Does anybody else hate it when your snakes are in shed?

[mattd]

my baby sammy just shed her second time since i had her. i hate it cause its new to me. but the morning i woke up and her whole body shed in one piece. i was on top of the world that day. after her first shed was not the best. finally starting to figure her out after much miss info and wasted money. its welll worth it now.

[mattd]

btw she just ate her first weaned rat last night \0/

[Andy_G]

Thanks Zig!

[MartinD]

Lovely photo's, it always amazes me when I watch snakes shed. Thank you Mother Nature

[richardhind]

As you say it's normally when you get food out that you notice,luckily I've got plenty that will take it,I do love the iridescence that my pastel is when she has just finished shedding

[GyGbeetle]

I actually love it when they shed, because it means they're growing, and I'm doing a good job at nourishing them. I have 2 terrible shedders right now, no matter what I do to increase their moisture. One sheds about every 3 weeks, but always in pieces, and the other has only ever shed once since getting her in November. I like it even less when they don't shed.

I still handle them while they shed, sparingly. None of them have ever been aggressive while shedding, and all of them will still eat. We try not to feed them when their eyes are cloudy or they're really dry, but sometimes you can tell they want their yummies and it doesn't take much encouragement at that point for them to eat.

And I know that a shed means beautiful shiny snakes afterwards. That part rocks.

Now when my evil felines shed, that's a whole different story...

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by GyGbeetle

I actually love it when they shed, because it means they're growing, and I'm doing a good job at nourishing them. I have 2 terrible shedders right now, no matter what I do to increase their moisture. One sheds about every 3 weeks, but always in pieces, and the other has only ever shed once since getting her in November. I like it even less when they don't shed.

I still handle them while they shed, sparingly. None of them have ever been aggressive while shedding, and all of them will still eat. We try not to feed them when their eyes are cloudy or they're really dry, but sometimes you can tell they want their yummies and it doesn't take much encouragement at that point for them to eat.

And I know that a shed means beautiful shiny snakes afterwards. That part rocks.

Now when my evil felines shed, that's a whole different story...

Every 3 weeks is extremely fast, and paired with the bad sheds something could be off. Does it have normal stools, does it act weird at all?

The one that shed in November, I wouldn't worry too much about, I've found regardless of species or age, most snakes shed every 1-3 months. If it still hasn't shed in another month or two, I might try bumping its prey size up a slight bit.

[GyGbeetle]

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

Every 3 weeks is extremely fast, and paired with the bad sheds something could be off. Does it have normal stools, does it act weird at all?

The one that shed in November, I wouldn't worry too much about, I've found regardless of species or age, most snakes shed every 1-3 months. If it still hasn't shed in another month or two, I might try bumping its prey size up a slight bit.

Our retics are young babies, and have been shedding quicker than our boas. I'm not concerned, now is out vet. I've heard this said by pros that albinos tend to have sticky sheds, and she definitely does.

The one I brought home in November, and her clutch mate, only just shed in January. As a baby, this is a little concerning. Their husbandry was off at the breeder's, and it looked like the one had some previously unresolved stuck shed. Their feed size was just bumped up this week so time shall tell what future sheds will look like. Hopefully better

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by GyGbeetle

Our retics are young babies, and have been shedding quicker than our boas. I'm not concerned, now is out vet. I've heard this said by pros that albinos tend to have sticky sheds, and she definitely does.

The one I brought home in November, and her clutch mate, only just shed in January. As a baby, this is a little concerning. Their husbandry was off at the breeder's, and it looked like the one had some previously unresolved stuck shed. Their feed size was just bumped up this week so time shall tell what future sheds will look like. Hopefully better

If they're retics then it's possible you're feeding them heavier than I do mine, my retic sheds every 1-3 months like all my other snakes, even as a baby. But I also don't feed her very heavily. I definitely can't speak for albino retics, though, as far as the messy sheds go. None of my other albino animals have trouble shedding, but I do know that retics have thinner skins than most snakes. Maybe try adding a humid hide and see if that helps? When River was smaller she'd use her humid when she shed. Maybe it just needs an extra boost to make it easier?

Ah. Well if it shed in January then you definitely have nothing to worry about. It's not even a week into February, and January is only 2 months after you got it, still well within normal shed time.

[GyGbeetle]

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

If they're retics then it's possible you're feeding them heavier than I do mine, my retic sheds every 1-3 months like all my other snakes, even as a baby. But I also don't feed her very heavily. I definitely can't speak for albino retics, though, as far as the messy sheds go. None of my other albino animals have trouble shedding, but I do know that retics have thinner skins than most snakes. Maybe try adding a humid hide and see if that helps? When River was smaller she'd use her humid when she shed. Maybe it just needs an extra boost to make it easier?

Ah. Well if it shed in January then you definitely have nothing to worry about. It's not even a week into February, and January is only 2 months after you got it, still well within normal shed time.

We've been feeding our retics once a week. They are both now on small rats, but originally were given rat pups. I don't remember what we fed them when we first got them in July/August; that's way too long ago.

So for the baby boas, you think that's ok to only shed like that? It's just very different from our BCIs. they shed about every 6 weeks like clock work. We've switched them to every other week feedings (they were getting round. Didn't intend them to get round, so we pulled back on the feeds). Both of the baby BCIs shed with no issues. One of the BCAs sheds with no issues. The second BCA sheds with help. I'm hoping this resolves now that she has proper husbandry. Only time will tell.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by GyGbeetle

We've been feeding our retics once a week. They are both now on small rats, but originally were given rat pups. I don't remember what we fed them when we first got them in July/August; that's way too long ago.

