I’m still fairly new to the BP world and we’ve officially had our first bad shed that didn’t seem to correct itself. Like she shed neck down just fine. I’ve soaked her, peeled her (which she was super tolerant of surprisingly) but those eyes just not cooperating. Does anybody have any helpful tips for me so my little girl can see again?
Bump up the humidity in her enclosure to ~75% and it will come off on it’s own, no soaking or peeling necessary
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Those eyes look insane in that picture
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I agree with @chesterhf keep the humidity high, if that doesn’t work then try another warm soak and it should correct itself without having to peel it off
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If I have a bad or incomplete shed, something I do is soak a pillow case in slightly warm water. Put the snake in the case and tie it closed and set that in a tub or if your using a rack system, then back in its slot. Give it an hour or so and the animal moving around along with the extra moisture, often is able to slough off the remaining skin. If not, then just make certain the humidity is well bumped up as it goes into its next shed cycle.
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For all snakes with incomplete sheds that aren’t safe to peel, especially thin tails and eyecaps, this is my treatment:
- Importantly, put the snake in a tub full of clean drinking water first, and let them drink until they stop
- Pour your snake a species-appropriate lukewarm bath in a small plastic tub, I bet you have one!
- You may want to maintain the temp with a thermostat depending on the snake and the ambient temperature in the room.
- Dissolve a small amount of Epsom salts, about 1 tablespoon to every 5-10 gallons, it really isn’t critical how much, somewhere in there.
- Add a bit of pure aloe vera and/or glycerol to it. You can dechlorinate the water, or used distilled, or deionized water, but it really isn’t necessary unless your water is literally unsafe to drink for some reason.
- The container should be filled to about the height of the snake’s body. Not too deep, they shouldn’t have to swim.
- Leave them, with the lid secured, for 2-6 hours.
Notes: Works great for intestinal blockages too, so if they soil the solution, be ready to change them out to a clean tub. It seriously works like charm. The epsom salts and other stuff are there to lubricate the stuck shed, it’s similar stuff to what Zilla uses in their Shed-Ease product without the necessary preservatives they use to bottle it, and it costs pennies. I started using MgSO4 and Aloe vera in water decades ago for this purpose, for serious problems with stuck sheds it’s simple and effective. As others have said, the humidity in the enclosure needs to come up to prevent this in the future.
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Put her in a tub that has a warm, moist towel for an hour or so and it should help. Either that or boost the humidity in the enclosure as @chesterhf has said and wait for it to come off on its own. Definitely boost the humidity in the enclosure for future sheds to prevent this though.
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