Meet Mr. Slithersworth

He shed a couple days ago, and since I've dropped the humidity down to about 60%. It looks like he shed while staying in his hide. And I was sitting a couple feet away and missed it (playing games online) It didn't all come off in one piece, or perhaps it just got tore up in the process. At least, Mr. Slithersworth himself had most of the skin off. Just a couple small bits here and there that I took off with a warm wet towel. Also, his tail didn't completely shed. I got as much off as I could, but there's still about two inches of unshed skin on his tail. I found the head in all the shed, and was able to confirm that he got rid of both eye caps, so that's good. I didn't realize that snakes had visible pupils! He has brown eyes.


I've had him out every day for about four or five days now and he's getting pretty good at being out and looking around. I'm going to give him a break today and see if he'll take a small mouse tomorrow.

It's neat how the new skin has a transluscent blue sheen to it!

How long have you had Mr Slitherworth now for? The reason I'm asking is because when I got my first Royal, I got very good advice from people on the forums. Part of that advice was not to handle your BP until he has eaten at least 4 meals. Gives him time to settle in and get used to his new surroundings. Very difficult to not handle them as that's all you really want to do, but it pays dividends to get them established into a good eating routine first. Snake won't eat, snake eventually dies.


You say Mr Slitherworth still has some shed stuck to his tail? That needs to come off. Use the damp towel to very gently remove the shed. You don't want to stress him out.

Yes snakes have visible pupils. You can see them more clearly on Boas. I was watching our baby Boa the other night - he was sitting in his hide with just his neck and head sticking out - we knew he was actually sleeping because the pupils were just tiny, narrow slits. When he woke up they expanded. If you watch carefully, you can see the snake's eyes moving the same as ours do, although not quite so pronounced.

It's good that Mr Slithersworth has got most of his shed off by himself. Mine tend to shed in their hides too. Just the once Byron obliged by coming out and letting me watch him. I always check the shed to make sure everything, especially eye-caps are there. Sometimes they do take the shed off in bits, sometimes it gets caught on the bark and rips. I've got a couple of complete sheds from my Boas which I've got hanging on the wall.

Snakes are both wonderful and fascinating animals and a joy to have as part of the family:D

Your set up looks great!
Welcome to the boards. Glad to hear things seem to be going well.
Hang out read threads ask questions and you won't go wrong here. There are some great people on here who will give you the best advice for you and your bp.

He has been handled a bit in the previous week - about every day, but short sessions probably 10-15 minutes. He seems to be doing pretty good with that, and is relaxing pretty quickly now.

Last night I offered a small F/T mouse. The last meal was a fuzzy two weeks ago (Refused fuzzies last week probably due to shedding) He took notice almost immediately and took it. Down the hatch all the way! So I won't be able to handle to get the rest of the shed off until Wednesday.

I think he's coming along pretty nicely. It seemed that the handling helped him to relax more and realize that we aren't trying to eat him. He's never struck (except at the mouse) or hissed, though he "yawns" from time to time during handling. And if I make too quick a mostion around him he'll snap into a defensive posture, but will only take a few seconds to resume exploring.

Today will be his second week in my care.