the amazing disappearing shed

In the world of fussy eaters and crazy-making BPs, I think we have the winner. Our pastel BP, Haku, is about 3+ years old. He's in the 800 gram range, a bit over 3' long, and will only eat every 5 - 6 weeks. Period. He'll happily kill something between times, but he won't eat it. And only live prey. The last time he was ready to eat, he let us know by trashing his enclosure and overturning his water bowl.

After he fed, he curled up for a long winter's nap. Two weeks after feeding, he left us a large urate. I'm still waiting for the rest of the digestive process to make an appearance and it's been 3 weeks since his feeding. About 4 days ago, I noticed that he'd gone quite milky and his eyes were totally clouded, so I let him be and upped the humidity in the enclosure a bit since his last shed was incomplete and it took 2 baths to get the last of it off.

This morning, I checked in on him. He was shiny and beautiful and very frisky . . . and there's absolutely no sign of his shed anywhere. Nada.

Has anyone else had this happen? Can a shed be reabsorbed???

My BP, one of my Boas, and one of my Carpets have experienced this oddity at least once.

My first thought would be that it just cleared up and hasn't actually shed yet, but I have no sure idea.

Wait another day or so and check again.

When my snakes (Adults) have done this they just skipped the sheds entirely. They didn't shed for a few months.

Do they eat them?

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Originally Posted by psiam

In the world of fussy eaters and crazy-making BPs, I think we have the winner. Our pastel BP, Haku, is about 3+ years old. He's in the 800 gram range, a bit over 3' long, and will only eat every 5 - 6 weeks. Period. He'll happily kill something between times, but he won't eat it. And only live prey. The last time he was ready to eat, he let us know by trashing his enclosure and overturning his water bowl.

After he fed, he curled up for a long winter's nap. Two weeks after feeding, he left us a large urate. I'm still waiting for the rest of the digestive process to make an appearance and it's been 3 weeks since his feeding. About 4 days ago, I noticed that he'd gone quite milky and his eyes were totally clouded, so I let him be and upped the humidity in the enclosure a bit since his last shed was incomplete and it took 2 baths to get the last of it off.

This morning, I checked in on him. He was shiny and beautiful and very frisky . . . and there's absolutely no sign of his shed anywhere. Nada.

Has anyone else had this happen? Can a shed be reabsorbed???

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They usually do clear up for a couple days after going through blue before they shed. Totally normal

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I have a smaller male that did this but it was just a shed like 2 weeks after he was blue.

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Originally Posted by distaff

Do they eat them?

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No they do not.

I would say keep your humidity up as a shed will still probably be coming. I have had a couple of snakes do this to me and i came back a week later and there is a shed. The first time this happened to me i just brushed it off and stopped adding xtra humidity. A week later i had one badly shed animal. I haven't let my guard down since. :)

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Originally Posted by Izzys Keeper

They usually do clear up for a couple days after going through blue before they shed. Totally normal

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^ This ^

Well, he surprised me by shedding about half his skin and utterly trashing his enclosure overnight the night after my original post (I never got pinged on any replies, but thanks, guys!). He's still shedding in bits and pieces, so I've kept the humidity up. He's been active ever since. His eyes are clear, so at least we've got that going on.

He also finally pooped!

Honestly, I wasn't this much of a worried parent when my son was little. LOL