Still hungry or trying to finish shedding?

Hey guys,

So my pastel finally shed. However I was a really awful shed! He still had the whole top of his back on after rubbing around for two days. Last night was feeding night and he had missed the last feeding due to being in shed, so I decided to go a head and see if he would eat. Earlier that evening I soaked him for about an hour and let him run through a towel and such and got most of his left over skin off. There is still one eye cap and a little left on his neck.
Feeding wise he did great! I just recently got him switched over to rat pinkies and that is what he ate last night. Immediately after putting him in his tank he started roaming around rubbing on the substrate and glass and his hide. I thought he was just trying to get the rest of his skin off.
He is still doing this this morning though. He is out and about soaking in his water and rubbing and just being really active in his tank. Is this normal and he is really just trying to shed the rest I the way? Or could he still be hungry? He was eating hopper mice before and the rat pinkies are significantly smaller. Should he be on rat pups?

How much does your snake weigh?

He should be eating something that is about as wide as your snake is at it's widest point.

I am not sure on weight, I have yet to get a scale (that is one of my next purchases!) but he is a tad smaller than my two females that are eating the hopper mice. I feel like I should offer him another pinky... Is that okay to do, have him feed within about 12-15 hours of each other? And then next feeding I will get him something bigger.

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Originally Posted by MsGolightly

I am not sure on weight, I have yet to get a scale (that is one of my next purchases!) but he is a tad smaller than my two females that are eating the hopper mice. I feel like I should offer him another pinky... Is that okay to do, have him feed within about 12-15 hours of each other? And then next feeding I will get him something bigger.

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Hopper mice are usually for hatchlings.

How old is he?

Yes, you can feed him again if you think he's hungry and you didn't feed him enough. I wouldn't make a habit of feeding him this soon, but nothing bad will happen.

I would say he is about 3-4 months old but he seems smaller for his age. I am hoping once I get my rack set up and I can monitor everything perfectly he will get on track. My heat tape and new thermostat should be arriving this week. I will feed him another pinky today. It really does seem like he is roaming around for food. Thank you for all the help!! Next feeding time I will get him a little older rat, probably a pup. I'm going to try to switch my females to rats next feeding too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MsGolightly

I would say he is about 3-4 months old but he seems smaller for his age. I am hoping once I get my rack set up and I can monitor everything perfectly he will get on track. My heat tape and new thermostat should be arriving this week. I will feed him another pinky today. It really does seem like he is roaming around for food. Thank you for all the help!! Next feeding time I will get him a little older rat, probably a pup. I'm going to try to switch my females to rats next feeding too.

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If he's 3 or 4 months old and has been on mice hoppers the whole time, he probably is a little hungry, particularly if you downsized the last meal yesterday a little.

Feed him the extra pinky, switch him to rat pups with your next feeding and he'll catch up on his size quickly.

If you don't have a scale,all you have to do is feed him prey that is as big as the fatest part of his body,a little bigger is fine,like enough where u will SEe a bulge in his belly..

as for the bad shed,you got to keep the humidity up..I don't know what kind of set up you have but whatever it is ,it's wrong. Soak your snake in warm water for like20 minutes,then get a damp rag and run him through it,tht should help take the extra shed off....this is what I have read around here. My snake once had about an inch on his tail,did what I read and worked perfectly.
Also if your snake is out and about a lot and not hiding just about all the time,most likely something's up..what kind of investigating and readi did u do before you got your snake? Did you just go blind into it? It's animal and requires work,daily maintanence..u just don't drop it in a tank ith heat and your good to go

Thanks! I am getting him an extra pinky now.