Shedding

[Risberg]

How often do corn snakes shed? and what are the best ways I can help my little buddy shed?

[BigByrd47119]

Most corn adults will shed a hand full of times in a year while I have been told that juveniles may shed as much as once every month.

The best thing you can do to help a snake thats about to shed is to recognize the signs. If you know the signs and you read them in your snake, make an effort to keep humidity high (70%). This can be done with misting or through the use of a humid hide.

If your snake begins to shed and it comes off in pieces where there are large amounts of shed left on, try checking out this thread here. (http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56170)

Check out the DIY portion of the forum for more information on humid hides, I believe there are some examples stickied there!

Hope this helps!

[bitsy]

My hatchlings have shed once every 4-6 weeks. With youngsters, shedding is related to how fast they're growing, so some shed more and some shed less. My adults shed about 4 times a year. They gradually slow down as they get bigger.

You won't automatically need to boost humidity - I rarely use humid hides and I don't often get bad sheds (less than one a year, with 14 snakes). Depends where you are in the world though. Domestic aircon or heating can dry the air more than usual, so you may need to take precautions. I'd be inclined to wait and see what happens first though, rather than try to fix something that ain't broke.

[wendhend]

I rarely see corns have bad sheds, but I would say they are more likely to have incomplete sheds if they live in a screen top cage than in rack system. What I have mostly seen is that sometimes they will retain a bit of shed on the very tip of their tails, and you have to be dilgent about checking for that and removing right away when your snake has shed, or it can cause the the tissue on the tip of their tail to die. That little bit is usually really easy to get off by gently rubbing it off with a wet wash cloth. If they happen to retain more than just a little piece a the tip of the tail, you will need to find a way to provide him with extra humidity, so that he can get it off (humid hide, an hour or so enclosed in a wet pillow case, etc.) and then maintaining higher humidity for them in the future, so that it won't continue to happen.