Feeding while getting ready to shed?

Greetings all,

To cut my usual long-winded inquiries short (as I'm @ work while posting this), Severus is getting ready to shed. According to his feeding schedule, he's due to eat (he last ate 1 week ago).

However, I'm not sure if he'd be willing to eat now that he's preparing to shed. I haven't tried to tempt him w/food yet, as I'm not sure if he'd eat it (& quite frankly, I don't have the capability to keep a live mouse until he's ready; trust me, I've tried the frozen food route, & he won't eat them; I'd have a hard time taking care of a live mouse myself, if you know what I mean).

So, O Knowledgeable Ones, is it recommended that I wait until he sheds (which could be any day now)? I know this'll probably sound corny, but instinct is telling me to wait until then.

Thanks! :)

Yours in a constant quest for knowledge,
LC

It's up to you. It won't hurt to wait a couple days before offering food. You can offer food now but some snakes do refuse food while in shed, and then you would be stuck with extra house guest.

I totally agrre with the statement above. Most pet stores will let you return unused rodents w/receit with 1-3 days after purchaseing them for store credit. This is an option so if your snake doesn't take it (which is very likely) you still will not have to house any unwanted rodents.

Some people wait until after shed, some feed during shed, and some just skip that week. There really is not a problem with any method, but it generally all depends on you and the bp. My male will not eat during shed, so I generally skip the feeding that week, but my female will eat anytime so I feed her during shed.

I wait until after shed. It just seems like adding more weight to the snake, while it is in shed, would make shedding slightly more difficult. This is just my way of thinking, but I think it is true. :)

We offer our snake food on it's regular day shedding or not shedding. So far Baby's yet to refuse a meal (fingers crossed). We feed p/k and actually pick up her mice a few days early as I like to feed them up a bit myself. We just have a little cage just for mice (got it free LOL) and that way if Baby ever did refuse a meal we can keep it "fresh" for her.

Personally I'd offer a meal and just not push it if your snake refuses, then the snake is setting the pace for what it wants to do while in shed but that's just my gut feeling (I'm a newbie too remember). Baby just shed today actually.

~~Joanna~~