakes...he doesnt eat, poo, or shed well on his own. Snakes with shedding issues are such a hassle as its so very bad for them, and it has got to be so uncomfortable for the poor creatures.

Hi, Lyreiania! Nanci has a pair of Rosy Rats, too. I don't know if she's had any problems with them shedding. Maybe she'll chime in here. I am sorry Thor is such a bad shedder. Ember is a pretty good eater, although he seemed to self brumate this winter and hasn't eaten in a few months. This is my first winter with him so I am trying not to freak out. My husband works at a Zoo and the herpetologist is trying to keep me chill about it all. He still looks the same, active when I take him out, tongue flickering, etc. And no poo problems, either. It's so nice to see another Rosy Rat owner. I went round and round for a few days trying to get him identified after I rescued him from Craig's List. They are a special little subspecies, aren't they? Smaller (shorter), that triangle shape, reduced belly pattern, more muscular than other corns we have/I've held. He was on display at the Santa Fe Children's Museum but he was just no good for being on display because he's in his hide 24/7. The only time he was out and about was when they had a docent to get him out for the kids to handle, and that wasn't often. So, they found a corn that liked to hang out in public more. How's you come about Thor?

My suggestion for a habitual poor shedder is to keep him in a plastic bin in a rack, if he is not. Then, I'd start misting when he goes blue, and maybe provide a humid hide or even a lay box type container.

Hello! I believe I need major help .

I went away on travel twice within the past couple of months, and each time I went away (it was for about 5 days the first time 1 week the second time) my opal corn shed his skin while I was gone. I got in today and I noticed bits and pieces of his skin around his tank, and now I see brown scales on him as well !!!! Is it too late for him? He's an '08 opal and still eats well.

Too late for what? If he has stuck pieces of shed, you can still soak him.

You're a lifesaver, Nanci. I had no idea Loki had even gone blue so when I walked in today and saw him struggling to shed I was really freaked out. Plopped him in with some water and damp paper towels and I'll go check on him in about 15 minutes.

Snakes are natural survivors and know what to do when they shed as it's a natural instinct. A snake knows it needs water.

Make sure you provide a large enough water tub when you know it's going to shed, better still always give him a water tub big enough that he can fit his whole length in it at any one time. A snake that can only soak 1/4 or 1/2 it's body length is guaranteed to have shedding problems.

A snake that has skin left on it is a snake that didn't have water or only had a small water tub provided.

Fix that issue and you will have solved any shedding problems in the future.

On the other hand to clean him up you can put him in a bath tub and massage him in the water with your hands, this will remove everything. Luke warm water works best say 5 decrees Celsius above room temperature.

just a thought and this is what i do for my snake when he goes blue and gets ready to shed. Each night before i go to bed i will saturate the ground with my spray bottle. He used to soak in his water dish but he is quickly outgrowing it and i am needing to invest in a bigger one. I get full sheds even though they are broken in half they are full sheds overnight. Just throwing it out there about the saturating the ground. IDK if you can do that with aspen bedding. I use coconut fiber and it works every time...