incomplete shed

[junglejudd]

Hi there ,my murray darling just had a incomplete shed, i actually had to pick the old skin off him, the skin on his back is very dry and stubborn to remove and some parts that i could'nt.can some body please tell me why?
also as i was doing so he actually crapped, as i massaged his stomach it kept coming and quite solid i'm wondering if he may have been constipated and this is what has caused him to shed like this. very worried and eager to hear some opinions.

 

[wranga]

best to bath your snake to remove any retained shed. reasons for retaining shed could be un-healthy snake, wrong temperature, bad humidity, humidity problems could be caused be bad substrate. so if you like to post all details, ect, age of snake, when was last feed, what it fed on and size, enclosure temperatures, type of substrate, is this the first time shed has been retained, has anything changed with the enclosure or the way the snake has been kept. maybe an answer can be found as to why this has happend

 

[tenacres1100]

, i actually had to pick the old skin off him, the skin on his back is very dry and stubborn to remove and some parts that i could'nt. QUOTE]

Don't peel or pick old skin off without soaking in warm water first, you could damage the new skin. Find a container with a lid, have enough water (30-32c) in it to cover him and let him swim for 20-30 min, keep an eye on it , then let it rub through a damp towel, you may need to do this again.

 

[pythonmum]

I much prefer the damp towel method for retained shed. The snake can't aspirate any water and there are no chemicals involved - 100% safe.

• Wet a towel (or pillowcase) with lukewarm water and wring it out so it's only damp.
• Loosely wrap/enclose the snake in the towel for about 15 minutes.
• Let it wriggle out, while you gently rub off any pieces of retained shed.

This way the retained shed is moist and easy to remove.

As far as preventing the problem again, plenty of options as mentioned by wranga. The hard bits in the dropping may be a chunk of urates (normal) or firm faeces. Alternately, there may be something wrong. Very hard to tell from a brief forum post.

 

[junglejudd]

Thanks for the info guys,had him for around 18 months he's around 1.5 in length and been in the same enclosure since owned and never had any trouble until now. hav'nt changed a thing, the skin on his back is dry and this is where he has retained his shed, the under side of him peeled away with out a problem,the enclosure has e heat rock and lighting is with a flourecent globe,all i can think of is maybe he has rubbed against the fixture and scorched him self (but there is no blistering)? or as i said in the first post he had some impaction in the bowel, but would that cuase this to happen?

 

[tenacres1100]

,the enclosure has e heat rock and lighting is with a flourecent globe,all i can think of is maybe he has rubbed against the fixture and scorched him self (but there is no blistering)? ?

don't use heatrocks with pythons they get to hot. if your lights are not covered it could be a burn. Try soaking and if it doesn't come off on it's own maybe see a Vet.

try posting a couple of pics if you can

 

[junglejudd]

Thanks python mum