shed

[Ssob]

hello iv only just noticed a bit of shed on the end of my checkered garters tail any idea's how i can get it off .. its gota be like a week old :mad: im bathing him now but he is tiny i doubt i could get hold of him to help it off

[adamanteus]

You're doing the right thing with the bathing..... loads of patience, you'll get it.

[Ssob]

good good .. he just got out and was a pain too catch LOL

[infernalis]

The soaking is the best thing, and misting the tank with water maybe once a day to elevate the humidity a bit will help.

Now the worst case scenario I have encountered was my corn snake had this same problem, I think it was shed number 3 that got stuck. It would not come off no matter how hard I tried. After a few weeks the very tip of his tail died, shrunk up and fell off.

This gives the snake a "stubby" or "blunt" tail but no permanent harm.

Right now I am treating a wild milk snake that I found in my yard that has already lost several mm of his tail, and has what looks like a half dozen stuck sheds built up on several cm of what tail he has left. soaking and spraying plus picking at it seems to be sloughing off some dead skin.

good luck, and it's nothing to get too worried about, happens out in nature a lot.

Cheers!
Wayne A. Harvey

snakes (http://www.reformedsniper.net/snakes.html)

[Ssob]

thanks everyone :) he's just been bathing in his water bowl too iv added a bunch of moss so hopefully it will come off

[Spiritwolf]

I try bathing with the garter I have, who sometimes has problems with shedding. Usually though, what works best is gently scratching the dead skin off with my fingernail. From the way the snake acts when I do this, I suspect that the dead skin may itch. This snake named Little Bud, will rub the areas against my fingernail, that it wants me to scratch. Little Bud even will gently push his head up to my fingernail and let me gently remove an eyecap that hadn't shed. After I had obligingly helped Little Bud get rid of dead skin, Little Bud was lively and happy. I did bathe Little Bud (in plain lukewarm water) after the shed, to loosen up any dead skin I had missed and to provide some moisture. Little Bud's home has a garter-sized swimming pool in it and a couple of rough rocks available for rubbing and shedding, eats well, and in all aspects appears healthy, but usually has needed some help getting rid of dead skin. (And I just gently scratched the tail to peel the dead skin off the tail, btw. I've read that it's a good idea to help remove dead skin when there's an incomplete shed, to avoid problems with bacteria, etc.)

[Lexa]

That happened to my boy, all I did was make sure the tip of his tail was in a mug of warm water while I handled him. He seemed to really hate it if I tried to help him get the skin off, but after a week or so of keeping his tail in the water and very gently trying to tease the scales off, it worked!

[crzy_kevo]

when i had george shed for me for the first time she was having a hard time i soaked her in the water dish for a bit but was still having a hard time so i picked her up and applied a little pressure with my fingers around the shedding area and she squeezed her muscle and what not to get the skin off through my fingers she must have know i was trying to help her because she wasn't aquirming or trying to get away :)