In blue already?

So I've had Chelsea for almost 4 weeks now, and she had a stuck shed back during her first week with me. I soaked her, but there are still a few stubborn bits that don't want to come off (mostly along her spine and nose). Today I noticed her eyes were much more clouded than they have been, and on closer inspection even the parts of her that have shed seem a little faded to me, but I could be wrong. I don't know if this is too early for her to be shedding again, or if her eating regularly is affecting the process, or if this is even just the shed from week one continuing?

She ate on Wednesday and I'm not wanting to handle her until tomorrow at least, so I apologize that you can't see her belly very well in the picture. The scales on her head are the stuck ones that refused to come off with soaking.
http://i.imgur.com/6st3jcM.jpg

The more they eat the more they will grow and shed. How many grams is she? She does look like she's in shed tho.

They should shed all in one piece all at one time and it looks like she's less than a week away from doing so. The only reason I bring this up is because you mentioned "even the parts of her that have shed seem a little faded". Keep the humidity up (60-70%) and hopefully for the both of you a good, full body, shed will happen soon. If you have trouble keeping humidity up in her enclosure, just mist her directly once or twice a day to help her out in the mean time.

If I were you, I'd also hold off on handling her until after she sheds. I know mine tend to be pretty irritable (read: stressed) during this time, so I try to leave them be as best as I can until after they have their new skin.

If you haven't seen it already, here's a great article that covers the shedding process in amazing detail: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...edding-Process

Good luck to you both!

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Originally Posted by jasonmcgilvrey83

The more they eat the more they will grow and shed. How many grams is she? She does look like she's in shed tho.

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I'm actually not sure on how many grams. Right now all I have is a bathroom scale that can only do kg, and it's malfunctioning. MY best guess would be somewhere between 500 and 700, but I could be wrong.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

They should shed all in one piece all at one time and it looks like she's less than a week away from doing so. The only reason I bring this up is because you mentioned "even the parts of her that have shed seem a little faded". Keep the humidity up (60-70%) and hopefully for the both of you a good, full body, shed will happen soon. If you have trouble keeping humidity up in her enclosure, just mist her directly once or twice a day to help her out in the mean time.

If I were you, I'd also hold off on handling her until after she sheds. I know mine tend to be pretty irritable (read: stressed) during this time, so I try to leave them be as best as I can until after they have their new skin.

If you haven't seen it already, here's a great article that covers the shedding process in amazing detail: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...edding-Process

Good luck to you both!

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I've been keeping her humidity high since I got her trying to help the last bits of her initial stuck shed to come off in addition to soaking her like it says to in the bad shed article. I'm very confident her next shed will all come off in one piece. I had a similar bad shed with Kirby her first time, but I'll admit that one was because I didn't know as much as I should have. After that, I went out and got myself a good mister bottle (not just a spray bottle, but a continuous mister with a pump), and she's never had a bad shed since. My confusion with Chelsea's current shed cycle was more along the lines of I didn't expect her to be ready to shed again after just 3 weeks. I suppose it's a good thing though, right?

Yes, it's a great thing that she's getting ready to shed again!

Also, I wouldn't over think the timing. Since she had the stuck shed when you first got her (right?), you can't really be certain when that cycle actually started. Maybe it's been stuck longer than you think. :)

Growing snakes shed often. My best feeder is my male normal and he is just a beast feeder, never missed a meal so far. He even takes meals in shed albeit reluctantly, he just can't resist lol. Anyway, he sheds quite often (4 to 6 weeks), and I just take it as a sign that he is growing and is healthy. Kinda sucks when they shed, because you don't want to mess with them. But that's when having multiple snakes comes in handy ;).

On the other end of things. I have a small 200 gram normal male that went about a month and a half without food. He went from 251 grams down to 169 :( and hasn't shed it about 2 and a half months. He is doing good again and is regaining his weight, and is just over 200 grams.

http://http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ps59781269.jpg

I brought mine home the day after he shed it was the day he fed. I fed him once and the next time I went to feed him he was in shed, took the mouse like a champ which was Wednesday and yesterday he completely shed out inside his hide 15 days earlier he had just shed. I believe other than where I tore it trying to straighten it out its in one piece..thankfully.