Question with shedding- I know another shed thread?! Lol

I'm curious on what signs your BP gives you when he/she is about to shed? I feed my BP once a week, usually on Friday but I forgot to take rat out of freezer on Thursday so I was going feed him this morning. Well I open his cage and he (no clue if it's a he) is just laying there in his pretzel shape. I figured he was being like my gf and being stubborn and wanted to sleep longer. Well I was running my fingers on him and then was holding him and he still didn't want to get out of his pretzel shape. I put him in his feeding bin with mouse and he is ignoring it and just went back tightly in his pretzel. He hasn't shed for sometime now, and I know he is hungry because once a week feeding he memorized the day and if I'm late oh does he get nasty when is feed time. His color is good looking, black could be brighter but otherwise he looks normal. So I'm clueless if or when he's about to shed, and should I just put the mouse back in bag and put in fridge and wait till tomorrow to feed?

Sounds like to me that he is ready for a shed

I put him back to his home lol and of course he wakes up out of his pretzel. So I went back in to get him and this time he did a hiss at me, and now still ignoring mouse. Think I might freeze mouse again and just spray his home down with warm water to help with his shed?

I wouldnt refreeze mouse now that u have defrosted it, u dont want to give him a tummy bug, yeah just increase humidity and leave him be unless he needs help

Ok, so just put in fridge you think? Or throw it out?

I sprayed his tank down and now he is very active, after looking at him more I can see one eye his hazy as in old skin getting ready to shed, but since he's active should I try and feed again or leave him be?

Throw it out...I know it expensive but its better to be safe. I would just leave him be...u will know when he is hungry :)

What is he called by the way?

You know, out of all my pets I never named him lol. I need to now think of a name!

Yeah what u gonna name him? My bp is a female and she is called tandra

Well my first problem is, I need to find out if my BP is male or female lol.

Unless u pick a name which is unisex...even if my bp was a male I would call it tandra lol

Yea I most likely will pick a unisex name lol, figured why my BP wasn't eating, he had to apparently take a massive crap, which he just did and as soon as I went in to clean I had mouse and he grabbed it lol.

Oh right! Haha! Glad its sorted then lol

I named mine Layla not knowing if it's a she or he. Y does it matter if u don't plan on breeding? Just my two cents.

I dont think it matters, like I said, I would name mine tandra regardless. Layla is a lovely name :)

There is no reason to feed f/t in a different bin or tub. Feed the snake in its home and you will reduce stress on the snake and you. Cage aggression is a myth and moving a snake in feed mode only increases your odds of getting tagged. Don't believe me then do a search here and see what the more advanced keepers do.

As far as the shed the belly should be getting pink or be pink if a shed is just beginning. It should be pink before the eyes get foggy. After it gets pink then the snake will enter the blue phase and get the cloudy look to it. Then that will clear and the snake will shed a short time later.

I never refreeze a rat that has been thawed longer than an hour. The rat you have should be tossed. I thaw mine in water because it is much faster and better than having 8-10 rats sitting around thawing out. I don't think the wife would like that. When they are thawed and warmed properly I use tongs to dangle the rats into the snakes cage.

I dont feed mine in a different enclosure either. She knows the difference.

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Originally Posted by dw83uk

I dont feed mine in a different enclosure either. She knows the difference.

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The OP does.

Huh op?

Every once in awhile I do feed the snake in different enclosure because I'll do a whole cage cleaning (remove bedding, clean hides, clean water bowls) but I think I'm going change everything up and now do tank cleanings after feelings so I'll feed in his tank. Thanks for identify with the shedding on the belly, I'll have to give him a look to see!

This name picking is so hard! Lol my other hobbies besides pets are trucks/cars and shooting (guns) so I'm trying get a name from that lol. I was thinking possibly Ruger but trying think of others.

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Originally Posted by dw83uk

Huh op?

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Original Poster

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Originally Posted by EWC88

Every once in awhile I do feed the snake in different enclosure because I'll do a whole cage cleaning (remove bedding, clean hides, clean water bowls) but I think I'm going change everything up and now do tank cleanings after feelings so I'll feed in his tank. Thanks for identify with the shedding on the belly, I'll have to give him a look to see!

This name picking is so hard! Lol my other hobbies besides pets are trucks/cars and shooting (guns) so I'm trying get a name from that lol. I was thinking possibly Ruger but trying think of others.

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Good deal. Doing a full cleaning could add to stress or make your snake want to investigate and explore because things may be different. I always try to do my cleaning a day or two before feed night.

You also mentioned feeding in the morning. I have always had the best luck feeding in the dark at night.

BTW, my snakes don't have names...never have.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Original Poster



Good deal. Doing a full cleaning could add to stress or make your snake want to investigate and explore because things may be different. I always try to do my cleaning a day or two before feed night.

You also mentioned feeding in the morning. I have always had the best luck feeding in the dark at night.

BTW, my snakes don't have names...never have.

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That's exactly why I would clean during feeding so that way when he came back to his "home" things maybe a little different so he would investigate and explore so I thought it be fun, but I can see how it'll stress him. I will also try the feeding at night part, he is more active at night obviously so I'll do that.

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Originally Posted by EWC88

That's exactly why I would clean during feeding so that way when he came back to his "home" things maybe a little different so he would investigate and explore so I thought it be fun, but I can see how it'll stress him. I will also try the feeding at night part, he is more active at night obviously so I'll do that.

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The best thing for a snake that just ate is to retreat to its warm hide to digest in peace. If a snake gets to stressed or feels like it may need to evade predator it can regurgitate the meal which will be super nasty and can be very problematic.

Awesome good to know, I'll clean and all after or before feeding. Question, how often should I change his Aspen bedding?

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Originally Posted by EWC88

Awesome good to know, I'll clean and all after or before feeding. Question, how often should I change his Aspen bedding?

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I have never used aspen but I will tell you what I do with cypress.

Any time my snake releases waste I remove all the substrate on, under, and around it and remove it all. I then clean the bottom of the tank and replace the lost substrate with fresh. I take a good amount each time so its kinda like a revolving substrate cycle. It is constantly being tossed and replaced but I hardly even throw it all away at one time. This is in a 40 gallon tank with substrate as deep as 2-3 inches since I have real plants in it.

Now in my tubs I will toss the entire amount when I clean them after being soiled. They hold far less and they have blood pythons in them which release an amazing amount when the decided to go.

Wow live plants in your tank? That's awesome! I'm going have to search for pics of your setup! I'll do how you do it with changing and cleaning the area and replacing, I was just tossing all of it away and going through it pretty fast lol.

New plants after the old ones grew to big.
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...ps06922179.jpg

Hognose tank.
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...psb091e4c4.jpg

Older pic.
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...psa5797386.jpg

GTP
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...024_115037.jpg

Wow that looks awesome!

That looks great, what live plants would u recommend?

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Originally Posted by dw83uk

That looks great, what live plants would u recommend?

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My local Petco has them. They have both tropical and arid plants but I don't know what kind they are.

Im from UK, I guess it would have to be garden center for me.

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Originally Posted by dw83uk

Im from UK, I guess it would have to be garden center for me.

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Sorry I didn't notice.

No worries :)