My snake had a bad shed. What should I do?

Often times in captivity and in the wild, snakes can have a hard time shedding or shedding completely if the proper conditions aren't available. One of the main factors that can cause a bad shed is not enough humidity. Snakes need higher relative humidity in order to shed properly.

If the humidity level is too low and the snake doesn't have access to a place to soak, the shed may only come off in pieces. When this happens, sometimes pieces will not come off. This can be a big problem if not attended to. For example, if the tip of the tail does not shed off properly, the old skin can actually cut off circulation to the tail and in some cases, the tip of the tail will die and fall off.

In another, more extreme example, if the snake's entire shed does not come off, the next shed will be very difficult to get off and the snake can die. This happened to a young milksnake snake owned by a friend of mine. He tried all of the standard methods to assist the snake in shedding to no avail. Something may have been able to be done had he acted earlier but who knows?

Anyway, on to the methods. :-)

Method #1: Soaking

If you notice your snake's shed is incomplete, an easy and non-invasive method to assist the snake is to let the snake soak in a container with a little warm water in it. The water should be barely warm to the touch though. Water that feels warm or hot to us is likely WAY to warm for a snake. Also make sure the water is not too deep. I would only fill the container enough so that the level is about 1/2 way up the snake's side.

Place the container on the snake's heat pad and let the snake soak for as long as it takes the left over pieces to come off. Make sure to check on the snake every few minutes... or better yet, just watch it soak. It may be a good idea to put a few rocks or branches in the container to give the snake a place to rest and to give the snake something to rub on.

I don't really use this method much because I don't find it to be very quick or reliable. But others do use it with success.

Method #2: Peeling off the skin

I find this method to be the only one that works in some cases. But I also find it to be stressful to the snake AND to the person doing the peeling.

Restrain the snake gently and hold it's head if necessary, then either peel off the skin by grabbing it or rub it until it comes off. The snake will likely try to squirm out of your hands which can make this task a tough one especially if the pieces you're removing are on the snake's head. But like I said, sometimes it's the only way.

Method #3: The Towel in a Bin Method

This method works really well in most cases. On top of that, it's easy, safe and not stressful to the snake.

Take a ventilated Rubbermaid tub (or similar) that the snake fits into (a relatively small tub works best), add a wet (again, use luke-warm water) Terry-Cloth towel (these work well because of their texture), put the snake in the bin, put the lid on (make sure the lid is secure) and place the bin on the snake's heat pad.

This pretty much forces the snake to rub its entire body through the wet towel several times. Often, this is enough to rub off the remaining pieces of skin.

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Last Updated: April 16th