Is this normal?

[Wizwise2000]

My corn still has a lump at 4 days after eating, on the 5th day there's nothing there. I've read that most there is no lump after 2 days.

Also, how long does it usually take to shed, 1 week?

Thanks
Shane

[drewlowe]

What are the temps. If they temps weren't high enough it could cause for longer digestion.

[Tim_Cranwill]

The food thing sounds fine. It really depends on the size fo the feeder and the temps though.

The shedding thing, for young corns it takes 5-7 days and for older ones it takes a bit longer.

I never missed more shed cycles than with my amel corn. I just couldn't tell when he was in shed.... the next thing I knew, there was a nice big skin in his enclosure. But I rarely caught the "blue" phase... :)

[Wizwise2000]

The warm side says 80, but I'm sure it's warmer on the substrate, he also doesn't use his warm end much. He usually stays in his cool hide, so that tells me it's too warm on the warm end? He's about 18" and he's eating weanling mice. He's also starting to get some girth to him now.

The shed before last took weeks, it was really wierd, when I got him he was pretty dull looking, so I thought that was his normal colour.
After about three weeks he started to shed in pieces and still had some left on his side. Then on March 8th (I didn't know he was going to shed) I looked inside his enclosure and he had a complete shed:)

Thanks
Shane

[marisa]

"so that tells me it's too warm on the warm end?"

A thermometer should be telling you. If you do not have one you need to get one. Just guessing the hot side is 80 is not enough, and 80 degrees is too cold IMHO for a young corn.

Marisa

[Big Mike]

The warm side says 80, but I'm sure it's warmer on the substrate

So where are you measuring the temperature? There is little point in measuring the temp anywhere but where the snake will be...which is on the substrate.

Get a good thermometer, preferably one with a probe and measure the temp on the hottest spot on the floor of the enclosure...this will be your target point. Then adjust your heating to control this point.

[Wizwise2000]

I'm using a thermometer Marisa, infact I'm using 3, but they are on the glass about 4-5 inches above the substrate and I now know it's not accurately measuring the temps.

Thanks
Shane

[Auskan]

That's right Shane. The probe for the thermometer should be at the point that gets the hottest. So if you are using some kind of substrate, put the probe under the substrate, right on the UTH as if the snake burrows down into the substrate, that is the hottest part he can get to. If your snake is staying on the cool end, the warm end might be over 90 and he's finding that too warm.

As for your other question about the shed, 3 weeks seems too long - perhaps he just looked dull to your eyes but had not actually had his blue phase yet. As Tim said, its actually quite easy to miss the "blue" phase in an amel corn as with the pink eyes they just turn kind of cloudy, not a real blue color, and if they spend a lot of time in their hide, you could miss it, even when doing daily checks on them. Once they do go blue, the blue eye phase lasts about 2-3 days, and then I find there is usually about 3-4 days until they actually shed.