Questions about retained shed and aspen

My ball just shed on Christmas day, and tonight when I got him out of the tank to swap his reptile carpet for the spare and wash the current one, I noticed he's got maybe a centimeter of old skin left on the very tip of his tail. It's almost entirely inside out, only the very tip scale seems to really be stuck. I got some water and paper towels and tried to carefully see if it would rub right off, since it might have just torn before he could pull it free. No go, it's still connected pretty good, though about half the inside-out part came off no problem.

I know I'm going to have to probably soak him and all that business, but I want to know how much of a crisis this really is. In just a few days we're making the car trip back to my apartment from my parents' house, so I don't want to harass him more than absolutely necessary. Should I go ahead and force the issue, or is it alright to wait until he's settled in at home before I deal with that?

This shed was his second with me, and much better than his first one a month ago. He didn't retain anything, but he tore the skin to pieces and left it all over the tank in a huge mess. This time it was only in two or three large pieces, and I suspect only because he scraped all over his granite water bowl which has some rough bits and tore it up that way. I've kept the humidity at 80-85% or so both times, I guess he just needs practice.

Second question: I'm going to move him into his new 20L that my dad bought him (me really) for Christmas in a month or two. When I do this, I'm probably going to start using aspen bedding instead of reptile carpet. A 20-gallon sized carpet is going to be a huge pain to wash in the sink, and probably take forever to dry, and the thought of being able to just scoop out the soiled aspen sounds rather appealing. How thick a layer of aspen should I put down? Is he likely to burrow? Is there a risk that he'll dig into the aspen over the UTH and burn himself by coming into direct contact with the glass? I think I might take one of his reptile carpets and put it over the heater, then put the aspen layer over THAT, if there's a risk of burrowing and heated glass.

I love these forums, and have no idea what this smiley is for.

The shed will be fine if there is only a little left on the tail. Being that his shed was better this time than last, that is a good thing.

Aspen, carpet, dirt, sand, newspaper? This is a topic that come down to what you prefer to use. I have used all and I think it depends on the reptile to decide what it likes better. Watch them carefully and you can tell they will like one more than the others.

Use a thermostat on the UTH, this will help you monitor tghe temps properly to insure it is not too hot. Standard UTH runs at 125 degrees!! Even the small ones. Place the temp probe on the floor of the tank over the UTH to get an accurate reading.

With aspen I fill it to a depth of about 1 inch for my ball pythons. You can always get a couple pieces of carpet to compensate the washing and drying time.

This is for those who need to be flushed and live like a dead fish.

might be a good idea to see if you could soak the tip of his tail for ten minutes or so but you could probably wiat until he has settled down afterthe move. I soak mine if he is having issues shedding, and he seems to not mind as long as the water is lukewarm-not too cold or hot. As long as the shed isn't constricting the tip of his tail, there probably isn't any harm done-if it happens again the next shed or if it doesn't come off in a few days, a soak might be get rid of it. .