Can anyone please help?!?

[kimbosaur]

Well I see we are in a house of glass and most are throwing stones… It seems many of you have had experience in this area of retained sheds, in fact so much so that some you know procedure(s) to deal with this issue. Interesting...
On with the UPDATE if I may…
Last night I focused mainly on her upper 2/3rd of her body starting off with a warm water soak and then proceeded to rub in a shed direction with a new emery pad that I first worked with my hands to make pliable for use. This took off all retained shed on the dorsal or costal and vertebral scales. For the bottom ventral or gastrosteges scales I had to remove one by one. I did one other procedure then let her rest then came back with a light coating of Mac Oil. This morning I checked in on her and she gave me a good little love nip and her color is looking better.

I'm glad to hear the snake is doing better, but I'm not sure why you're getting so defensive. Everybody was only offering advice that you asked for with the well-being of your snake in mind. Many have shared their personal experiences of what works best to solve the problem, as well as their personal experiences with what happens if the situation is not immediately dealt with. You chose to disregard the advice for whatever reason. If you go somewhere looking for advice, find out that most or all view your situation as urgent, receive personal feedback about how to handle the problem, ignore everybody and let the problem drag on, then come back and boast about how much more experience you have than everybody else and how your way is better, what did you expect would happen?

[ConcinusMan]

It seems many of you have had experience in this area of retained sheds, in fact so much so that some you know procedure(s) to deal with this issue. Interesting...

Well of course! If you keep a lot of snakes and over many years, you're bound to run into this problem sooner or later. There's basically only two kinds of snake keepers. Ones that have dealt with it, and those that are going to face it soon enough.

Any stone throwing done here was out of concern for the animal.

Exactly. Don't take it personally. When you ask for advice here, you're going to get it even if it's not what you wanted to hear. And of course, individual experiences and opinions will vary.

This sounds like great news. Glad the snake is out of immediate danger. Updated post-shed pics would be nice.

[Ruth]

I just wanted to say I've been following this thread and am very greatfull for it and with you asking for advice. I haven't had any shedding problems but as ConcinnusMan says most of us will face something similar and it's nice to have this information logged in my mind for if it should happen to any snakes in my care. Though I hope I'm the exception and this never happens to any of my snakes, but then we all hope that.

[ConcinusMan]

If I were you I would stay vigilant and next time she goes opaque, then clears up, make darn sure she sheds. She might have trouble again and like I said before if you wait too long, you might not be so lucky next time. Some snakes seem to go through a phase where they have troubled sheds, then eventually get over it so definitely be watching for it next time. They should shed within a week of the eyes clearing up again.

[scott5017]

Man this thread should come with popcorn!

[d_virginiana]

... Saying that someone with lots of snake experience is a poor keeper because they know how to deal with retained shed is kind of like saying someone is a poor daycare provider for knowing what to do when a kid has the chicken pox

I just wanted to say I've been following this thread and am very greatfull for it and with you asking for advice. I haven't had any shedding problems but as ConcinnusMan says most of us will face something similar and it's nice to have this information logged in my mind for if it should happen to any snakes in my care. Though I hope I'm the exception and this never happens to any of my snakes, but then we all hope that.

Watching any potential 'trouble' snakes like crazy is good prevention for retained shed. I've had several instances, usually in snakes recovering from mouth infections (I think the light scarring may make it difficult for them to get started shedding?) that could have very easily gone from a difficult shed to a retained shed if I hadn't been able to deal with it immediately. I've also started running a humidifier in their room when someone goes blue. Doesn't get the humidity too high, but I've noticed the sheds seem to go better for everyone when I do.
There's a good thread on here somewhere with retained shed/eyecap images that is pretty helpful for deciding when you need to take action for a retained shed.

[BUSHSNAKE]

ANYTIME your using a heat source of any kind...specially during the winter months, you have to replace the moisture in the air that you lose.

[Ruth]

ANYTIME your using a heat source of any kind...specially during the winter months, you have to replace the moisture in the air that you lose.

I'm not sure if this advice is directed at me after my post. I have moisture boxes in with all my corns and my garter has a variation whereby I use a small box with lid which has a little under 1cm of water in it and an access hole in the side. In the box is also a piece of terracotta pot the pot is thick enough to stand proud and remain dry. I look at it that the snakes are able to choose which micro climate they wish to be in. She will spend a reasonable amount of time sat on the terracotta but no where near as much time as the corns spend in their moisture boxes. I also don't use spagnam (sp) moss but I use wool batting (stuffing used in quilts) in the boxes. The wool is organic and chemical free and wool has antibacterial qualities. I clean the wool weekly using very hot water. This has worked for me though I don't know anyone else that does it this way.

[d_virginiana]

ANYTIME your using a heat source of any kind...specially during the winter months, you have to replace the moisture in the air that you lose.

I monitor the humidity. Unless it drops below freezing here in NC (which it has only done for a few days out of the year) the humidity stays fine in their room. There's a hygrotherm attached to my frog's tank that keeps the surrounding area more humid than it would otherwise be.
The humidifier isn't normally necessary. But I like doing it when someone's getting ready to shed.

[chris-uk]

We have a tumble dryer in the snake room, and a 5 month-old who generates a lot of washing. If the humidity is fine we vent the dryer outside, if humidity needs a boost we vent into the room. May as well get some benefits from the extra laundry.