Has Salsa eaten his own skin?!?!?!

[maddy4moos]

my 4 month old albino corn snake usually sheds his skin every 23-25 days, normally this is regular as clockwork, however this week he went extremely pale! i nearly took him to a vet, this morning when i checked him he seemed to be fine, he seems to have regained some colour back in his skin... but there is no sign on a skin... i don't know weather he has shed or not! Could he have eaten his skin?? we haven't fed him for a week i admit, he usually feeds every 3 days. Help! I'm really concerned about him. he doesn't seem to very as active as usual either! : :shrugs:

is due to shed his skin
goes very very very pale
no skin found
regaining his colour back
doesn't seem to be as active

do i need to take him to a vet???

does anyone know whats wrong?

i can get some photos if needed...

Thanks alot
Love Maddy

[Dave123]

He didn't eat his skin. Before snakes shed they do go very very pale. Then they get their normal color back for a few days. Actually one of mine is in that stage now. You should find a shed in a day or two.

[connord94]

I don't think you should be feeding every 3 days! Every 5-7 days is more appropriate!

[maddy4moos]

OK thanks alot! you saved me, i was beginning to panic. and i do feed him every 5 days, thats was a typo sorry.

[Jessicat]

Look at his belly. If he has any kind of visible checkers (not sure what morph he is) they will look muted and kind of milky in color. As mentioned above he is one or two days away from shedding. You might be confused because his eyes have lost their blue. This is normal and happens when the snake is close to shed.

[maddy4moos]

thanks :) he's still not shed :( its been at least 4 days since his eyes lost their blue...

also he hasn't moved from his log for the last two days unless he's moving his head to see what i'm doing in his tank (i have problems with humidity so i spray his tank every day)

[maddy4moos]

He just shed his skin! (Yay!) i'm so releived! he's just eaten 5 pinkies too! I'm happy now! :D

[BeckyG]

He should not be eating 5 pinkies at one time. If he is able to handle that, he long since should have moved up in prey size.

[maddy4moos]

he does eat fuzzys sometimes but they kinda get stuck or he refuses them, we have to pick out the small ones :( the pinkies that i get do seem to be large for pinkies though... or what i would usually get anyway... whats the adverage amount of food a snake should be eating a day?

[Dave123]

Well snakes can't eat everyday. It really depends on the size of the snake to determine what and when they should eat. Newborns can eat 1 pinly every 5-7 days. As they get older the prey size increases and the time between either stays the same or is longer.

How big and or how old is your snake?

[snakemom1961]

I'm no expert, but I would think if he could handle 5 pinks in one feeding he certainly could handle 1 fuzzy every 5 days.. jmo.

[maddy4moos]

4 month old, and he's appoximately 40cm long.

sorry i phrased that last message weird, i feed him about every 5-6 days, thinking about increasing it to 7 days

[snakemom1961]

4 month old, and he's appoximately 40cm long.

sorry i phrased that last message weird, i feed him about every 5-6 days, thinking about increasing it to 7 days

But, are you still feeding 5 pinks a feeding? If so I'd try 1 fuzzy every 5 days and see how it goes?

[snakemom1961]

BTW. Fuzzies have more nutrition then pinks do....more calcium from bone development and all.

[maddy4moos]

yeah ok i'll move him to fuzzies, he can eat some fuzzies... but i have to pick out the smaller ones for him to eat. he can't handle anything above general size... and to be honest most of them are. Lately I've been thinking about chicks... can Salsa eat them?

i'll make sure that i get some fuzzies in for his next feed :) thanks for your help

[maddy4moos]

yeah i was still feeding him 5 pinkies a feed, i'll change that, how many fuzzies would u suggest???

[Nanci]

Chicks are huge!!

When I go buy mice, I feel like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. "I'd like twelve fuzzies, but I want six of the fuzzies to be the kind with white hair, and six to be the kind with peach hair, not white yet, and I'd like twelve pinks- but I'd like six to be the tiny newborn pinks and six to be the bigger, almost fuzzy size pinks- no, wait- they have to be frozen! And I'd like a killed adult mouse, kind of in between medium and large..." They're like, here's the bag- pick out what you want. Which I am happy to do!

