Should I offer food during shed?

[JadeSisson]

Hi everyone, my bp, moon is in the middle of her first shed for me and she is supposed to eat tomorrow. Is it okay to feed her tomorrow as planned or wait until she is done shedding?

[Gio]

Hi everyone, my bp, moon is in the middle of her first shed for me and she is supposed to eat tomorrow. Is it okay to feed her tomorrow as planned or wait until she is done shedding?

Schedules are really not important. Just about every snake in captivity gets more than it should or would get in it's natural setting. That coupled with fattier food sources and less exercise, makes a SET schedule something that can add to the problem.

There is NO harm in letting the snake shed and then feeding a day or two after.

Our royal has eaten once in the last year and you could never tell she has gone that long.

WAIT, is what I would say.

Royal pythons are the longest lived snake for a reason. They will regulate their own food intake, and frustrate their owners, but in reality they are stretching out their lives by eating less.

Now, there are certain situations where long periods without food is a concern, but a shed is not one of them.

Skip it, let the snake shed and probably eliminate more waste, and then feed.

[Mr. Misha]

Completely up to you. Some owners find that their BP eat while in shed and others don't.

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[Reinz]

I Agee with Gio totally. Eating schedules are for our convenience not for the snake's benefit.

I can tell you with the upmost confidence that my snakes do not want to bothered at all when they are in the blue. Sometimes it's as if they are playing dead; sometimes not moving for several days or a week. At times I can't even see them breathe and they will curl up in a part of the cage I never them hanging out in. They appear to be miserable. At this uncomfortable time I leave them alone, but do just peek in on them daily.

Now as Mr. Misha pointed out, some folks feed with success during the blue, but why? Waiting a few days to week will not affect them negatively.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

For me i offer regardless of in shed or not. I have never had one in shed refuse. That's just me.

[StupidZombie]

I offer, but don't push it. If they're not interested, they're not interested.

Ahri, my normal girl, usually eats regardless. However, since seeing Sirius and locking, she's refused every meal I've offered.
Everyone else? Has refused once or twice, regardless of their shed status.

It's personal preference, but I usually offer it up.

[ChelseaV]

For me personally, it depends on my snakes. I have several that will take good readily regardless if they are in shed or not and than I have two girls who don't want anything to do with good when they are shedding, so in their cases, I prefer to just wait until they are finished shedding because their appetites are always better for me.

I try to leave it up to them. I'll offer it and if they eat, they eat. If they don't, I usually will just wait until the next feeding day to try again.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Some will eat in blue while others wont. All up to the snake.

[Smitty33]

I've done it both ways. I skipped one time when Walter was in shed and then a couple weeks ago I went to feed him and he came out of his hide with his eyes all blued over so rather than waste a rat I went ahead and he ate just fine.

[Sauzo]

I say wait too. Some will eat in shed, some wont. No point possibly wasting food if they refuse and a couple days wont hurt them. I only offer my snakes food in shed if for some reason I mess up and buy and kill a rat for my BP and then notice she's in shed. Hard to see in a high white pied unless you look close. She wont eat in shed but both of my BCI will eat in shed, out of shed, in their cage, out of their cage, both of them don't care where they are as long as the rat is coming