Digestion Questioning

[Rock.My.Socks]

I fed Nigini 2 pinkie mice on Saturday and she still has a bulge. It's Wednesday now, should I be worried? Her tank is 85 degrees F on the warm side and 75 degrees on the cool side. I think she's going into a shed cause of the way she has been acting and she won't leave her humid hut I made for her. And she's always laying on the paper towel in the humid hut. I don't know how to post pictures on here from my phone unfortunately. But she's only a couple months old and this will be our first shed together. I've had her about 6 weeks.

[Farmgirl]

where is the bulge? my hatchling gets a bulge further down when he's about to poop!

[Nanci]

Leave her completely alone until she sheds and poops. And maybe feed a smaller meal next time? How much does she weigh?

[Rock.My.Socks]

The buldge is a little more than half way down. I just got home from work and it already looks a little smaller. The girl at the petatore said she was feeding 3 pinkies to her in one sitting. I felt like that was power feeding so I cut her down to one for the first 3 weeks I had her. But she was always still searching for food. So 2 weeks ago I fed her 2 pinkies. Then last week I did one again. And this week I did 2. The first time I fed her 2 pinkies her buldge was gone the next day, she Pooped 2 or 3 days later. I haven't been able to weigh her yet.

[bitsy]

But she was always still searching for food.
This is a natural behaviour and not an indicator that she needs more food. In the wild, they'd spend much of the time (when not digesting), hunting. Most of the time, they wouldn't find anything.

You need to beware of "feeding on demand" in captivity - you're going to guarantee her next meal but she doesn't know that. Instinct will tell her to keep looking for food, even though she doesn't need to. It's very easy to be fooled into offering more and your lass will potentially end up overweight as a result.

As she can take (or has in the past) 3 pinkies at a time, then it might be worth considering going up to the next food size in a couple of feeds time - but remember to increase the time between feeds accordingly.

Harden your heart and control her intake. You are now an official member of Snakey Weightwatchers!

[Dreamsnake]

Pick up a digital scale before the next feed. If she is over 30 grams then she should be able to handle fuzzies. Some snakes grow much faster than others. My two year old anery is much smaller than my yearling snow. I've just put the snow on an every other week schedule now that he is onto small mice (he was getting some girth). My anery can't digest fur so she is fed one rat pink a week.

[Rock.My.Socks]

I checked her this morning as the buldge is almost completely gone. She is still in defensive mode. I'm assuming she still can't see well and she is scared. I haven't brought her out in about a week now since she has been striking. This is why I think she's about to shed. I had asked about this in another post. Since she is a snow I really can't tell the difference in her eyes.

[Farmgirl]

the eyes of the light colored snakes (your snow, my blizzard) only cloud very slightly and only for a couple of days, easily missed. If I remember correctly from the other thread, you have put a humid hide in, right?

[Rock.My.Socks]

That's right. I made a humid hide in the hide that's in the middle. She had been there for a few days. Usually laying on the papertowel or right next to it. This morning she was in her hide on the cool side with no extra humidity in that one.

[SnakeAround]

Sometimes I find a snake, always a hatchling, keeps a bulge for a couple of days after eating, but not the size of a complete meal, more like only the front or hind part is left in the stomach. The bulge feels harder to the touch than a regular pinky bunch. They always ended up digesting it after all without any sign something is/was wrong.

[Farmgirl]

That's right. I made a humid hide in the hide that's in the middle. She had been there for a few days. Usually laying on the papertowel or right next to it. This morning she was in her hide on the cool side with no extra humidity in that one.

Maybe she's just one who likes to take her own sweet time with things!

[Rock.My.Socks]

I'm thinking that's what she's doing. Her lump is completely gone, Still no shed though. I took her out today to feed her. And decided to soak her as well. I found some poop in her Viv and About 2 minutes into her soak she pooped. Then I fed her one pinkie and she ate it right up. She missed a couple times when trying to stike the pinkie so maybe her eyes aren't back to HD vision yet. Come on Nigini, it's shedding time little lady! We're rooting for you!

[Farmgirl]

just wait. when Khuno shed, he surprised the crap out of me! I had seen the minor clouding and thought nothing of it, put him into the feeding tub on feed day and he started rubbing his face everywhere, which worried me a bit until I saw the whole top jaw and head part of the skin come off! I put him back in his viv and there was a beautiful fully intact shed in there the next day!!

[Rock.My.Socks]

That's awesome! When she was in her soak tub she was rubbing her face on the side but I thought she just wanted out.