Really Weird molting......among other things

Hi, my ball python has been in a continuous shed since we had some difficulties surrounding some plumbing pipe. Here is our story.... I decided that getting my bp something to do while he was in his cage would stop him from scraping his nose along the top screen lid all night long trying to get out. So I went to the local hardware store and purchased some 3 inch black plumbing pipe for him to crawl through and sleep in to keep him occupied. It served its purpose very well, but being that we love "Monty" very much, we take him out of his cage daily. Well, I thought that I was taking him out carefully from the pipe, but what I didn't know was that I was creating large "scrapes" along his back bone and belly over the course of about a week. He ended up with some pretty nasty sores that he very nicely cleaned up himself by shedding 4 times in about 6 weeks. Each molt would bring the skin on his back and belly to a better stage of healing. Now that the sores are all completely healed (about 3 weeks ago), he is now going into his 6th consecutive shed. I cannot see why he would still be wanting to shed as there are not any of the original sores left on his body except for the one on his nose from rubbing on the screen. This one is a pretty big sore (about the size of the colored plastic ball on the top of a stick pin) It sits right in between his nostrils and is quite deep. It is healing with each molt. I wonder if he is molting still because of this sore????? Now here is the REALLY WEIRD PART TO THIS STORY.....about every third molt, he does something REALLY weird.......he molts each individual scale by itself. What a mess!!!!He's done it twice now. Well, he finished doing his second individual scale molt in which I had to help him with, about a week ago, and about two days after that was over, I had to help him with a FULL molt which came off in pieces as it was glued onto him and very dry. I know that I have a humidity problem because of the heat lamp. It is very difficult to keep the levels up in the entire cage. I have a screen lid which I cover up with a multi layer sheet except for where the light bulb sits over on the hot end. Do you think maybe I need to get him a "humid box"? I also use a fogger/mister that I run every day to help with the levels. He has molted every week since the middle of July. I have had to help him shed each time by soaking him for about an hour in tepid water, then rolling him through my hands to get the skin off once he split it at the tip of his nose and it started coming off of his chin. Otherwise he'll just sit there for a week or two without it coming off. It does come off very nicely once I soak him, but in pieces. Well, since all of these molts his poor skin is so sore. He jumps at every touch. Has anyone ever seen a snake molt each individual scale like he has (twice now)? Has anyone seen a snake continuously molt in order to repair their skin? Is this stress related? We love Monty so much and I just want to help him get rid of this ailment. He is still eating his live mouse every Monday, he is drinking a big gulp after each feeding (he has always done this), and he is very docile and timid in nature. I have his cage at about 85-86 degrees on the cool end and about 90 degrees on the warm end under the infrared heat bulb (please refer to the pictures I have included here). he has two caves (one at each end) to hide in. I have a water fountain that constantly runs in the cage as well. I wrote to his previous owners and asked them if Monty had ever had a complete one piece shed, and they said "no". So I asked my local snake expert at the petstore, and she said that I do not have my humidity right, and I should start feeding him fresh meat. He has only ever had frozen mice, and before I got him a few months ago, for 6 years he was only fed every two weeks. I feed him a live mouse every week, and believe me, he's hungry. He's grown 3.5 inches since we purchased him in April/06. Should I just keep the humidity and temps where they are and let him be? Stop handling him so much? Any changes I should make to his heat sources? . I do have an under the tank heater, but only on the cool end of the tank. He loves this and it keeps the temp about 85 degrees. The lamp however, can heat things up to about 95 degrees when I don't leave the sheets off enough. I would appreciate all the help I can get so that I can get Monty's sheds healthy as he has never experienced a full shed in one piece in his whole life. And I am sorry if I have repeated myself in a few areas, I tend to forget what I have written and end up saying things over again. Thanks so much everyone. Monty and I await your input.

