Do ball pythons eat their shed skin?

I was moving and my girls is ALWAYS hungry, so I didn't feed her for about 2 weeks after she shed and I remember seeing her shed skin right after she did it while giving her more water, but did not have time to feed her because I was moving, and the next time I was feeding her, her shed skin was gone! Could she have eaten it because she was THAT hungry?? I didn't realize that she was going to be that desperate for food :(

She's almost a year old and sheds regularly, is this normal? Or did I just wait too long to feed her? I fed her right before her eyes turned cloudy.

Also, does anyone know how much a female BP is supposed to weigh at a year?

I've never heard of a snake eating its own shed, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. BTW, why would you not feed her for two weeks after she shed? How much does your snake currently weigh and what are you feeding her?

Wow feed the poor thing I feed mine right after shed 2 WEEKS thats wayyyy too long

I was moving, and due to a short notice I had a lot of things to do. But no worries! She's fed every week and that was the first and last time I didn't feed her for two weeks. I felt terrible when I didn't :( I had dreams about her. Anyway, I'm not sure how much she weighs, I've never weighed her actually. I'm planning on getting a scale and I will start to weigh her then to make sure she's healthy.

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Originally Posted by Eversolulu

my girls is ALWAYS hungry

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When my ball was ALWAYS hungry I knew it was time to up his prey size. You might be feeding her too small of a prey item. What are you giving her if I may ask? When my ball was a year old he was eating jumbo mice (the jumbo mice my provider sold me were retired breeders, so they equaled the size of a two week old rat). But, he was small for his size at the time because he was one of those "no I don't want your mice!" kinda balls as a hatchling. He obviously came around haha. I wish I had weights but I don't right now. Currently at 2 years he is 700 grams.

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Originally Posted by AliCat37

You might be feeding her too small of a prey item.

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I think you're right actually I didn't even think about that. I'm feeding her small rats, she was eating pups before but I moved her up a few months back, but I think she's ready for mediums.

2 weeks is nothing for an established ball python. Ive had males and females go off feed for over 6 months, with no problems at all. Nothing to worry about if you missed a week or two or four. Just dont make that your habit or its an unhealthy snake your asking for.

Some people just wanna jump all over you for husbandry and this and that.
"feed the thing! two whole weeks?!!!!!???!"

Lets talk about sheds though. I have never seen or heard of a ball python eating its shed.
two weeks + of a shed in a cage. I could see it deteriorating enough to turn into nothing( turn crispy and go into the bedding/substrate. Unless of course your using paper towels. Maybe it go dragged into the waterbowl and broke down that way? I can't say for certain any of that happened, I always grab sheds out of tanks as soon as I see them.

I think its very unlikely your snake ate its shed. But hey, anything is possible.

I do use paper towel, but I do have some sphagnum moss in there too to keep the humidity up since I have a large tank and a mesh top (that I cover with a towel also to keep the humidity up). So I have no idea where it went, since that one time I've always seen her shed skin and it's always around the same spot (where the sphagnum moss is), so I don't know where that one time the shed skin went lol

Did someone else remove it? If you are moving, chances are other people are in the house whether they live with you or are just helping you move. Someone else might have seen it and thought it would be cool to keep.

Star

Nooo everyone else is too scared of her, they wouldn't even go near her cage it's crazy. They think that she's gonna get out in the middle of the night and eat the dog or something lol. BP's are so misunderstood.

While I was moving her cage with my bf, we had to remove the mesh top, he FLIPPED OUT because she stuck her head out LOL!

Is it possible that it just got buried in the sphagnum moss or something? I know my snakes will push around their shed skin to get it out of the way if I don't remove it. Maybe she pushed it underneath something in the cage? I've never heard of a snake eating a shed, and I doubt that she was that hungry from missing 2 meals (2 weeks) that she'd feel the need to eat her skin, but you never know. Weird things happen.

Ohhh you know what that's prob what happened, I changed her sphagnum moss a few weeks after I couldn't find her shed but didn't dig through it or anything.

Thanks all :)

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Originally Posted by Eversolulu

While I was moving her cage with my bf, we had to remove the mesh top, he FLIPPED OUT because she stuck her head out LOL!

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He will improve with time, he just needs repeat exposure.
After a while he will stop flipping out.....

Harry

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Originally Posted by Old Sloppy

He will improve with time, he just needs repeat exposure.
After a while he will stop flipping out.....

Harry

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I really hope so! Since she is a huge part of my life and all lol

I have two ball pythons in the same cage, last night my het albino was in the shedding process so i let her be and went to bed. I went to school this morning and when i got home she was shed and the skin was no where to be found. I shifted all the coconut husk to see if it was buried under, and took all the hide spots out. My conclusion is they do eat their own skin, due to the fact my parents wont even open the cage let alone take the shed skin out. I am very surprised because they usually shed in one big piece and I searched the tank everywhere for it and it didn't turn up.

