a noob question on shedding

[BOWSER11788]

so a noob question i forgot during the "off" years. my boys eyes are getting that wonderful shade of shed blue, last week he turned down his live small rat. yes, I am not a fan of the live, but trying to convert. anyway he acted scared of it, so this week i see the blue eyes. My question is, do they go off of feeding during shed. I was always told it was harder for them see during shed. So should try to feed this commng weekend again.

[kc261]

It doesn't hurt to offer. A lot of mine will eat when they are in shed. But if the snake is at a good weight and otherwise healthy, there is no harm in skipping a week either. If, for example, you feed f/t and don't have anyone to eat up any leftovers, you might prefer to skip the feeding rather than risk defrosting a food item that will get wasted.

[BOWSER11788]

got ya, hope he accepts the live one this week, might get a few days ahead and keep it in a critter keeper a day before so he can smell it up lol

[Luciferskeeper]

You can offer but some will and some won't. I have 3 that eat no matter what and one that will not.

[BHReptiles]

I will always offer food BEFORE they go blue. I'll notice the pink belly and the dull color. I'll offer food then but if they've gone blue or just turned clear before they shed, I don't offer food. I have some who will eat at the beginning of their shed cycle and some who just turn their noses up at it. It's really up to the animal. However, most are hungry after they've shed. Offer your boys some food after they have shed their skin and they will probably eat for you.

[BOWSER11788]

thanks i may do that then. i feel bad, I just seem to randomly forget stuff, been since 2010 since i had a herp.

[BOWSER11788]

aprrently this ole snake keeper still remembers, woke up to a full body one piece shed, and a big poo, so he is purty and stalking his cage for food

[nighttrain_1991]

I will always offer food BEFORE they go blue. I'll notice the pink belly and the dull color. I'll offer food then but if they've gone blue or just turned clear before they shed, I don't offer food. I have some who will eat at the beginning of their shed cycle and some who just turn their noses up at it. It's really up to the animal. However, most are hungry after they've shed. Offer your boys some food after they have shed their skin and they will probably eat for you.

Kinda off topic, but do all your bps go "blue" when in shed. I have a normal male that exhibits all the classic signs of shed, pink belly, dull, blue/cloudy eyes, but I recently got a female bee and female lesser whose eyes stay seemingly clear throughout. The bee was the only one giving me trouble eating when I first got her. I prefer to use f/t, but I knew she was previously eating live. After I few weeks I decided to offer a couple of live mice just to get her eating. She took them right away. I come back in a while to check on her and she had started to shed. I thought I had seen a slight pink on her belly a couple days earlier, but was definitely surprised when I seen she had started shedding. It made her feeding refusal and nippy defensive behavior make perfect sense though. Now the lesser has definitely started shed, but so far no change in the eyes at all. My normal is in his 2nd shed and again completely blue. Is this fairly normal? Do different snakes exhibit different signs pre shed? Just curious. I think I know what to look for with these particular animals now.