How often should my baby Brazilian rainbow boa shed?

Justinbolleurs · 12-19-15, 02:50 PM

Hi. I bought 2 baby Brazilian rainbow boas on the 10th of last month and since then my female has shed for the third time, is this normal to shed this much? The humidity isn't very high for a brb, just over 80% humidity and the temperature being about 84F.

bigsnakegirl785 · 12-19-15, 10:55 PM

3 times in about one month's time? That really is a lot. They normally shed every 1-3 months. :/

How are you feeding them, did they come to you injured?

Justinbolleurs · 12-19-15, 11:59 PM

They looked 100% fine when i first got them and they still do, active as soon as the lights go of, really docile (even when feeding I can almost just pick them up) and they never tried nipping me one's (when not in feeding). I feed them every 5-7 days either 2 fuzzy mice (every 6 or7 days then) or 1 nice hopper every 5-7 days. I deep clean their cage almost every 2nd week, due to the cage being a modified fish tank having nearly half water with heater and a filter..

bigsnakegirl785 · 12-20-15, 12:23 AM

How old are they? It seems just one fuzzy would be enough, even if it's a small meal I would avoid doubling up. I kept mine on fuzzies until he was 80 grams, although some start them on hoppers. The breeder I've got my BRBs from says his yearlings are still on hopper mice.

You don't really need to feed them more often than 7 days, but even 5 days doesn't seem like it would cause that many sheds in that short of time. :/

It does seem weird, that's a rather heavy feeding schedule, but it's not heavy enough to explain the rapid sheds.

Justinbolleurs · 12-20-15, 02:04 AM

Got them at a pet shop and they got it from a breeder but I'm guessing not older than 3 months old. My male is in shed now then it is also his 3rd time shedding. My female is weighing 60 grams and measuring 55cm or so.

**Tsubaki** · 12-20-15, 05:48 AM

I would triple check for mites, this could cause excessive shedding as well.

Justinbolleurs · 12-20-15, 08:19 AM

I had a might problem many years ago but really can't see any mites on them. Could it be my cage? The arrow shows the water level, my substrate gets refunded when it gets wet and I like keeping it just moist. Ground is still elevated from the water level.. the water is heated to 24 Celsius and a filter is also used.

Snakesitter · 12-24-15, 03:39 PM

It's uncommon, but does happen. Causes of quick sheds include mites (while everyone goes to this as a first cause, it's usually not them), injury, prior bad sheds, and too large of a last meal.

Assuming for now it's not mites, then:
--Did the snake come to you with any visible injury?
--What has been the quality of her last few sheds -- how many pieces?
--Has she eaten any larger meals? She should be on rat pinks or mouse hoppers.

Justinbolleurs · 01-01-16, 08:59 AM

No they seemed perfectly healthy. Last few sheds were in pieces due to most part being in the water, but they never needed any help at all shedding. I fed them mouse fuzzies for the first 2 or 3 feedings and afterwards hoppers, I started going on a 7 day feeding cycle and it looks like my female is shedding again now. There's no mites, humidity is a bit low through the warm parts of the day, 72-78 and at night's 80-84ish. Not even a scratch on them and since I've bought them they took dead food and hasn't eaten any live food. They don't take longer than 3 days to digest theire food and at night time they nice and active..

Snakesitter · 01-04-16, 03:29 PM

Hmm, I'm not sure what is driving it then, other than one patchy shed triggering another.... However, so long as conditions are right and they are otherwise healthy, I would not worry too much.