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Originally Posted by Eversolulu

I was moving and my girls is ALWAYS hungry, so I didn't feed her for about 2 weeks after she shed and I remember seeing her shed skin right after she did it while giving her more water, but did not have time to feed her because I was moving, and the next time I was feeding her, her shed skin was gone! Could she have eaten it because she was THAT hungry?? I didn't realize that she was going to be that desperate for food :(

She's almost a year old and sheds regularly, is this normal? Or did I just wait too long to feed her? I fed her right before her eyes turned cloudy.

Also, does anyone know how much a female BP is supposed to weigh at a year?

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Snakes don't typically eat their own shed... It's very abnormal, no matter how hungry they are.
2 weeks is nothing. Snakes can go up to a year without eating.
All snakes grow at their own pace. There is no set average. I have a 10 month old female sitting at 1400 grams. I also have another 10 month old female weighing 500 grams. One male is well over a year and only 400 grams. They all grow differently. As long as your snake looks healthy and has nice muscle tone, I wouldn't worry about 'what's normal and what's not'.

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Originally Posted by kali2011

I have two ball pythons in the same cage.

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Housing multiple BPs in a single enclosure isn't recommended for non-experienced keepers. Just be aware of the consequences of housing two non breeding ball pythons together.


EDIT: WOW...did not notice how old this thread is...

Zombie Thread!!!

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Originally Posted by kali2011

I have two ball pythons in the same cage, last night my het albino was in the shedding process so i let her be and went to bed. I went to school this morning and when i got home she was shed and the skin was no where to be found. I shifted all the coconut husk to see if it was buried under, and took all the hide spots out. My conclusion is they do eat their own skin, due to the fact my parents wont even open the cage let alone take the shed skin out. I am very surprised because they usually shed in one big piece and I searched the tank everywhere for it and it didn't turn up.

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Are you sure she actually shed? after they turn blue, they actually return to normal looking a few days before they shed. My guess is that you will find a shed in a few days, make sure that the humidity in the cage is above 60%

Also it is strongly recommended not to house 2 snakes in the same cage... here's why:

1) Cannibalism, not common, but there are DOCUMENTED cases. This alone isn't worth the risk.
2) Stress. Even the most friendly snakes get stressed out, so why cause the stress? Snakes have no want or need to be with another snake unless it's for breeding purposes. Other than that, it's just an unwanted roommate that they can't get away from.
3) Space. They will constantly try to dominate eachother for the best spots in the enclosure, even if you have multiple hides, you'll mainly see them together in one spot. People usually see this as "cuddling". It's not cuddling, they are fighting over the best spot.
4) You wake up in the morning after feeding and there's a regurgitated mouse. Which one did it?
5) One gets sick, now both are sick. That's 2X the vet bills, 2X the medications, and 2X the stress.
6) You are told the new snake you bought is the same sex as the one you already have. a year later, you find eggs in the enclosure. You have not prepared, no incubator, no space for babies, and no one to sell them to. What do you do now? The pet store/vet/person sexed them wrong.
7) Quarantine. How are you going to quarantine the new snake away from your original one? As you gain more experience, you'll find that quarantine is a NECESSITY. You could get a perfectly healthy snake, or one covered in mite eggs that hatch 3 days after you bring it home. Now both snakes have mites. Snakes also can take a long time to start showing symptoms of illness, now you got your original snake sick because you didn't quarantine.

Those are just the more known and common issues with housing multiple reptiles. The list goes on. The only pro to housing them together is to save space in your house by only having one enclosure, but is it worth it? That is up to you. People that say "I house two together and they are fine", they are fine now but with them being housed together there is NO guarantee it will stay that way forever. The only way to avoid future issues is to house them separately.

Checkout these 2 threads:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

Welcome to the site.

Hey okay so I have the same question
my snake was dull in colour and her eyes were cloudy and blue and I know these are all signs of a shed. And I woke up this morning and her colour was shiny and bright and Her eyes were normal. Yet I checked her entire cage and no skin. I know for a fake her eyes were blue and cloudy cause I took a picture and nobody removed the skin. The only conclusion I can think of is she ate it. But that's so weird. I don't understand

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Originally Posted by Megz

Hey okay so I have the same question
my snake was dull in colour and her eyes were cloudy and blue and I know these are all signs of a shed. And I woke up this morning and her colour was shiny and bright and Her eyes were normal. Yet I checked her entire cage and no skin. I know for a fake her eyes were blue and cloudy cause I took a picture and nobody removed the skin. The only conclusion I can think of is she ate it. But that's so weird. I don't understand

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The snake hasn't shed yet. It will in the next day or two. During a shed cycle, a snake will turn cloudy and blue, then clear up. Then it will shed soon after.
You think your snake looks good now. Just wait till it really sheds. They are gorgeous when freshly shed.

Thanks so much :)