Young Snake Not Shedding Fully
Question
I was just after a bit of information, we brought my daughter a spotted python for her birthday. This is the first time we have had a snake so we are learning slowly, the snake is approximately 7 months old,we were feeding her 1 pinkie a week but this didn't seem to be enough as by about day 5 she seemed to be hungry again, so we have started to give her 2 pinkie's on feed day. Should we be feeding on just one day or should we stagger it over the week?
Also since we have had the snake which has been just over 5 weeks she has shed twice and on both occasions the skin only seemed to scuff off in sections and not come off as one piece as I thought it would, we did on both occasions swim her in warm water as all the books say to do. But I was wondering if we were doing something wrong?, whit the way she is shedding and the frequency. Because she looks healthy and has increased in size since we have had her.
Hope to hear from you soon.
regards Stephen
Answer
Feeding her the two pinkies on the same day is fine. In the wild snakes are oportunistic feeders and if they found a nest they would eat their fill rather than go away and come back in a couple of days.
The shedding twice is not as issue as the snake is young and obviously growing. Shedding times can vary and you did not mention how far apart the sheds were so I am assuming a few weeks. I am also assuming from your letter that the soaking worked for the snake and you were able to easily remove the unshed skin.
It may be that the snake's cage is not humid enough. Put another container of water in there and perhaps position it near the hear mat or the heat source so that sufficient humidity is produced. I also do not know what sort of cage accessories you have. For example a nice climbing branch is useful as theylike to climb and it also allows a rough surface for the python to help itself shed by catching the old skin.
If you are still having trouble, soaking the snake in water almost always works if you use the following tip. Crumple up some newspaper to make numerous newspaper balls about the size of golf balls, enough to cover the bottom of the soaking container. Wet them and add them to the water. There should still be a small amount of unabsorbed water in the bottom of the container. If you can keep the temperatures appropriate, you can leave the snake in there overnight, but try for at least a couple of hours. Very often the snake will be able to use the paper as it crawls around to pull off loose skin on its own. This is what we want because it's the least stressful to the snake. However, if the skin is still there after soaking, you can GENTLY restrain the snake and use a wet paper towel, wrapped around the snake's tail, to carefully pull off the offending skin.
Hope this helps
Mark Chapple is the Author of "How to build enclosures
for reptiles"
Find out how to build these terrestrial and arboreal cages for snakes and lizards.
Full color pictures, detailed diagrams and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.
http://www.reptile-cage-plans.com
Back to Questions and Answers Index