Noob question ): I thought my snake was shedding, but now he just looks really sick

[xStaticSnow]

My snake became very inactive a few days ago. He mostly stays curled up on the side of his tank. I thought he was shedding because it looked like his eyes had gotten a little milky to me. I can't really tell for sure though, because he's a snow corn and I've never seen him shed before. He's 7 years old and I adopted him about a week and a half ago. I have another thread about this hissing/sneezing problem he was having, some people were saying it could be shed related which made me feel hopeful.

I've never been around a shedding snake, so maybe its normal, but he just lays motionless for hours without even flickering his tongue. He just looks so sick and sad with his head laying limp on the floor. I reached in once and stroked his back just because I was getting paranoid whether he was even alive. He moved a little bit but basically rested his head back in the same spot. He hasn't been favoring either the warm or cool side, he lays on both.

I guess I was just wondering whether this could be normal shedding behavior, or if I should be really worried? He hasn't eaten for me, but like I said I've only had him about a week and a half. This behavior has been going on for a little over 4 days ):

[Christen]

They do become very inactive when they are getting ready to shed. It is not uncommon to not see them move for a whole week.

[Lennycorn]

I would have to agree!!

[toxiclight]

My bloodred just finished her shed today. For the past week or more (from a day or two before she was visibly blue) she hid under her water bowl and the only time she moved is when one of us needed to pick her up to change her water.

And my snow corn is notoriously difficult to notice when she's going blue, so hiding and inactivity are the big clues...unless she's deep in blue, it can be hard to tell her eyes are cloudy unless I take her into more direct light than we usually have around her viv.

[xStaticSnow]

Oh thank god! (: I'm so relieved! I'm sure he's just about to shed then. I had to pull him out the other day because he was wrapped around his water bowl and I needed to change it. When I looked at him in the brighter light his eyes looked much more cloudy than usual. I just hope his shed goes well now

[SquamishSerpents]

if you pick him up will he crawl around on you?

do you know his history? was he being taken care of properly in his previous home?

it's certainly possible that everything is just shed-related, but if he's lethargic, i would probably recommend a trip to the vet. especially with the hissing/sneezing, and you only having him for a week and a bit.

just keep a close eye on him!

edit to add:

i can pretty much never tell when my snows are going to shed, unless i happen to catch their eyes in the very milky phase, which only lasts a couple days. the milky look will clear up, and your snake will look almost back to normal. the boards get a lot of posts saying "my snake was blue but he didn't shed!! should i be worried!?" but it's nothing to worry about, they do go clear for a couple of days, and then crawl out of their skin and you have a brand-new looking snake!

[xStaticSnow]

@SquamishSerpants:

He will crawl arounf on me a little bit, but not much. Mostly he just moves his head around smelling, but he stays on my hand. I haven't really held him too much since this started happening, like I said I stroked him back once and got a tiny response, then picked him up once and he seemed to perk up a little bit.

At his old home he wasn't really taken care of very well ): He has spend his whole life in a 10g tank with pine shavings and heated by a plain old heating pad (something I would use on a back ache, not for a reptile), and no thermometers to regulate temp. Since then I moved him to a 17g plastic bin (I can't afford the $100+ for a nice glass viv right now), I'm keeping him on newspaper and he had a better heating pad with a thermometer. I started misting his cage once a day with water once I noticed his eyes. When I got him he had several pieces of stuck shed so I gave him a bath and got them all off. After than his skin felt a lot softer and more hydrated. I let him sit in his cage for another 4 days before I tried to feed him a F/T mouse. He refused to take it no matter what I tried so I assumed he just wasn't quite settled in yet. The next day he started to display the lethargic symptoms.

Right now I'm thinking he's probably just about to shed. All of his symptoms seems to point towards that, and while I suppose a trip to the vet wouldn't hurt, I think I'm going to hold off for a few days a see if he sheds and eats before I put him through the trauma of hauling him 45 minutes to the reptile vet (:

[SquamishSerpents]

good call, just definitely keep an eye on him. i hope he sheds soon and has something to eat, maybe then he'll perk up!

glad to hear you've taken him on and are getting him the care he needs.

