About to shed

[BPSnape]

Well I'm very excited, and a smidge worried, but only because things can go wrong with shedding. Have had Professor Snape three weeks now and he is beginning the shedding process. I am SO grateful for all the wonderful posts here or I wouldn't even know what was going on, particularly the stickied post with all the pics of the shed process. He has not dulled along the sides even a little, but there's kind of a bagginess around his neck, and what I thought might be a pink belly on Saturday was DEFINITELY pink on Sunday. He's also been fully under his rock hide the last two days, which is uncommon for him. Usually he's on the rock, or under the rock or half log with his head sticking out.

This Wednesday would be his 3rd feed with me, and I am wondering if I should at least try a mouse regardless of what sage of shed he is in, or if he's in blue by then, hold off. I've seen people say everything from their snake refuses all food the entire process to they are gulping down feeds anytime they are given. I'm leaning towards trying it since so far he's not refused any meals, but I have no idea if they're more prone to regurgitation during that time.

[DVirginiana]

They won't regurge just because they're in shed. If you feed live you may want to wait until he's not shedding or check same-day return policies if you don't want to be stuck with a rodent, but if you feed f/t there's no reason not to offer food to figure out whether or not he'll eat during shed.

I have some snakes that don't act any different during shed, and some that turn into nervous wrecks and won't even look at food. Just depends.

[BPSnape]

Thanks! I've been feeding live because that's what he was on and he's done well with it. Returning isn't an issue because after 2 weeks in a row calling and going from pet store to pet store to get a feeder mouse, I got extras last week and set up a breeding tank for future feedings. Honestly, one store I called said yes they had young mice in, and when I got there they were rats.

[ARBallMorphs]

hey BPSnape,

I do not feed my BP's when they are in shed, mostly because most of MY snakes do not eat when in shed, second reason is because I always weigh my snakes after their shed a lot of times they also defecate right after the shed so when you weigh them at that point you got a good idea of what he/she weighs.

that being said, I know people who feed their snakes during shed and all is well.

so it is all up to your BP really some will eat some wont

[J&A exotics]

I offer during shed a good chunk of mine do eat during shed. I have one eat during shed and next time they were so its up to the snake

[tbowman]

Don't be worried. It'll be fine. Shedding problems rarely pose risk to the snake.

[BPSnape]

Awesome, looks like it's worth trying to see how he does. Seems like it's a pretty random deal from snake to snake. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything really silly. I actually haven't weighed Snape or any of his meals yet. I had figured on monitoring his physical condition by how he looks and such and that that would be enough to see if he is remaining healthy. But after a lot of reading here I decided having baseline data on his regular weight gain and exact numbers on feedings would be a good thing to have so I can detect issues earlier and have good info for the vet if it comes to that.

[BPSnape]

Well the post on shedding signs and timeline seems pretty on point. Today he's in blue and his skin has finally started to look dusty a bit. I feed on Wednesdays so yesterday I didn't get him out at all, so he could've started yesterday. I normally talk to him and touch his back first to not startle him, and when I did that today he wasn't jumpy at all. So I'm really happy with how sweet he still is. Once I got him out he did more of the "up periscope" thing than normal and kept going back and forth with his head, so I didn't keep him out long just to be sure he's not agitated. He took his mouse normally and no regurg, so I don't have to debate feed or not.