Something Rough to Rub Against for Shedding?

In many of the set-up pictures I've seen here, the hides have been smooth plastic containers. Water dishes are similarly smooth.

When going into the shedding process, doesn't a snake need something rough to rub against? Or is all the smooth "furniture" enough?

I ask because our little guy may be starting to shed. One of the items that came with him is that half log, which I haven't used at all because it doesn't hide enough. However, the rough bark covering around it seems good for shedding. Does snakey need that roughness?

First indicator of an oncoming shed is a pink belly. Once you see the pink belly you should increase your humidity to 60-70%. If you maintain proper humidity the snake should have no problem shedding. Some of the snakes in my rack system have nothing but a water bowl with them and they are able to shed fine. They will actually rub up against themselves to get the shed off if there is nothing else available.

X2 ^^ I did paint my snakes hides with a rough texture on the outside, but they don't ever use it. My opinion: in the wild they would be vulnerable to attacks while in shed. So, they complete shed in small areas. Mine all shed in their hides. They just keep turning circles and it comes off like a glove. It's a really cool experience. Just make sure you have that humidity up. :) Good luck.

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Originally Posted by stratus_020202

Mine all shed in their hides. They just keep turning circles and it comes off like a glove.

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Wow, neat! Thankfully, humidity is almost always high here, being a stone's throw from the coastline, and the Acu-Rite has been showing it to be around 70%.

The picture below was taken the day we brought our little guy home 2 weeks ago. (It all came off the next day.) Apparently, he had shed during the week prior, so that would have been 3 weeks ago. Is that too soon in between sheds? This past week his right nostril has been clogged with what looked like dry shed, and last night I noticed a fleck (about the size of a comma) sticking out from that nostril area, so it may be just that fleck coming off, or perhaps the start of a shed.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...m/IMG_0445.jpg

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Originally Posted by Patricia

Wow, neat! Thankfully, humidity is almost always high here, being a stone's throw from the coastline, and the Acu-Rite has been showing it to be around 70%.

The picture below was taken the day we brought our little guy home 2 weeks ago. (It all came off the next day.) Apparently, he had shed during the week prior, so that would have been 3 weeks ago. Is that too soon in between sheds? This past week his right nostril has been clogged with what looked like dry shed, and last night I noticed a fleck (about the size of a comma) sticking out from that nostril area, so it may be just that fleck coming off, or perhaps the start of a shed.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...m/IMG_0445.jpg

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Definitely not too soon especially for a young and growing BP. I have one girl that shed, had a meal, and shed again...all withing 3 weeks. It was weird.

No, it's deffinately not too soon. All my little ones shed about 3-4 weeks apart. They range anywhere from 100 - 600 grams.

They shed when they need to depending on growth patterns and the wearing out of their old skin. As long as your humidity is fine, your snake will do just fine I'm sure. I've watched some of ours just ripple their muscles and roll that shed down like a nylon stocking. We had one at last weeks feeding that came out to get her dinner, shed half rolled down. Gulped down dinner then went back to rolling off her shed. She's a very efficient sort of snake LOL.

I often times will use cork bark as a rough thing for many of my animals to rub agaist when they are shedding

OK, thanks folks. I'll read the shedding articles here to familiarize myself with what's going on. I think it's had a pink belly. I'm so new to all of this (2 weeks) that I don't know what's normal or what to expect, and am just hanging on for the ride. This forum is like my seat belt, LOL!