[Miqote]

I just want to say I think it's so great that you have given this snake a better home!! Please keep us updated on how he does! :)

[xStaticSnow]

I just want to say I think it's so great that you have given this snake a better home!! Please keep us updated on how he does! :)

Thanks a lot! (: I definitely will

[xStaticSnow]

hey everyone I'm happy to say Ziggy shed today! He's looking so much better; crawling around his tank and wrapping around his branch. At first he only shed off the top of his head about 4 or 5 inched down the back of his neck (both of his eye caps came off without any problems through!). I got home and it didn't look like the rest of his skin wanted to come off, so I let him sit in a couple inches of room temp water for about 5 minutes. I knew this was helping as I could see some starting to peel away so I let his slide through my hands for a few minutes and after about 10 or 15 minutes of rubbing against me we had the entire shed off. I had to help with the very tip of his tail (which looks a little twisted like he had a stuck shed sometime in the past) and now there's a little red spot near the tip where his skin looks a little irritated. I'm thinking he should be okay though, it's not an open wound or anything. He also had a hard time with the skin under his head and a few inches along the underside of his neck area. I ended up having to tug very gently right below his mouth before the skin would come off. Was this an okay thing to do? I was sure he was going to try to bite me, but he didn't even care. I guess I'm pretty lucky to have a good tame snake (:

He's looking much better and he's back to his extremely active self which is awesome. Another great thing is that I haven't heard him doing the hiss/sneeze thing in a long time so I'm hoping this is all cleared up now. I was planning on feeding him Tuesday since I've had him for 2 weeks and he hasn't had a chance to eat yet. Is this too soon since I was handling him to help him get his shed off? I'm just thinking it's about time for him to have a meal.

(I also found a nice "pool" or urates/(feces)? in the corner of the tank, so I cleaned that up. I know he's drinking plenty (I've seen him a few times) and he's obviously passing fluids and excreting toxins well so I hope this means he's a healthy snake and I don't have to worry about being sick anymore! (:

[toxiclight]

Congrats on the shed :) Good to hear he's perked up after shedding :D

(if you get stuck sheds in future, there's a really good sticky thread with suggestions for helping. Sounds like you had it handled though :D)

[Naagas]

Congrats on the shed!

I don't think you hurt him by tugging on the shed, but in the future get him damp to help the shed release from him. The sticky on shedding has a lot of good tips, like toxic said.

[xStaticSnow]

Thanks guys (: I've read through the sticky already, and he was in a tub of water so he was pretty damp ;)

[Miqote]

When I first got my Okeetee, he had one really tough shed. I found the thing that helped most was to let the snake soak for awhile, like 10-15 minutes, and also put an extra clean small towel or a washcloth that they can slide through and rub against. If it still isn't coming off, you can wring out the towel and let the snake crawl through it while you hold him, so it's easier to gently rub it off then tugging on it. I'm pretty sure I found this method in the guide the above posters were talking about, but it definitely worked best for me so I thought I'd mention it. :D

[xStaticSnow]

Thanks guys. I just tried to feed him and he refused once again. He hasn't eaten in 3 weeks and he's already really skinny so I'm feeling uncomfortable

[Naagas]

If he is loosing weight, then I would worry.
Otherwise, snakes can go a while between eating.

How have you tried to feed him? Have you tried leaving the mouse with him overnight?

[xStaticSnow]

I'm feeding a small F/T mouse. I left it in overnight after dipping it in chicken broth. At first I put it in a wiggled it, he seemed interested and was smelling the mouse, then opened his mouth and bit it a few times but didn't actually attempt to eat it. After than he lost all interest in the food and it just sat in his viv all night. I don't have a scale and I don't think he's losing weight rapidly but when I got him he was skinny and his old owner said he preferred live mice. I don't like feeding live because I'm worried about injury, but I was wondering if I should try feeding 2 live fuzzies maybe?