Potential Shed Behavior?

[bella]

Just curious if the behavior my ball python is exhibiting might be due to an imminent shed.

I haven't noticed if his eyes have blued out as I've not been looking for that symptom and when I checked on him each day over the last week, I mostly just witnessed his body. When I took him out to handle him on Monday of last week he seemed pretty normal at that time.

He ate a good sized meal on Wednesday night so I know he's not hungry. His husbandry is good (temp on hot side 92, cool side around 80 and humidity 50-60%).

So tonight, he's been coming out of his hide and rubbing his face on a hunk of driftwood in his tank. He has also been HIGHLY sensitive to movement outside of his cage. I had a friend over who wanted to officially hold him for the first time and when I went to his cage to begin the extraction process, he kept coiling back into strike pose and tracking ALL movement outside the glass as I fumbled with the lid lock. I kept my movement to a minimum to prevent him striking the glass accidently, but he managed to strike it anyway. Wanting to avoid injury from subsequent strikes to the glass, I quickly put things back in order and moved out of his tracking range and we watched from a distance.

I did not witness it, however, my friend who was sitting at near his tank watching him said that while he was rubbing, he yawned twice but I have yet to notice any other symptoms that would indicate a RI.

I acquired him on May 20 and he did not shed for me until July 11 and has not shed since despite gaining over 150g from July 11 to present.

What are your thoughts?

Regardless of his mood tomorrow, he's going to come out as I need to weigh him to determine this week's meal size.

Thanks!

PS, for safety's sake, I did bump the humidity up to approximately 70%.

[LadyOhh]

Sounds like stressed behavior.

He may be going into shed. I wouldn't know without looking at him.

But sounds like he's "freaking out" so to speak. I'd leave him alone for a few days.

Forgo the weighing for a few.

Then see if he is due to shed.

[bella]

Gotcha, will do.

The more I think about it, the more I think he might be in the end stages of a shed cycle.

The only other time he's ever struck in his enclosure at something other than a prey item was about 9-10 days ago when I was preparing to feed him and he struck at my movement outside the glass without any mouse scent as his meal was still in the fridge. I didn't notice if he was in blue at that point as the only light on was a red lamp and I just fed him and left him alone.

Regardless, he's chilling in his hide now so I'll just keep an eye on him and ensure his husbandry stays in line.

Sorry for the novel, I tend to be overtly verbose. Bad habit. :-)