First shed impending

Baby's eyes went blue yesterday so we've introduced a humid hide (plastic container with entrance hole and dampish paper towels in it). We are pushing the humidity up to 70% until she sheds. Couple of questions if you don't mind...

1) is there anything else we need to be doing?

2) tommorrow (Monday) is her feeding day....we are going to try to feed her as usual at 10 p.m....any reason we should not attempt a feeding when her eyes are blue like this?

I figure she'll eat if she wants to but is feeding a snake going into shed considered stressing her? Just wanted to check as we've only had her 2 weeks and I don't want to set anything back as far as stressing the snake since she seems to be settling in so nicely.

Thanks as always for the great advice!


~~Joanna~~

1. Nothing that I can think of. Actually, with a humid hide I would not worry about adjusting the overall humidity. My humidity stays at about 55% all the time and I only put humid hides in at shed time and have always had perfect sheds. Just avoid any handling and moving around as much as possible. Snakes kinda feel 'open to attack' during shed so they can get stressed out pretty easy.

2. I would just go ahead and skip a feeding if the eyes are still blue. Most likely she will not take it anyways. I usually just wait until after the shed is done to feed, but I have fed several times during shed when the eyes clear just to keep on schedule. The shedding process generally takes about 6-7 days. The eyes will be blue for 4-5 days, then they clear up and 2-3 days later the snake sheds. Good luck with the first shed.

Can't hurt to bump up the humidity though. Not all snakes (mine included) will use humid hides, so you have to rely on upped overall humidity to help with the shed. Good luck!

Since she's being kept in a tub, you could probably fill her water bowl a little bit more and the humidity will raise itself, LoL.

Humid hides are easy though, I made one out of a 7-Layer Dip container :) You cut a hole in the side big enough for the snake to get in the container, put moist paper towels on the bottom, put the lid on and place the whole container on the warm side. Instant snakey sauna :) Even if it doesn't look like she will use it, you may not just see her go in it. When I had one in for Amani, she loved that thing, but now she doesn't fit in it anymore, fatty boombalatty.

You can always try to feed during shed, won't hurt anything. I always offer, and it always gets eaten(except for that one time when she was in shed, blue eyes and everything, PLUS we moved her to my house-just slightly stressed out, LoL). She ate right after she shed though, so no biggie.

Well anyway, if the humidity is around 65% or so, or she has a humid hide to go into, then everything should be fine. Make sure she has something rough to rub on(the clay pot bottoms should be enough), but if you have a flat stepping stone or something, those work well also(baked in the oven of course) :). Hope that helps a bit.

Not really advice for the snake, but you guys - just relax. Don't worry too much. I know that you will anyway ;) You'll do just fine! You've got all the bases covered, just got to let baby do his thing. I know lily gets super lazy during shed, so don't worry if baby seems lethargic. I always just peek every other day to make sure everything is fine. Good luck!

Tupperware container + humid hide = you probably dont need to worry about it too much.

I've seen snakes that feed normally even in shed periods. I've also seen snakes that won't eat the week prior, after, and anywhere in between. Might not hurt to try this time to see what kind of individual snake that you have. Each snake is different so its hard to generalize.

Guess what?!?!?! I've got an impending first shed for Dandylion coming up. I went to check on him/her tonight because he hasn't been active, and what do I find....blue eyes! Wow! I hope this one goes better that his last one, but I doubt it since he's only been with me for 1 week. I guess I'll be soaking soon. At least I know I can do it. Hope everything is going well for you guys and baby!

We've seen Baby in the humid hide when we first put it in (on the warm side). She/he seems to have to investigate anything new immediately so it's there and been checked out LOL.

We have a nice roughish rock hide which Baby adores and uses daily for the "mid-afternoon, early evening, I-don't-feel-like-laying-in-either-of-my-hides" hanging out spot. Wish I had a cam as last night Baby curled under the rock hide (which she is far too big to totally fit under) and then tossed her tail up over the arch. What a position!!!!

On the upside she also deposited a quite lovely poop nearby. So we had urates a couple of days ago, now poop last night, a successful feed last Monday and a shed impending....what a week!!!




~~Joanna~~

I know you have been having such a great week. Congrats! :clap: Have baby's eyes cleared up yet? Can't wait to hear that you've had your first successful shed. You might want to find a nice little frame so you can mount it on your wall. ;)

LoL, this shedding business must be contagious because we have a pink belly over here :)

haha... I got another pink belly today too...