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left over skin

DirtySanchez

DirtySanchez

Loyal Fan
Hey everyone! can anyone help with this lil problem? My snake has shed several times but leaves a lil bit of the skin on the tail what is the best way to get it off
 
Here is what I do

This isn't an uncommon problem. Always check their tail tips.

To your question. Wet a paper towel and squeeze out the excess water. Fold it in half in the palm of your hand. Next, lay the snake in it and fold the towel over it. Close your hand and apply gentle pressure, much like when you normally holding the snake. Let the snake crawl through the wet towel. This may take a couple of time, but works like a charm.
 
Yes. do what CAV said above.

Its very important you get the skin off the tail tip @ each shed if your snake has this issue. or the snake could lose the tail tip because the skin builds up and up, dries out and constricts.

bmm
 
well this happened with my snake's tail during its last shed. I just bathed it and took the excess scales off myself. it is very important to remove all skin from a shed - as bmm said.

Veni ^-^
 
I just get a large Critter Carrier that has 1 inch of water inside of it along with a rock (The rock has been cleaned, boiled and cooled off to room temp of course) and placed my snake inside of it closing the top afterwards. I’ll watch it soak for about a couple of minutes and check out the left over shedding. Most of the time the snake will rub against the rock and it will come off on its own. If that didn't work I try the wet towel like CAV said.

Joel
 
When my snakes eyes get cloudy I raise the humidity slightly by misting a couple of times a day and I havent had a bad shed yet.
 
mistify

ya, usually if their not getting goods sheds you should boost the humidity up a bit. just spray the cage up oncen an a while
 
I too have a snake that just shed, and retained only a tail tip of skin. So does paper towel think work quite often? I will have to try that. But, I just fed my snake yesterday, and I want to give her a few days to digest. Will I be safe in letting her rest, or should I remove the skin asap?
 
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If you're worried about handling your snake now because she's just eaten, you can try making a humid hide. You can take a cardboard box or something that's the right size for her, cut an entrance hole, and fill it with damp paper towels. Either put that in the cage and hope she'll go in and use it, or just put her in it and let her crawl around awhile, and the skin will probably come off pretty quickly. Then you can put her back in her regular cage, if you took her out.
 
Get into a habit of looking at each and every shed as soon as possible. I look for sheds every day. Check to see that both eye caps and the tale tip have come off. If it is an incomplete shed, take care of the problem quickly. A wet towel will take care of it, but don't let the remaining shed stay on long enough to harden. This is what will cause a problem in the long run.
 
Ya, I had been in the habit of doing that with my snakes, although this is only the second shed I have experienced. My hypo, Remo shed just perfectly, but when Pearl, my female, shed, she retained the tail tip.... but, I just got it off with the paper towel trick. I was just hesitant to pick her up, since she had eaten the other day, but she was just fine. She just laid there and moved her head around some while I gently worked off the skin. Thanks, you guys.
 
another way that you can help this is when you see that you snake is going to shed you can raise the humidity. and yo ucan even give him an humid hide.
 
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