Shedding problems

A normal shed

Snakes usually shed in one piece, including the eye caps. Lizards often shed in patches. The animal may refuse food and look dull for a few days beforehand. That clouded look is normal. Do not pull a shed that is still attached firmly.

Humidity

Raise humidity for that species during the shed, or offer the humid hide the care sheet describes. A leopard gecko uses a moist hide. A ball python often needs the whole enclosure a little damper, plus a humid hide. Soaking is a backup, not the weekly routine. Use shallow lukewarm water and stay present.

Stuck pieces

After the animal has finished what it can, a shed stuck on toes, tail tips, or eye caps needs careful attention. A humid hide and a later attempt often release a flake on a toe. Eye caps and a tight tail tip are a veterinary problem if they remain. Pulling can tear skin.

Mites versus shed

Mites are tiny moving specks, often at the eyes and heat pits, and they leave a silvery dust. Shed skin does not crawl. Mites mean you treat the animal and the enclosure, and you keep that animal in quarantine.

After the shed

Check that the eye caps came away on a snake, and that no ring of skin is left on a toe or tail. Log the date. Repeated bad sheds mean the humidity, the temperature, or the animal's health is off, not that the species "sheds badly".