• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

shedding / feeding questions

T

thetoymouse

New member
Hi all, I have a couple of questions for you...

My beautiful baby snow corn is showing all the signs of getting ready to shed, opaque eyes, lack of colour etc. as soon as i noticed this I put some moss in his hide and have been keeping it moist ever since. the thing is, he's been sitting in there for over a week now, and as far as i've seen, hasn't been anywhere else in his viv.
Also, i was informed buy a local reptile store/breeder that it isn't such a good idea to handle or feed such a young snake (I'd say he is around 6 months old) during the shedding process. He had 2 pinkies almost two weeks ago.

so, my questions are...
1..is it normal for him to be hiding away for such a long period of time?
2..on average how long should he take to shed?
3..should I feed him or should i wait until he has finished shedding?....I'm sure he's getting hungry!

So, I apologise for my novice-esque questions but Trev the snow corn and I will both really app:cheers:reciate some help!!

Cheers, thetoymouse. :cheers:
 
A snake that young will hide most of the time anyway, its instinct to help it live. The shed cycle takes about 2 weeks start to finish. I just note when eyes go milky and then when they actually shed. Between those two signs averages 8 days for me. I feed mine on schedule whether they are shedding or not and have yet to have any issues. But there are some snakes that have problems. You can choose to attempt to feed or wait. Should be fine.

Also make sure the moss is not too moist could cause scale issues.
 
I would feed on schedule. I have a snake that will eat no matter what. But there are some that wont eat during shed. When they are adults missing a meal isnt such a big deal but that young I would offer food anyways.
My younger snake that does eat while in blue (shedding) will eat, just with less umm...vigor than when she is not in blue. When she isnt in blue she coils up around food instantly. When in blue she eats like a dainty lady.
 
Depending on what stage they're in, they can have issues striking properly since they're essentially blind. Since he's on pinkies this shouldn't be an issue. Like Stormy said, he may or may not eat, so don't be worried if he refuses while he's in shed.
 
Raptor, do you feed live? That is the only reason I could see for being concerned about visability with feeding. When feeding FT they can take their time and not worry about being attacked by their food. If the OP feeds live I would definitely not feed when the eyes are cloudy.
 
I used to, but my snake usually has issues striking when she's blue. If she can't hit it withing the first few tries she'll refuse to strike.
 
Yeah, that is another problem with feeding live, they run the risk of using energy without replenishing it with food. I feel bad for wild snakes, they have it so much tougher than FT fed captive snakes.
 
I only fed live once while she was in shed (she stuck and killed it with some difficulty). The other times I simply waited. My experiences with her refusing to eat after missing was with f/t.
 
Odd, I have never had a snake miss a still target. I wonder if perhaps she has some kind of perception issues? I would think a moving target would be harder to hit. But then I am not a snake lol!
 
Well, it was while she was blue x) When Moranna goes into her blue stage well..My avatar says it all.
 
Oh yup I see what you mean lol. Poor dear. I guess every species has to have some that have clumsy issues lol :D Mind she has special circumstances, big giggle!
 
She's normally very good at striking, to the point of being violent. When I fed her live she would strike hard enough that the mice would usually bleed from their nose/ears. They never got a chance to do anything lol.
 
Thanks for your comments guys,

Trev had a couple of pinkies for dinner on Monday, and shed sucsessfully on Tuesday evening (sigh of relief!).
So, it is now time co concentrate on getting him used to bieng handled, wish me luck!!
 
Be patient, most snakes under at least 20 inches are very afraid of being held. They have a high flight drive, to run so they stay alive. Don't be afraid or drop him if he bite either or he'll learn how to make you go away lol.
 
His bite tickles!
he is doing really well, getting used to me slowly but surely, I try to be as calm and gentle as possible which is working, as soon as he gets accustomed to the temp of my hands he soon settles down, flicking his tongue madly!!
onle a few times has he tried to swallow my little finger!!!!!

I have no idea why I haven't owned a snake before now, I've been missing out!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top