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Scales came off

mikeyg

mikeyg

Drummer/Snake lover
I checked on layla today and she still had some skin left over from her last shed. I tried what i usually do to get off the skin, use a moist paper towel and gently get the skin off, but when i did the scaled under the skin came off with it.
What should i do? I put her back in her cage for now, should i get something to put on the skin, or do i just wait for them to grow back. I'm really worried an infection could occur, i can't have her getting sick right now, i don't have enough money to treat an infection.
 
My advice to you would be to soak her for 30-60 minutes then get the skin off. As for now I would ask a vet what you should do. If only a little bit came off then don't worry, if a patch came off you need to watch for infection and make sure it stays clean. Put her on paper towels until it heals up or the substrate could get in the wound and cause infection. That would be my advice. Hope that helps. And don't worry she'l be fine :)
 
I had an adult that did the same thing on his nose and when it came off it left a small pock mark. Two or three sheds later, he looked good as new.
 
I'm probably going to give her a nice long bath tomorrow. Because i think the amount of skin that was left there was from more than one shed, she always has a problem with the tail when shedding. I usually have to take excess skin off when she is finished shedding.
I'm going to put a moist hide in there next shed to help her out. Hopefully that'll get her tail shed along with the rest of her body.
 
Min is still small, and it shed 5 days ago, and still has a bit on the tip...

Last night, I gave him a 10 minute bath, and tried rubbing it and running through a damp cloth...nothing worked, i was afraid to hurt him or squeeze his tail tip..

The leftover she don the tip is hardly a centimeter, ans nowhere near the vent.

Should I try again, should i pick it?

or leave it alone?
 
Baller99k said:
Min is still small, and it shed 5 days ago, and still has a bit on the tip...

Last night, I gave him a 10 minute bath, and tried rubbing it and running through a damp cloth...nothing worked, i was afraid to hurt him or squeeze his tail tip..

The leftover she don the tip is hardly a centimeter, ans nowhere near the vent.

Should I try again, should i pick it?

or leave it alone?
Click to expand...
Don't pick it!! If the old skin won't come off fairly easily, it hasn't been soaked long enough. It really is as simple as that. Start at 20 minutes and leave for another 10 if it doesn't come off then. You probably already know that if you leave the old skin on, the tail tip will likely drop off. I know you don't want to stress your girl out again, but it's worth one more go.


To mikeyg, if you know your snake is a bad shedder you really should provide a moist hide. Don't wait until the next shed if there is still old skin left on her! By leaving old skin on (especially from more than one attempted shed ago) you might be speeding up her shedding cycle, particularly now she has been injured.

If where the new scales have come off looks bad, there are creams you can put on. I'm sure someone will be along and recommend you a tried and tested one soon. It's really important these old sheds come off though. In future, don't just use a damp cloth to help pull the skin off, leave her to soak in lukewarm water before even attempting to help. Nanci made an excellent thread recently with pictures to boot.

Good luck.
 
Thanks alot Tracee and everyone else for your help.
Shes really not a bad shedder, she just has problems with her tail. A moist hide is going to have to given to her next shed.
And layla is getting a nice soak tonite, hopefully it'll loosen up the skin so it can come off. Hopefully she enjoys it. :)
 
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