Kind of pressed for time, so I will admit that I only skimmed your post. There are a few details that I will come back and look for later. In the mean time, there are a variety of things that will cause frequent shedding - including high temperatures and skin irritants - but the frequency you described is greater than anything that I have personally encountered (I had a 17+ ft retic that shed every 2 - 2.5 weeks for a couple months til I figured out the problem).
That aside (for now, anyway), let's turn to the scale shedding. I have seen this before - but not for the reason I am about to suggest - were you using a petroleum based antibiotic ointment on the sores? or could there have been some kind of coating inside the pipe/tube? My experience with that kind of scale shedding was after trying a mite treatment method which involved rubbing mineral oil the snake. There were scales everywhere, and they did continue to shed them after the next full slough. A triple antibiotic ointment would have similar results. Also, if there was some sort of chemical or lubricant inside the pipe/tube, that could have caused both the sores and the scale shedding.

When I have a bit more time, I will be back to reread with more of an eye for details.

I am inclined to think that the frequency of shedding is related to temperature - it looks as if the thermometer probe is taped up on the side of the tank. It really needs to be where the snake is (on the floor). Also, the cool side should not have the UTH...the snake needs to be able to thermoregulate, and having heat sources at both ends impedes his ability to do so - especially with a small tank (that one looks like a 15 gallon). And is that Reflectix (?sp) on the back and sides of the tank? More later, lol, this time I really am going

**edited - see red text

To up yor humidity, try some kind of a plastic cover over half of the tank. This also holds heat, so you will have to adjust accordingly. The only time I have ever seen that type of shedding was when I was a new hobbyist and had the same humisity issues that you do. I do trust Haralds experience and would say that either the humidity or what he described, is probably the issue.
Good Luck.
Melissa

*humidity

The first thing I noticed is that he looks really skinny. One mouse per week for a 6-year-old male just does not sound like enough. All of my snakes that are a year old or more are on small to medium rats every week, depending on size. If he won't take rats, then try 2-4 live mice per meal (depending on how big your mice are).

Your cool side temp is high...if your warm side is 90, your cool side should be 80-82 with no heat source at all. Harold is right, your snake can't thermoregulate properly. Humidity is another issue, which is easily solved by switching to a substrate that holds humidity better (like coconut husk, aspen, cypress, etc.) and covering 2/3 of the screen lid. Try covering it with 3 layers of tinfoil then 2 layers of duct tape. It will keep in heat, so your thermostat will have to be adjusted, but it will keep in humidity too. If you switch the substrate and cover the top and mist every 2-3 days, your humidity should improve dramatically.

"I asked my local snake expert at the petstore" sorry, really that isn't directed at you, but that statement kills me (and SOME petstore people really DO know about snakes)

That is a 6year old snake?? Boy, that means I was off in tank size, lol - that's what I get for skimming.
I just scrolled up & looked at the pics a little closer - considering that the standard dome for an IR fixture is 10", I'd be inclined to up my guess to a 30 long...except none of the other size relationships support that. I have a hard time calling it anything over a 20. Luckily, it doesn't really matter, lol, other than giving some idea to the possible temperatures/conditions. The perceived size of the snake is really not much more applicable to the situation. Let me make sure I have the info straight.
*You have had the snake for 6 months.
*He is having frequent sheds, and significant (and recurrent) scale shedding.
- I am having some difficulty distinguishing how often the snake does either one, though. Since they are different processes, and likely have different causes, you must consider them 2 different things. How long has the frequent shedding been happening, and how many times has he shed since it began. Is there any visual indication of irritation (reddened areas, etc), regardless of the source?