So for the baby boas, you think that's ok to only shed like that? It's just very different from our BCIs. they shed about every 6 weeks like clock work. We've switched them to every other week feedings (they were getting round. Didn't intend them to get round, so we pulled back on the feeds). Both of the baby BCIs shed with no issues. One of the BCAs sheds with no issues. The second BCA sheds with help. I'm hoping this resolves now that she has proper husbandry. Only time will tell.

I've been feeding River every 2 weeks for a little over half the time I've had her, so definitely feeding less. I find websites like iHerp to be useful tools in keeping track of things like sheds, feedings, weights, etc. if you were interested in starting a record for your snakes. It definitely helps with keeping up with husbandry practices and watching them grow.

Yup, the frequency should be fine. The only one I'm worried about the boa shedding with help. I'd offer a humid hide or try to bump the overall humidity for that one. Boas do best at 70-80%. Sometimes boas just like to hold onto their sheds, I think Crona went 4 months between his last two sheds, might have been 3, but Nymeria has a history going a very long time without shedding...her second shed with me was 6 months after the first and she's currently gone almost 9 months since her last shed despite growing at least 7"-8" and 200+ grams (she normally sheds every time she grows 4" so not sure what's going on). I also could have forgotten to record a shed cycle, but I have no photos of her in shed or freshly-shed so I have no way to know for sure.

Unless my snakes go a ridiculous amount of time like that, I'm not really bothered by their shedding frequency.

[GyGbeetle]

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

I've been feeding River every 2 weeks for a little over half the time I've had her, so definitely feeding less. I find websites like iHerp to be useful tools in keeping track of things like sheds, feedings, weights, etc. if you were interested in starting a record for your snakes. It definitely helps with keeping up with husbandry practices and watching them grow.

Yup, the frequency should be fine. The only one I'm worried about the boa shedding with help. I'd offer a humid hide or try to bump the overall humidity for that one. Boas do best at 70-80%. Sometimes boas just like to hold onto their sheds, I think Crona went 4 months between his last two sheds, might have been 3, but Nymeria has a history going a very long time without shedding...her second shed with me was 6 months after the first and she's currently gone almost 9 months since her last shed despite growing at least 7"-8" and 200+ grams (she normally sheds every time she grows 4" so not sure what's going on). I also could have forgotten to record a shed cycle, but I have no photos of her in shed or freshly-shed so I have no way to know for sure.

Unless my snakes go a ridiculous amount of time like that, I'm not really bothered by their shedding frequency.

I've been trying to open an iHerp account now for 2 months. I've contacted the site admin and they haven't gotten back to me. In the meantime, I've created an Excel tracker to record all activities for them, so I don't have to trust my memory. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm not feeling so bad with our sheds. I still don't know where to find a humid hide. We have a closed hide over the heat that we do keep humid by spraying substrate often. I'm guessing that's not what you're meaning though.

[akane]

I'm just used to having a lot of animals to keep track of and we never kept paperwork growing up. I do own a pedigree and breeding tracker software I can put custom things into but I kind of got lazy in using it and keep forgetting to insert things. I can't always tell you dates but I retain an overall impression of what each animal is doing and if alarm bells start going off I don't question instinct. Every time I do even at the insistence of experienced people I regret it. I assess behavior of everything but birds very clearly and I have been watching that individual so after I know an animal (snakes are still a bit new) I don't usually need records to tell me much. If I walk past a cage I just assessed that cage subconsciously. If my chronic illness flares up my husband will spend some time feeding and watering and I walk in the room after a few days and instantly "that one is off" "that water bottle hasn't been working right" "those 2 need separated" "that one is going to give birth early", etc... I'm just always tracking the room for little details in each cage. Birds and I just don't work out for some reason. I am having more luck with some diamond doves than I ever did hookbills. I've given it a few tries and I can't get a feel of parrots. They continue to escape my observation skills and not react to handling how I expect. If something does go wrong I am lost without a technical guide because instinct gives me nothing there. It's very frustrating when I'm used to just knowing whether I realize why or not.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by GyGbeetle

I've been trying to open an iHerp account now for 2 months. I've contacted the site admin and they haven't gotten back to me. In the meantime, I've created an Excel tracker to record all activities for them, so I don't have to trust my memory. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm not feeling so bad with our sheds. I still don't know where to find a humid hide. We have a closed hide over the heat that we do keep humid by spraying substrate often. I'm guessing that's not what you're meaning though.

The site did recently update and completely move house, so maybe that's why you're having troubles?

As far as a humid hide, it's any sort of hide that is kept more humid than the rest of the enclosure. I don't offer humid hides to most of my snakes, because their regular hides work like humid hides. When the rest of the bedding is dry, it's still nice and wet under their hides for at least a few days after. I keep those snakes on damp EcoEarth to maintain their humidity, and re-dampen it when it dries.

[Andy_G]

Just a quick note that both poor sheds as well as frequent shedding can partially be attributed to mites as well as injury. Certainly not saying that's the case, just throwing it out there for anyone reading as I don't believe it was mentioned.