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Shedding Frequency?

L

Leandrae

New member
Short story: Would it be possible to shed twice in just over two weeks?

Long story: At the end of December, Cherry went blue. She tried to shed the first week of January, but had a really hard time of it. By Jan 6th, I had to help her with it as the shed was coming off in tiny pieces and she just seemed miserable. I soaked her in a bath for 45 minutes, then had her crawl through a wet towel many many times to get it all off (I'm positive it all came off) On Jan 8th, we fed her what looked like a giantic fuzzy compared to her previous meals. I really wasn't comfortable giving it to her, but she managed to get it down and kept it down. After eating that, I joked with my family that she'd probably shed again right afterwards. She hid in her warm hide constantly, until I finally took her out to feed on Jan 17th, when she ate a more normal sized fuzzy without problem.

Yesterday I noticed she was out of her hide rubbing her nose on her branch a lot, but didn't think much of it. Tonight, she's wiggling around in her warm hide and I saw a piece of skin stuck on the glass near it. So I got out a flashlight to better see her in the hide and I swear it looks like she's trying to shed again! She wasn't in blue when I fed her 2 days ago, but I'm wondering if she was in blue at some point while she was in her hide for 9 days.

Ugh, I know I have humidity problems (too dry). I bought some moss last week so I could make a humid hide for when she goes blue next, but it looks like she just couldn't wait. I'll get that in there for her right away, but I was hoping I could freeze the moss for a few days ahead of time in case there were any mites/bugs in it, but I guess there's no time for that...I didn't figure I'd need it for a couple more weeks.

-Janel
 
I've had a couple snakes do that on me <shedding twice in a month> and I know that sometimes different factors can cause it. Things like injuries or burns, where they are in breeding cycles, etc. I haven't noticed any negative affects or other differences when it occurs though...

As for the humid hide, why are you waiting until she's in blue? I try to keep humid hides available at all times and now very rarely have an incomplete shed. Often my snakes decide to hang out in the moist hide even when not in any important part of their shed cycle :)

Good luck! :)
Rebecca
 
I looked in on her this morning and she's definately shedding again.

I didn't want to leave the humid hide in there all the time because she's just in a 10 gallon tank and between her 2 caves, a climbing branch, and a huge water bowl, there isn't much room to add another hide. I washed out a sour cream container and have a little bowl of baking soda in it right now to get out any smell...it's going in there today =) Will probably take out her branch while she's shedding.

I'll look into a bigger tank for her. There's a local reptile show in just over a week, so hopefully I can either find something there or get tips on how to make my own secure top for the 33 gallon flat back hex tank I have sitting around.

I'm guessing that either the huge fuzzy caused a big growth spurt or perhaps her new skin was damaged as she tried to get her old skin off last time. Although there was no visible damage, perhaps there was something I couldn't see.

-Janel
 
Update

She shed again yesterday for the third time since the begining of January. This time the shed was complete and came off in one lovely piece. I'm not sure she's gaining much in length, but she's definately growing in girth. I always worried that her neck looked so skinny compared to her head, but now she looks quite balanced.

I think she's just going through a very nice growth spurt. She's been eating a cut fuzzy every 5-7 days, so I'm thinking the extra nutrition is really doing good by her. I'm not entirely positive what she's eating are true fuzzies though as they have very little fur and just look like huge pinkies...maybe they're more like peach fuzzies?

She's had her humid hide in there since my last post and she absolutely loves it. She's pretty much in there 24/7. I've been changing the moss out every time I feed her. Does it need to be changed more often than that?

-Janel
 
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