Female corn shedding A LOT

Shaiza · 04-07-17, 02:48 PM

So my corn is unknown age (adopted from Craigslist). She's about 3 feet long maybe a bit more. Bit she sheds every 2 weeks or so which seems really often. She's a really active snake. Never really even stays in shed for more than a few days. Is this abnormal?

Some info
Temp gradient is ~85 on the warm side and 75 on the cooler. I have one overhead lamp and 2 small uth.

She also seems to sneeze a lot?

**Andy_G** · 04-07-17, 05:09 PM

Any sign of mites?

akane · 04-07-17, 05:23 PM

Is she shedding a full skin or pieces?

Shaiza · 04-07-17, 06:22 PM

No sign of mites. Full skin.

**Andy_G** · 04-07-17, 08:11 PM

That's very frequent shedding. What are you feeding and how often? The "sneezing" can be part of the shed cycle as the skin in the nose loosens up.

**Tsubaki** · 04-08-17, 03:35 AM

Checked for (small) injuries?

Shaiza · 04-08-17, 03:05 PM

No injuries either. I feed 2 adult mice once a week (unless she's in shed)

**Andy_G** · 04-08-17, 03:32 PM

So no illness or injury, normal feeding regimen, and no ectoparasites. That covers everything that could cause an atypical shed. I'm out of ideas.

Albert Clark · 04-08-17, 04:27 PM

Does the original owner know if the reptile was captive bred or wild caught? Is there a possibility she's gravid? Gaining or losing weight? How long has the frequent shedding every two weeks been going on?

Shaiza · 04-08-17, 08:04 PM

I'm pretty sure she was captive bred. Her weight seems stable but I don't really have a scale. She's definitely not fat or thin. Everything about her seems fine which is very confusing. How would I know if she's gravid?

And the weird shedding has been going on for maybe 3 months or so. But even then it was like once a month. I assumed she was growing a lot.

Albert Clark · 04-09-17, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaiza

I'm pretty sure she was captive bred. Her weight seems stable but I don't really have a scale. She's definitely not fat or thin. Everything about her seems fine which is very confusing. How would I know if she's gravid?

And the weird shedding has been going on for maybe 3 months or so. But even then it was like once a month. I assumed she was growing a lot.

Great! The original owner should know if she was with a male while in his keep. Also if she ever had babies in the past. You can get a small kitchen scale at Target to track her weight. If she is gravid and in the early to mid stages her appetite would be increased for 1 and she will put on weight. Check on a regular basis her underbelly for irregularities in proportion, bulging at the mid body and before the cloacal region. For the record, frequent shedding is done in a effort to heal something as well as to grow. Are you feeding live mice or f/t ?

Shaiza · 04-09-17, 06:41 PM

So she was never with a male. Never had babies. Is it possible she could have a clutch that's unfertilized? Had lizards do that.

And she's fed frozen.

She does try to escape constantly and falls off things a lot in the process but she doesn't have any injuries I could see but I'll recheck her.

Albert Clark · 04-09-17, 11:38 PM

Shedding is a sign of growth and also what happens when snakes are in a healing stage. Have you considered giving her only one f/t mouse per week for awhile? Try that and track her shedding to see if the frequency changes. For sure she's capable of reproducing through parthenogenesis but that is a long shot. I think decreasing her food intake should be explored first. The scale is a good tool to track weight as well.

**Andy_G** · 04-10-17, 05:31 AM

Colubrids can lay clutches of infertile eggs without ever being near a male. It is far from rare. Doesn't sound like that's what is occuring here, though. Definitely get a scale.

Shaiza · 04-22-17, 03:35 AM

So she literally just shed again as I'm writing this. Just ate a small rat and seems very pleased. The only thing I can think of is shes injured herself. She does try to escape a lot, and will climb straight up the side of the tank and get in the crevice between the rim and the lid, and she falls down doing that pretty often. I checked her for injuries but its possible I didnt see it.

This time the shed was broken up into 3 pieces, usually its full. Could it be that shes hurt herself falling? Ive tried a bunch of setups to get her to stop but shes a determined booger.