Olive caught in the act - shedding!

Tonights a crazy homework night for me (taking an intensive first year's worth of Spanish over the summer), and I was getting to the point where i really needed a "snake break". I headed to my room to check on Olive with my fingers crossed that she had shed.

Well I got something even better.. she was just starting her shed!


Obviously I grabbed my camera, and even though I'm going to take her out tomorrow in the yard and give her a proper post shed photo shoot and then make a progression thread for her, I figured these were too cute not to share.

Once she realized I was going to photograph the intimate process of parting ways with her old skin, she got a little bit shy..


Of course time heals all..


Either she was curious by the camera or at this point she'd immune cause that little head started slowly but surely peeking out


Around about this shot though I noticed something was a bit off...


She was ONLY shedding the top part of her head, her bottom jaw hadn't come off yet!


I put some damp paper towels in her tub with her and left her alone for about 5 minutes. I can help a snake complete a bad flakey shed, but I don't want to try to mess around with the jaw area. They shed parts of the insides of their mouths, right?

Anyway, I resumed my picture taking when she was about half way through the shed.




I love the protest of her look in this one. "Comeon mom, I'm naked!!!"


"Okayyyy, well as long as I get a fuzzy out of this..."


And here's the best full body shot I got of her freshly shed.


I can't wait to get some nice shots of her in my beautiful yard tomorrow then give her a well deserved meal. I LOVE this girl, she's so beautiful. She is amazing me with every shed.

She is gorgeous, Jessica! I love the shed progression. What a great job. What is her morph? Is she a phantom?

I can see why you love her, she's beautiful!! Love both her color and pattern!

Great photos! I love to watch them shed. I don't see it often & when I can I have to call the kids in to see. Its amazing!!!

Beautiful girl!

Thanks guys! Yes, she is a Phantom. Sean from VMS bred this little beauty. As soon as I saw her amongst the myriad of his hatchlings I just knew I HAD to have her.

I the last time she shed I was in the hospital, so I didn't really get to see her fresh colors. I was extra excited for this shed! I'm trying to picture what she will look like when she is an adult. I think she will be mostly silver with black outlines of her saddles, but I sure am curious about what will happen with that pink.

I guess I need to let go of my expectations though! I've never raised a Phantom before, and the only thing I've come to expect out of Cornsnakes is to never get too attached to how they look as hatchlings! Whatever is in store for this girl I will just sit back and enjoy watching her change. I'm crossing my fingers for no yellow sides, but other than that, I'm very excited to watch her grow!

wow what a beauty...man, I hate it everytime I walk past my cages, I see Ophion completed the shed RIGHT after I saw him....I caught Shia with shed left on tail then completed...I was itchin' to get a chance to watch them shed.