Feeding while in shed

My BP is deep in shed at the moment, but today would mark her feeding day. Should I even offer her food or would it be better to leave her alone for the week?

Im gone monday to friday as im in military service right now so I could only feed her next Saturday...

Personal experience... between Ball Pythons, a Corn Snake, and a Boa Constrictor, I have never had a refusal (yet) in shed or not

Mine always seem willing to eat

I don't feed snakes during shed.

-Shedding and developing new skin requires energy. If you offer your snakes a large temp gradient and monitor your snakes temp you will notice they choose a warmer than just resting temp about two weeks before shed...they need to rev the engine so to speak. During this two week period they become inactive.
-In all my years of looking at wild snakes I have yet to find a snake in shed hunting for food.
-Snakes are clearly more secretive when entering shed.

-What is gained by feeding in shed? Nothing.
-That being said, I don't think feeding in shed causes harm.

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Originally Posted by Gocntry

Personal experience... between Ball Pythons, a Corn Snake, and a Boa Constrictor, I have never had a refusal (yet) in shed or not

Mine always seem willing to eat

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Let me add to this by saying I do not purposely feed while in shed.

I only offer if they happen to be in shed mode on their normal scheduled feeding day, which doesn't happen all the time.

Well my Royals never eat in shed .. Corn snakes don’t show interest either .. the Kings sometimes show interest but can’t see it to grab it so get angry or nervous :)


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I fed my ball python during shed when he was young but as an adult I wait till he's done shedding.

I think there is no harm in feeding or skipping feeding when a snake is in blue. The main thing to consider would be that some snakes will refuse food when in shed, so if you don't have any other snakes to eat potential refusals you may want to wait until the snake finishes shedding. Going a few days longer without food will do absolutely no harm to a healthy snake.

I leave mine while in shed after a refusal while young so now I don't bother till she's got her new paint job

I don't purposely feed any snakes in shed. Sometimes by accident when they've been hiding & I didn't realize until offered & they've grabbed it.

If I know a snake is in shed, I avoid feeding: some take it, some don't; most shed O.K. anyway, but some DON'T...because both digestion & shedding use up more
water in the snake's body to accomplish, and I've seen one of 2 things happen (or both) IF the snake for any reason is under-hydrated: they may barf up the rodent
after accepting it (so then it's trash) and/or they have trouble shedding because their body's hydration was insufficient to do both at the same time, so the shed gets
stuck & comes off in a million pieces. When sheds get stuck, you also have to worry about eye-caps getting stuck...just saying. So to me, this scene is best avoided.

Just remember that snakes are "designed" to fast, and in the wild they do NOT eat when in shed. :rolleyes: They lay low because poor vision (& other senses dulled) puts
them at risk.

It varies it's really a case by case thing some animals will eat like clockwork regardless of shed even in the deepest blue stage, and some won't.

I always offer to an animal in blue at least twice to gauge their reaction and if they eat they always get offered when in shed and if they refuse they never get offered again when in shed.

A late feeding won't hurt the snake. Well, you won't get to handle her when you get back after feeding.

Any Swiss spent brass you find laying around :please: I can find it a home:D

Stay safe!

Another one here that does not feed in shed.

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Originally Posted by cMoonrise

My BP is deep in shed at the moment, but today would mark her feeding day. Should I even offer her food or would it be better to leave her alone for the week?

Im gone monday to friday as im in military service right now so I could only feed her next Saturday...

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So as I said before, leave her alone (w/ good humidity & full water bowl) & don't give it any worry, & btw :welcome:

If you have another snake who can take the meal, sure, why not try? For my snakes, I usually don't because they showed no interest, that was all (ie hiding on feeding day). Sometimes I feed my king during her shed just because I knew she would take it and I had another snake who refused due to shedding. Either way, the mouse/rat is already dead so it would either become food for the snake or food for the outside wildlife.