Lack of energy?

Alright, so my ball python hasn't shed since the beginning of September, and he just got his pink belly a few days ago, along with the fading skin color. Typically when he shed, he didn't act unusual, as he would maintain a set amount of activity. However, ever since he started shedding, he's done nothing but spend time in his hides. He's also lost some of his grip when I hold him.

For the record, my pastel is 4 and a half months old, and around 26 inches long. I also moved him over to his new 30 gallon setup a couple weeks ago. The only new things I've done with his enclosure are add a few decorations and switch from aspen to paper towels. Husbandry is perfect, two hides - a cool end of 78-80, and a hotspot of 88-90. Ambient is 85. Humidity is around 50 on the average day, but I've been misting and such since shed started to keep it around 60-70.

Is this common behavior during shed that I should expect more often?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hydrolicious

Alright, so my ball python hasn't shed since the beginning of September, and he just got his pink belly a few days ago, along with the fading skin color. Typically when he shed, he didn't act unusual, as he would maintain a set amount of activity. However, ever since he started shedding, he's done nothing but spend time in his hides. He's also lost some of his grip when I hold him.

For the record, my pastel is 4 and a half months old, and around 26 inches long. I also moved him over to his new 30 gallon setup a couple weeks ago. The only new things I've done with his enclosure are add a few decorations and switch from aspen to paper towels. Husbandry is perfect, two hides - a cool end of 78-80, and a hotspot of 88-90. Ambient is 85. Humidity is around 50 on the average day, but I've been misting and such since shed started to keep it around 60-70.

Is this common behavior during shed that I should expect more often?

---

It is perfectly normal for a snake to have limited activity during a shed cycle. My snakes do not even come out of their hides when they are in shed. As for the lack of grip, I'm not to sure what that is.

I just got home from school and his eyes are blue, so he's almost done, I assume. I'm also holding him as I type and he feels... more energetic than the past few days. There's probably a correlation between the lack of grip and during-shed lack of energy.

Thanks.

Also, on average, my BPs usually shed about 2 days after their eyes clear up.

Funny thing was, when I got home today the hot glue I had on my thermostat probe had fallen off(I just set the blasted contraption up a few weeks ago, it's strange) so I had to tape it on via foil tape. I don't trust that glue I was using anymore... My thermometer said the heat pad was at 106 after it fell off! :O