beginner question on feeding and shedding

[rhema]

hello again,
another stupid question from a beginner..

1)Fed my baby yesterday with the normal pre-killed mice. Noticed for the 1st time she swallowed it tail 1st. Is that ok, or should i have interfered.
Took her a while to down it, and i was so worried for her.

2) My earlier post abt the dust like substance on her eyes apparently was the 1st sign of skin shed, and her eyes have turned sky blue..an awesome sight. Just need a word or two of advice on how i can make it better for her, as well as ;

(i) any feeding variation?
(ii) can i touch her? if not, how long should i let her be?
(iii) any thing i should look out for?
(iv) any thing else i need to know abt skin shed?


Thanks guys!

[daniel1983]

1. Nope that just fine.
2. Personally I dont attempt feeding during shed and just wait until after. Others try feeding during shed, so I guess the option is up to you. You should handle as little as possible during shed. Most snakes are easily stressed when in shed,so wait until she is finished. The whole process usually takes about a week. After 3-4 days, her eyes will clear and she will shed a few days later. Be sure to increase the humidity to between 70-80%.

[frankykeno]

We feed every Monday evening, shed or not, so far our snake feeds during shed just as well as any other time but every snake is different.

We up the humidity to 70% but also add in a humid hide on the warm side. It's just a big margarine container with an entry hole cut out of it (check that the plastic isn't sharp) and a nice layer of dampish paper towels in the bottom (check daily). Our snake uses the humid hide a lot during shedding.

If the shed doesn't come off complete there's tons of threads here about how to help your snake with any retained shed or just ask (as we did with our first shed which wasn't great....next one with the addition of the humid hide went perfect).

We don't handle much during the shedding process either.

[lil_southern]

i havent had my baby long, it will be a month on the first. she had problems with her shead right before i got her. she had a eye cap on one eye untill yesterday! and lots of loose skin on her neck. I got it all off by soaking her and rubbing her with a warm wet washrag(she loved it) and now shes sheading again with out her eyes clouding over, is this ok??? every day when i get off work i fill up the sink with warm water and she will set in it as long as i stand in there with her then i get a washrag and put it over my hand and hold it in the water, she rubs back and forth over it the only part that is sheading real good is her belly. the rest is slower and her mouth is bothering me. Shes sheading on both sides of her mouth and the loose skin is sticking out. i will keep the rag warm for her and hold my hand under her head and close my fingers lightly around her mouth and she will slowly pull out of my fingers. She seems to know that i am trying to help her and lets me with no problems or stressing over it(least she dont act like its stressing her) we do this on a daily for the past 3 days and when we are done she will put her head on my jaw bone and press up against me and hold her head there for a few min and then i will put her back in the tank. When i come home from work, i will take the screen off her tank and sit down at the computer and she will come out and crawl across the desk to me, i rub her head for a few min and then we soak. she seems to be catching on to patterns in what we do pretty fast. Its really cool. everyone trips over it and wants to know how i "trained" my snake to do that. Its still shocking me but i think she likes it so were not goin to change anything now!

[rhema]

kewl ! i have only gotten my girl for 4 weeks and i still dare not go near her head. Shes kind of sensitive and im still trying to get over the fear of being snapped at, so much so that i wish she will just bite me so tht i can face the fear and get over it ..LOL..
Anyway, if she doesnt shed nicely, i will try tht warm damp rag trick of yrs.
She seems very comfortable when i carry her..lets see it goes

[frankykeno]

One of the tricks here we were told as our snake's first shed didn't go well was to use that humid hide idea and if there is retained shed to put the snake in a plastic container with an amount of tepid water (not overly warm to your touch as snake's are more sensitive to heat than your hand is), the level should be not higher than your snake's back so it doesn't need to swim to keep it's head above the water line, then just put on a lid, put snake in tub on the warm side and leave for 1 hour. Usually after that the skin just comes off easy. If not you can repeat again the next day.

Only other bit of advice and this is just subjective as we all handle our snakes differently but remember that on the whole ball pythons are solitary, nocturnal creatures so your handling time should always be when the snake is ready to be active and to the level of handling that is appropriate for this type of pet and the temperment of your specific snake (taking into account of course leaving the snake alone for a couple of days after feeding to allow for good digestion).

We've found with our snake that she isn't particularily head shy if you move slowly and touch her body first though by Sunday (day before feeding day) she is definitely more reactive to movement near her face though has never struck at us. We just watch her for the "lurking" behaviour (laying in her hides with just her face peeking out rather than tucked up fully inside) and know that she's getting in a mood to feed so adjust how we handle her then.

~~Jo~~

[lil_southern]

Day 5 of a bad shead, What tourcher!!!! I hate when something dont go right with my baby girl. It drives me CRAZY both eyes are caped now.... skin is almost white and real loose. I cant wait for this to be done!!!!