Shed questions

He is in a 10 gal aquarium. He has under tank heating on one side so I have not used a heat light. The AC has been off the last couple of days since the weather has been on the cooler side... maybe that will help. I can always put the water dish on the warm side of the tank but that always seemed to make it too humid. Maybe just cover 1/2 of the top? Put in some damp paper towel in a dish when I notice him going into a shed?

Do you have a hygrometer to tell you what the humidity level is?
Do you know what it should be?
Guessing on your temp & humidity levels can lead to more than just shedding problems.
Once you have the answers & put them to use you won't have to worry.
Glad to hear that the previous shed problem is taken care of!

It's always fun to throw in personal experiences that will confuse things, so here goes...
I've got a hypomelanistic bullsnake that has never, in her almost three years here, had a decent shed by herself*. She's always been in a tub, and it doesn't matter what substrate I use. I can start soaking her daily from the time I notice a coming shed, and it doesn't help. Heck, I've left her in water for 4 days....

I do have to admit that on 2 (and only 2) occasions, after I got her well started, I put her in water & she managed to complete the shed herself.
I also have to admit that since she doesn't really go opaque, I have missed shed cycles on several occasions - resulting in having to peel off 2-4 layers when I figure it out (which is when she stops feeding).

With THIS girl, it isn't humidity related.
*never had a decent shed* - lol...the most she has ever done by herself was to get her head done.

I do have a temp and humidity gage. I had been keeping his cage about the same as my kingsnakes... around 50%. I have read that milk snakes may need extra humidity (like 60% or so) during a shed. I will have to try to adjust it when I notice him going into a shed.

I see many cage set ups with generally soft substrates and smooth water bowls and hides. Don't snakes need something a little rough to snag a starting shed on? I have some rough pieces of wood and rocks in the tanks for this purpose and don't generally have a problem. I know humidity is the most important factor, but think this could help.

When I have have a snake with an incomplete shed I've found it helpful to soak it and then let it crawl through a damp towel held in my hands: that seems to work.

Hello,

What I normally do is when I notice our ball getting ready to go into his "shed phase" I will move the water dish to on top of a portion of his undertank heater so it will increase the humidity to around 70-80% for roughly 1-2 weeks.
Once he has shed, we move the water dish back off of the heater & the humidity decreases to around 40%.
He is 3 & this has worked with no complications. He has never had a problem shedding or had a respiratory infection. The slight increase for short term of humidity helps tremendously.
Of course, we have a couple of rough lava rocks in the tank as well.
I hope this helps out.

Tracie