Shed watch!

Well, it figures, just Saturday (I think) I posted about how often in general do BP's shed, and today Kashmire's eyes are grayed over (I wouldn't say that they are blue though).

He seemed interested in the live weanling I offered him yesterday, but never struck him, so after about 45 minutes, I took the little guy out and back into his Kritter Keeper.

I noticed when I took Kash out this evening to handle, that he seemed much more lethargic and less curious than normal, so I cut his handling session down to just 5 minutes and put him back in after misting the entire enclosure to bump up the humidity and misted him a little bit.

It makes sense to me that he'd be more cautious when he couldn't see, as he would not in the wild want to draw attention to himself, since he can't see as well.

He's napping inside his warm hide, so, unless he comes out tonight, I doubt I'll offer him food again until after his shed.

I can't wait to see his new "clothes" after his shed. He's so dull right now, and it's fascinating to me how much they change!

How cool! Kash's first shed with you! It is fascinating isn't it.

Our 6 month old Baby will eat during shed (heck that snake would eat during the second coming of you-know-who) but the 18 month old Punkin prefers to be left alone it seems tho we've only gone through the one shed with Punky.

We had the wierdest experience with Baby's last shed. It was feeding night, Baby was in her hide and we knew her eyes had just cleared from being blue so offered the mouse anyways. Out she came with her usual "where the heck is MY mouse" attitude and nailed the mouse. We then noticed she was literally shedding before our eyes. The old skin was a good halfways down her body (she sheds in her hide and leaves a ball). We didn't know if it was okay for her to eat but you don't take a mouse from Baby....that would be a major S.F.E. Well she ate, went back into her hide, wriggled out of her skin and never missed a beat LOL. Baby apparently has not heard the "ball pythons tend to be picky eaters" rumour.

Can't wait to hear how Kashmire's shed goes....*sending good shed vibes your way*


~~Joanna~~

See ;)

(ain't I a stinker) ... LOL :neener:

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

See ;)

(ain't I a stinker) ... LOL :neener:

-adam

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Yup! You told me! I'd say Kashmire was a little stinker too. Don't they always seem to turn around and do exactly what you're worried they aren't doing right after you post about it? LOL

Misted his enclosure again this morning before I left for work. Meanwhile, his appetizer and dinner will be getting fat and happy for his post shed meal! LOL

rabernet, u could always try and feed your BP during shed. i gave it a go when my bp shed and she took the mouse with ease. some wont, but some will.

Yep one of mine eats during shed, the other one doesn't (so far at least).

Baby did that to me too Robin. I waited and waited for her first poop after we got her...no go....I finally post here....Adam responds "she'll poop"....she pooped!

Dang snake set me up :P (Either that or Adam's got some wierd psychic ability I just don't wanna know about!)

~~Joanna~~

Quote:

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Originally Posted by new2BP

rabernet, u could always try and feed your BP during shed. i gave it a go when my bp shed and she took the mouse with ease. some wont, but some will.

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Thanks! I actually did offer him feed on Sunday and although he alerted to it, he never struck it, and I removed it 45 minutes later. My heart kept racing every time it went near his hide and he'd stick his neck out of his hide to check it out.

Rather than stress him out by offering again when he couldn't see last night, I figured I'd wait until after shed (unless he seems like he's more active and looking for food, then I might try to offer again). I'm trying to take up the habits that Adam does, which is offer once a week, if they refuse, they don't get offered again until the following week, and don't stress out about it.

That's what we are doing too Robin, following along with Adam's sytem. We offer Saturday night each week, shed or no shed, if they take it, they take it, if they want their 2nd mouse too, they take it....if not....well there's always next Saturday.

I must say it's far less stressful this way and it seems Baby and Punkin are just thriving on the consistency of this way of doing things (thank you as always Adam).


~~Jo~~

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

(Either that or Adam's got some wierd psychic ability I just don't wanna know about!)

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I am definitely "in touch" with balls! (pythons that is) ;)

(i went through a lot of variations of that statement before hitting submit) :twisted:

-adam

Thank god you did! It was still funny enough to snort coffee through my nose (my personal judgement of what is funny or not :P )


~~Jo~~

Stress, I Always Here That.my Snakes Dont Have Stress.i Bring Them Out 2 Hrs. When The Sun Is Out And 2 Hrs. At Night.they Eat Better Than Me They Get More Exersize Than Me.they Even Have Better Skin Than Me.if You Feel Funny About Feeding Your Snake When Its Sheding Dont!!!!!it Will Not Hurt The Snake To Go A Week Or Two Without Food.just Feed It Right After..its Shed...in The Wild Snakes Would Have Lots Of Stress With Us The Snake Just Wants To Get Out Of Its Tank Once A Day.even Prisoners Get 1 Hr. A Day Of Exersize...plus They Get Out Every Day To Eat....

Oh, he was offered food on Sunday, his regular feeding day and he refused, so what I was talking about with stress is that I didn't want to offer food each day and just stress him out. If he's not interested, he's not interested, plain as that.


I see that you are new here, welcome! A little background about Kashmire is that he is about 3 months old, and I got him about a month ago. He refused pre-killed, live fuzzy, and live small mouse. He finally took a live hopper with Adam's newspaper idea (put balled up newspapers all in his enclosure, put the live hopper in with him and walk away). Thirty minutes later the hopper was gone.

I left him alone for two days, and on the second day I noticed something in his enclosure and posted pictures and everyone agreed that it was re-gurg. Adam again came to Kashmire's "rescue" and said that with no handling, re-gurg "could" be caused by internal parasites and to get him tested. Right on cue, he pooped that night and I bagged the poop, and spritzed it and put it in a plastic baggy in the fridge. Dropped it off the next day to a vet I talked to on the phone and it tested positive for three strongile parasites. That day he was taken to another vet (the first vet had only seen 9 snakes in 30 years of practice, I wanted someone with more experience with herps) and was given his first dose of Panacur. Others here and the vet all said to wait a week to let his electrolytes build back up so that the next feed wouldn't potentially "rot" in his tummy...basically, it needed time to re-build the electrolytes and good bacteria. Offered him two live weanlings (one step up from a hopper) and he ate them with vigor.

This past Sunday was one week since that feed (that he kept down) and this past Thursday he got his second de-worming. This little guy has faced a lot of stress in his short time with me, between acclimating, re-gurging, vet visits and de-worming.

I'll be less stressed about his stress level once I get through all my "firsts" with him. Got through the first feeding, first poop, first vet visit, now I have a first shed.

Thanks for your input! And welcome again!