Nanci

[maddy4moos]

lol sounds like you have fun everytime you go to the pet shop! hehe

are peach fuzzies smaller than normal fuzzies??

sorry i'm kinda new to the snake looking after thingi. I would do anything for my snake (Salsa) i'm still trying to get my bearings

[Dave123]

Yes peach fuzzies are smaller that normal ones. Here go to Rodentpro.com and click on browse products. Then go to mice and look at the different sizes.

[BeckyG]

David is right. Snakes don't eat every day. They should be eating on average every 7 days. Younger snakes can eat a little more often, older snakes a little less. They generally eat one prey item at a time.

How big of a lump does 5 pinkies make in him anyway?

[maddy4moos]

not a big lump, ... i don't really know he's my first snake. but he doesn't seem to have a massive belly... you can't really notice it to be honest.

sorry i don't really help alot do I?

i'll try and get some photos of him and stuff to elp yu guys understand

[DogStar5988]

WOW, my snake is about the same size as yours and I can't even imagine feeding him five pinkies! I thought two was pushing it. I think some pics of the normal amount you feed him and some pictures of your snake might help me wrap my mine around this ;). Even if they are the smallest pinkies in the world I don't see how he/she could handle them and not a fuzzy.

[maddy4moos]

lol, i'm sorry i'm kinda really new to snake keeping. i'll upgrade him to small fuzzies. he doesn't seem to have any problem at all with the five pinkies, he swallows one in 25 seconds usually, then after another 40 seconds he's ready for his next pinkie. he really doesn'r 'seem' to have any problem with them. Why is it so wrong for him to be eating 5 pinkies instead of say.... 3 fuzzies?

[diamondlil]

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp
The fuzzies will boost your snake's calorific intake, most have a growth spurt after they bump up to fuzzies, and again when they bump up to adult mice. this table compares the food values per gram of different prey items

[DogStar5988]

I think you are a little confused on the numbers here...most people wouldn't feed their snake for than two of anything. Your snake should probably be eating ONE fuzzy, or TWO pinkies. Again I'm not sure exactly how big your snake is but if its about as thick as a pencil or a little thicker (like say your pinky finger) it should be eating two pinkies or one fuzzy. No matter what size of an item you are feeding your snake, I would suggest not feeding it more than two of anything. Good luck, I look forward to some pictures ;)

[maddy4moos]

... but he doesnt seem to have any problem at all with eating that amount of pinkies, ... what should i feed him then??? he's used to eating 5 pinkies... if i cut him down to just 2 fuzzies won't get get hungry?

[DogStar5988]

No because fuzzies are bigger than pinkies, maybe I really don't understand the situation. 40cm is about 16 inches right? I seriously can not imagine a 16 inch snake eating that much at one time. Maybe hes able to eat hoppers if he can handle 2 fuzzies, didn't you say he had trouble getting a fuzzy down? In any case snakes are reptiles, in the wild they have not definite food source, you could cut him down to 2 pinkies without a major snake-freak-out.

[maddy4moos]

ok, i'll definatly start him on fuzzies next feed... thanks for everybodys help! your a bunch of stars!!

[BeckyG]

If he can eat 5 pinkies, or two fuzzies, he's more than likely able to take hoppers. I'd feed him ONE fuzzy per week for a few weeks, then switch him to hoppers.

The general rule is ONE prey item ONCE per week. The prey should be between 1 and 1.5 x the girth of the snake.

Although we are all aghast at this situation, it isn't unheard of. I remember a thread a while back (may have even been on another forum) in which a person was still feeding her adult snake pinkies. She said, "Well, that's what the pet shop told me to feed him." Her question to the forum was, "Why does my snake seem so small compared to others I see on here?" Well, she got her answer. She wasn't feeding it properly.

[maddy4moos]

ok then, which are smaller, peach fuzzies is it??? he will often refuse anything bigger than a middle sized fuzzie. we did buy some... but he took it from me then just left it in his tank... when i gave him a pinkie later on (just to see if it was the food size that was the problem) he ate it in seconds!

I have some fuzzies now anyway, so his next feed will be fuzzies :D

[simple_minded]

The thing with eating such a large number of prey items at one time is it COULD cause a regurg, which is very bad for the snake's health. And peach fuzzies are pinkies that have just started to grow a thin layer of fur, but not completely covered like fuzzies are, so they're generally a little smaller than fuzzies and a little larger than pinkies. I feed my 15 inch hatchlings 1 peach fuzzie each every 5 days.

[maddy4moos]

ok then, normal fuzzie it is!

thanks for your help