I bought a desert kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula splendida) at Reptile Mania about two weeks ago. It's about 10 inches long and I'm guessing a couple of months old. When I bought it, the breeder said the last time it fed was a week ago so I should try feeding it tomorrow (day after I bought it). Sure enough when I tried feeding it ate the frozen/thawed pinky no problems. During the first week the top of it's head started peeling dark skin... my friend used to work at a non-profit reptile rescue and he thought it was very strange and unsure of what the peeling meant. It didn't seem like the start of a shed because rest of it's body was not peeling/shedding and not dulling in color. This is what I'm housing it in:
Tank: 20 gallon
Substrate: about 1 inch of Aspen on top of reptile carpet
Cover: Cave on cool side, log on the hot side.
Heating: Ceramic bulb plugged into temperature sensor
85F day, 80F night (hot side).
The water dish is on the cool side. I tried feeding it 1 week ago and it refused to eat. This past weekend I tried again with the same results... I'm starting to notice that it's color is fading and it seems to be getting more skittish from movements around the tank. I've read that when they start shedding their vision is impaired and it seems like the shed is starting to happen (I guess, it's so hard to tell visually). Since I've noticed the color dulling I have started misting it directly probably twice a day and yesterday I moved the water dish closer to the hot side. I guess my concern is, has anyone see this strange peeling before a shed on the head of a snake before? Originally I thought perhaps the ceramic bulb is drying out it's skin but wouldn't it be apparent all over the body and not just it's head? Last week when I saw the darker dead skin hanging off it's head I decided to help it remove it and it was literally allowing me to gently pet it's head (something it would never normally do) to remove the dead skin. I've read that sometimes snakes have bad sheds and as a result some of the skin stays on the snake... but when I bought it the parts that are now peeling used to look like completely healthy black shiney skin.
I just want my snake to be healthy so I'll take whatever advice I can get.
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