She's not shedding well.

[el lobo]

Hey, I have a big garter...pretty sure a 0.1...but she isn't shedding her skin as a sleeve. it is coming off in chunks. She has plenty of abrasive surfaces. Does she need a deeper water bowl? it is mostly her back that she is having trouble with. Her belly shed well.

[adamanteus]

I would suggest 'wet-bagging' to help her out of that old skin.

[el lobo]

Thanks for the prompt reply! How would I go about 'wet-bagging'?

[adamanteus]

Use a cloth bag (such as a pillow slip), dampened with warm/tepid water. Place the snake in the bag, tie the top, and place the wet bag complete with snake in the viv overnight. By morning the old skin should be off.

[el lobo]

Thanks. I will try that.

[ssssnakeluvr]

or my quick method...put her in a bucket of warm water for about 10 minutes and let her swim...you can pick her up and rub the skin right off easily!!!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

yep don thats how i do it!!

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

same here :)

yep don thats how i do it!!

[Stefan-A]

or my quick method...put her in a bucket of warm water for about 10 minutes and let her swim...you can pick her up and rub the skin right off easily!!!
Or a slightly slower method which was the first one I learned. Put her in a heated faunarium or other suitable plastic container with wet paper towels as substrate for about half an hour and then rub the skin off, if it hasn't already finished the job. :)

I think we all see what these tricks have in common. :rolleyes:

[jeanette]

and as a preventative measure against future bad sheds put a box with damp moss in its viv to help a natural shed when the snake next goes into blue.
remember to get rid of all the dead skin from this shed or it wont shed properly next time :)

[adamanteus]

remember to get rid of all the dead skin from this shed or it wont shed properly next time :)

This is a really good point.... Some people seem to think it's okay to leave a partially sloughed skin, because it will 'come off next time'... it won't. It will cause sloughing problems next time. You need to get unsloughed skin off, especially the brille (spectacle).

[ssssnakeluvr]

and the tail....old pieces will cut off circulation and cause loss of the tip of the tail.

[drache]

This is a really good point.... Some people seem to think it's okay to leave a partially sloughed skin, because it will 'come off next time'... it won't. It will cause sloughing problems next time. You need to get unsloughed skin off, especially the brille (spectacle).
are you sure that's true?
both my vet and the rescue guy (both really into herps and with tons of experience) feel that it's not a total crisis (vet says that they won't go blind)
you know I'm going through that with Sammy right now, and I feel that anything beyond what I've already done, will just stress her too much, but perhaps it will come off if I just keep at it gently
I do know that a retained shed surrounding the body can cause injury - often that's how tail tips are lost