Shedding? Fed two pinkies? What's going on?

[wholovessnakes]

Hi All,

I am one of those new, completely paranoid, baby corn owners. I’d guess mine is about 3-4 months old and he is a creamsicle.
I’ve had Spike for about 3 weeks and on Sunday night he took his first double pinky meal. Took them both like a champ; he appears to be an excellent eater. He isn’t even fully in his feeding container before he is chomping down, doesn’t mind if we watch, heck, I’ve even taken pictures. So anyways, that was Sunday and yesterday, we haven’t seen him at all, which is really odd for him. He is always out and about between 9p and 11p (my cat sat up waiting for him to begin his night walks and he never came). I know he is under the aspen bedding and now I am concerned because maybe he is getting ready to shed and I just fed him, 2 little pinkies no less! Isn’t that a big no-no? I can’t tell if he is/was in blue, his skin never changed and his eyes always seemed the same orange.

My question is, should we leave him be or should I poke around in there, find him, and make sure he’s ok? I’m a bit worried it isn’t shedding, what if he had a problem after the fact with taking the 2 pinkies (he got both right down no problem but still…..)

Thank you for your responses in advance!

[Rich in KY]

No worries.

This sounds normal. It could be the big meal or maybe your snake is about to shed. I suggest you leave him be. Overly stressing a snake that has just ate could cause a regurgitation. As long as you know he is there, just let him digest his food.

[glenhead]

Spike just had the equivalent of a big Thanksgiving dinner, and he's hunkered down saying "ahhhhh (burp)".

It's really common for snakes to disappear for a few days after any meal, especially a big one. I fed our group last Saturday, and everyone pretty much vanished. We did have a couple of surprises, though; the blizzard shed almost immediately after she got back in her house (within five minutes, really blew me away), and the amel shed that night. If snakes are earlier in their shed cycle (eyes clouded over), they'll usually refuse food, but they know whether they want to eat or not when they're not in shed mode. As I keep telling new snake owners, "Patience. Learn from the snake." As Rich said, leave him be for at least three or four days if he's hunkered down. When he finishes his first round of digestion, he'll be back out.

[Susielea]

^^^What they said! :)

[wholovessnakes]

Ok, I am seriously dying here! But, I have not bugged him. Not even once. I just hope my little guy is ok down under the aspen and that the two pinkies was not too much for him. I am a worrywart and *gasp" hope that he hasn't expired or something under there. I'm paranoid, we had a garter snake that we got from Petco as a gift back in June and he passed away from a skin infection after 2 weeks. After that we got our little guy. I've had Spike for 2 weeks so it just creeps me out that all of a sudden, he's MIA when he's normally SUPER DUPER active. It's been 48hrs since the double pinkies and within 12 hrs of eating one he was out and about. He's pretty little but the one pinkie just didn't seem like enough, the lump was gone so quickly and he seemed to be "roaming" for food so I doubled it up on Sunday and now I haven't seen him since. I will say both pinkies were down one after the other and he ate both within 10 minutes. I didn't see any problems at all at the time. I wish I knew if he was at least ok under there but I.am.not.peeking. I swear I haven't! (You have no idea how much I wish I could...) but I certainly don't want to stress him out.

Hopefully, by tomorrow he will be out and about again. At what point can I peek though if he doesn't come out tomorrow?

[Kruss&Bev]

just speaking from experiance, im fairly new to owning snakes but 2 out of my 3 have never refused a feed even during shed (1 snow corn and 1 common boa). i have also had the just fed now i shed thing a few times, especially with my snow. dont get me wrong im expecting a refusal from my baby anery tomorrow but its all part and parcel of them. tbh i dont worry to much they know better than i do wether they am hungry or not. ive noticed with my anery that if i poke around looking for her she tells me what she wants to do. she either bolts away or sits there waiting for me to pick her up. dont stress to much just persever with it and go with the flow. not one knows your snake better than you do.

good luck though we wish u all the best

C&B

[bkelm18]

Ok, I am seriously dying here! But, I have not bugged him. Not even once. I just hope my little guy is ok down under the aspen and that the two pinkies was not too much for him. I am a worrywart and *gasp" hope that he hasn't expired or something under there. I'm paranoid, we had a garter snake that we got from Petco as a gift back in June and he passed away from a skin infection after 2 weeks. After that we got our little guy. I've had Spike for 2 weeks so it just creeps me out that all of a sudden, he's MIA when he's normally SUPER DUPER active. It's been 48hrs since the double pinkies and within 12 hrs of eating one he was out and about. He's pretty little but the one pinkie just didn't seem like enough, the lump was gone so quickly and he seemed to be "roaming" for food so I doubled it up on Sunday and now I haven't seen him since. I will say both pinkies were down one after the other and he ate both within 10 minutes. I didn't see any problems at all at the time. I wish I knew if he was at least ok under there but I.am.not.peeking. I swear I haven't! (You have no idea how much I wish I could...) but I certainly don't want to stress him out.

Hopefully, by tomorrow he will be out and about again. At what point can I peek though if he doesn't come out tomorrow?

Just chill a bit. You've gotten some great advice. You fed your snake a really big meal and it needs time to digest it. Your snake knows what it's doing, they've been doing it for a few million years. :)