Wow, what a great response!!! I am so very happy to have great herp people to talk with. I am learning so much about Monty every day. After Monty got those sores from the pipes, I put polysporin antibiotic petroleum based ointment on him, and all this time I have been putting vaseline on him when he does this weird kind of scale shedding. It helps bring the scales off better. I will stop putting this on. I guess they wouldn't have vaseline or polysporin(very close to your neosporin) in the wild, so why would they benefit from it in our homes hey?....lol. I think good old tap water is the best remedy to get skin off anyways. Monty is doing better right now, that picture of him in his tank was taken only one day ago. He still has a sore on his nose, and some old marks from the pipe scrapes, but he looks a lot better than he has in the past few months. I have two thermometers in the tank....the one you can see really well on the right is on a stand(I will lay it down in order to get a better reading of the bottom of the tank) and the one on the left by the cave rock (kind of hard to see) is on the floor for the best reading. I thank you for your advice and I agree that my hunch was also the humidity. Now that he is healed anyways. I have the UTH at the cool end opposite to the lamp (it's directly under his rock cave). Should I ditch the lamp and put another UTH that covers to the middle of his cage and just leave the right hand side with nothing for it to be a cool end? This end right now is the hot end because of the lamp, but under his rock on the left hand side, it's always about 89 degrees anyways. I think I have too much heat and not enough moisture hey? I really want to get things right for him because we are striving for a full one peice molt for him. It would feel so good to him, I know it would. He hates it when I have to peel him off and soak him in a bucket. That's not how it's supposed to be, I know.....Well, I know I tend to ramble on, but I want to give everyone as much information as I possibly can so that I can answer all of your questions better. The other day when the lamp bulb burnt out, I had to go down to the local pet store to get him another one....well, when I returned home, the entire cage (glass) was fogged right up and it was semi warm in there. The humidity was at about 80% and the heat was at about 86 degrees under his cave, but a cool 71 degrees in the rest of the cage. I am going to go to petland tonight and buy another UTH and see how it works. It can't hurt to try. I will let you know how this works. And yes, that is reflective polystyrofoam on the outside of the glass to keep the cage warmer. It works well. Any concerns about it? I also keep Monty on paper towel covered in facecloths. I change the cloths about every week, or when he soils them. If anyone has any questions about respiratory infections in snakes, I am a master at this.....Monty has had two and I am also a Registered Nurse, so I like to think I know a little about it based on my knowledge and some experience. I like to help others out if I can because everyone is so good to me here. Thanks a bunch.

Originally Posted by 6y0ballpython

This end right now is the hot end because of the lamp, but under his rock on the left hand side, it's always about 89 degrees anyways. I think I have too much heat and not enough moisture hey?

Like I said - I suspect that the frequent sheds are due to temperature. 89 degrees on the cool side is 10-15 degrees too high. On the other hand, the 86/71 that you encountered without the light isn't quite acceptable, either. You can probably regulate this by changing the bulb and positioning it a little off center (more toward the side with the pad). Let me know what size tank you have and I can try to be more specific on the wattage.
No concerns about having the reflective foil around the tank - you just have to be careful that it doesn't get too hot in there (ahem, cough, cough).
Using a lower wattage bulb should do wonders for the humidity, but I would recommend bark mulch as a substrate - it dries out slower than most other substrates, and you can tell by looking at it when it needs to be sprayed/misted. With that little fogger/fountain in there, you will have to be careful as the temp goes down, too - too much humidity is as dangerous as not enough.


I love being right...even sweeter that you are an RN, lol (says the RRT)

When I had my ball pythons in tanks, I used a heat lamp with a 75w red lightbulb on one end, and a small UTH on the bottom of the same end. Both items were plugged into a thermostat to keep them regulated. That was the warm side and I kept it at 90 degrees. The other end was the cool side and I didn't have any kind of heat source on that side, it maintained at 80 degrees. An 8-10 degree gradient is what most care sheets recommend.

I'm an admin on another forum and we have a few pinned threads dedicated to glass tank setups and general ball python care. Here are the links, I think you might find them helpful for fixing temp/humidity issues. Good luck! It's great to know you're out there seeking help for your little guy...there are too many people that could care less how they keep their snakes.

http://ballpython.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3023

http://ballpython.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3359