Hey guys,
I need some advice please - my Ball Pythons have terrible sheds i.e. 90% of the skin is retained - I keep the waterbowl on the heating pad so the humidity stays at about 65% - but this does not help in any way. My other snakes (corns, milks etc) all shed 100% - it's only the Balls that battle. What am I doing wrong - Please help!

Generally when BPs have shedding issuses it is due to the humidity being too low. What type of guage are you using to check your humidity. If it is the little dial type this may be the problem and the reading is not accurate.
Corns and milks do not hav the high humidity requirements of BPs so are not as problematic.
Is the water bowl large enough for the snake to get in and soak?

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

i agree with Merlin about having a bowl big enough for the python to fit into. you can also make a moist hide for the ball as well as soaking him for about 15 minutes in water to help loosen the shed. you can also put a damp towel inside a pillowcase and then put the snake inside, tying the pillowcase shut and letting your python slide around the towels. that helps with the skin as well. good luck with him.

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~My Babies~

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1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
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In our experience, our ball pythons are our worst shedders. We usually take a big pail (sterlite container with holes in lid, or cat litter container with holes in lid) fill it with warm water and a little bit of mineral oil. Give them a half hour soak, then wipe them down with a towel. it may still take a few days to shed all the way, they need a lot of humidity and moisturizer. They also seem to like the attention of being shed out by hand. We have a reptarium container and they like to rub against the sides to get their shed going.

I had someone tell me that they put about a half a drop of wheatgerm oil on the fur of the rodent being fed to their snake.

I myself have never heard that greg, but you never know. Husbandry is forever evolving.

I personally like and suggest the pillowcase method. I have used it in the past with great success.

What I typically do is take a towel, soak it in semi hot water, and the wring it out. (Soaking it in the hot water helps it to stay "warm" after you wring it out.)

The towel will be moist, but not dripping!

I then toss it in the pillowcase, and add the snake. Tie the top, and place the entire pillowcase in the snakes enclosure partially over/under the heat source.

I have left them in the bag for the night, and come morning, they have shed. It has worked every time!

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Thanks for all the info - I am definately going to try the pillowcase method - our winters here are extremely dry, but we are moving into summer now and then things should be better.

Well, I've only tried it in the last week. He hasn't shed yet. His eyes are yet to get disfused, so I don't know if it works any better or not. I've always done the warm bath technique with no problems.
It sounds logical and this guys been in business for years.