Questions About Shedding

[cron14]

Hi all. I have some questions about shedding when it comes to bps and western hognose. Let’s start with my nearly 4 year old BP:
He went on his longest fast this year of 8 months. He shed on March 13th and took his first meal last week since September. His shed on March 13th was horrible, nearly all of it was stuck. I have a digital temp/hydrometer with a probe and one of those accurite remote thermometer in my bps T-8. At the time of the shed, the probe thermometer read 70% humidity. Could it be that it was too high? Also, it looks like he’s going into shed again now. His eyes are a bit cloudy and his colors look duller than usual. Is that normal after taking their first meal in a while?

Similar question for the hognose except she just shed 12 days ago. It was a perfect shed and she took her first adult mouse the day she shed. She usually is a great eater except when she’s going into shed. I’ve offered twice since her last feeding and she refused. She’s been hiding a lot which is her normal shedding behavior and her colors look a bit dull too. Is it possible she’s going into shed again in such a short period of time? Last weigh in for her was middle of April and she weighed 158 grams to give you an idea.

All heat sources are regulated by a herpstat 2. BPs ambient are usually between 78-82 and my western hognose ambients are usually 75-78. Hotspots are in the desired range. Thanks all for any responses!

[Bogertophis]

I am guessing that the long fast your BP did meant that his nutritional reserve was a bit low when he shed. Your humidity was not too high, & if
you notice a snake having a difficult shed, it's good to give them some soak-time in shallow lukewarm water with supervision. Shallow means the
water is NOT deep enough to where he is submerged or swimming...you want about halfway up his widest part, roughly.

I am concerned that after one meal, he is going into shed again: that suggests his body is trying to heal from something. Does he have any injuries?
What about mites???? Look VERY closely on him, in his cage, in his water, on his shed...they are tiny, hard to see, hide under scales (like on the chin)

If he gives you a stool sample (& assuming you find no mites as the issue) I'd take the FRESH stool to a vet to examine it. It must be fresh...

Hognose: how big is this snake? -to be eating an ADULT mouse? If a snake has an overly large meal, they may go into another shed soon...but also,
if one snake has mites or is ill, it's possible the other is also affected. Are their cages near each other? I assume neither is "quarantined" from the
other? And are these your only snakes (or lizards)?

[cron14]

I am guessing that the long fast your BP did meant that his nutritional reserve was a bit low when he shed. Your humidity was not too high, & if
you notice a snake having a difficult shed, it's good to give them some soak-time in shallow lukewarm water with supervision. Shallow means the
water is NOT deep enough to where he is submerged or swimming...you want about halfway up his widest part, roughly.

I am concerned that after one meal, he is going into shed again: that suggests his body is trying to heal from something. Does he have any injuries?
What about mites???? Look VERY closely on him, in his cage, in his water, on his shed...they are tiny, hard to see, hide under scales (like on the chin)

If he gives you a stool sample (& assuming you find no mites as the issue) I'd take the FRESH stool to a vet to examine it. It must be fresh...

Hognose: how big is this snake? -to be eating an ADULT mouse? If a snake has an overly large meal, they may go into another shed soon...but also,
if one snake has mites or is ill, it's possible the other is also affected. Are their cages near each other? I assume neither is "quarantined" from the
other? And are these your only snakes (or lizards)?

Thank you for the reply. After my bps bad shed I did give him a shallow soak and also let him “run” through a wet paper towel in my hand. Neither of these showed any signs of mites but I will take a closer look. I do feed live because he doesn’t take f/t but always watch and then give him a look over once he’s done eating. I’ve seen no signs of injuries but again, I will triple check.

For my western hognose, I use the term “adult” a little loosely. She ate a f/t mouse a bit bigger than a hopper so I just said adult because I’m unfamiliar with the actual name of that size. She’s 158 g and I’d say close to two feet. I’ve seen no signs of mites on her either but will triple check. Her tub sits directly above the t-8 so if I did have mites, it would definitely be able to spread unfortunately.

I do have a crested gecko gecko in a bioactive setup whose having no issues. I use hand sanitizer every time I go into any of my animals enclosure just to be safe. For my western hognose, I am thinking that maybe it was a bigger meal and she‘ just wasn’t used to it. She deficated on her “normal” schedule afterword.

I will definitely be checking for signs of mites in all my enclosures. I know that just because I haven’t seen any doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

edit: at the risk of sounding stupid, can live rats transmit mites? I’m assuming yes but just want to be sure.

[Bogertophis]

Rodents can carry their own mites, but they aren't the same as what snakes get & they won't bother your snake. (rodent mites might like YOU though)

It's far more likely that your snakes has sustained a rodent bite that you didn't notice. When a snake constricts a rodent, they can often turn just enough
to fight back & bite the snake...even though the snake "wins", they can sustain injuries that result in infections that are hard to treat or potentially fatal.
Even just a small bite wound can trigger extra sheds- that's the snake's body, trying to make repairs. I highly recommend you do your best to switch your
snake to eating dead prey...even if you have to kill it fresh, then offer. It's much easier to KEEP snakes healthy, than to make them well again once they
are injured or sick. And vet care also impactd your finances.

[Russtix]

Ive had great luck with stunning/pre-killing. I dangle with some long tongs and do a little mousie dance if necessary, seems to work everytime. Mine are all youger though, idk how willing ill be to tong feed as adults

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[cron14]

Rodents can carry their own mites, but they aren't the same as what snakes get & they won't bother your snake. (rodent mites might like YOU though)

It's far more likely that your snakes has sustained a rodent bite that you didn't notice. When a snake constricts a rodent, they can often turn just enough
to fight back & bite the snake...even though the snake "wins", they can sustain injuries that result in infections that are hard to treat or potentially fatal.
Even just a small bite wound can trigger extra sheds- that's the snake's body, trying to make repairs. I highly recommend you do your best to switch your
snake to eating dead prey...even if you have to kill it fresh, then offer. It's much easier to KEEP snakes healthy, than to make them well again once they
are injured or sick. And vet care also impactd your finances.

Ive had great luck with stunning/pre-killing. I dangle with some long tongs and do a little mousie dance if necessary, seems to work everytime. Mine are all youger though, idk how willing ill be to tong feed as adults

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Im going to give him a good look over tonight to see if I might have missed something. The reason I haven’t switched to prekilled is I don’t really have any means of “humanely” killing the rodent. I wouldn’t be comfortable bopping the rodent over the head a few times.

[Bogertophis]

Im going to give him a good look over tonight to see if I might have missed something. The reason I haven’t switched to prekilled is I don’t really have any means of “humanely” killing the rodent. I wouldn’t be comfortable bopping the rodent over the head a few times.

Nor would I be comfortable "bopping" rodents, as that is NOT a sure thing or humane. Google (search) humane CO2 (carbon dioxide) euthanasia for rodents,
you can do this at home pretty easily. There are variations using different easily available materials like vinegar & baking soda, & some sites are talking about
feeders, while others are more elaborate instructions for pets, so you might want to look over several sites. (there might also be a 'sticky' on this forum???)

[cron14]

Nor would I be comfortable "bopping" rodents, as that is NOT a sure thing or humane. Google (search) humane CO2 (carbon dioxide) euthanasia for rodents,
you can do this at home pretty easily. There are variations using different easily available materials like vinegar & baking soda, & some sites are talking about
feeders, while others are more elaborate instructions for pets, so you might want to look over several sites. (there might also be a 'sticky' on this forum???)

Again this may sound stupid but I’ve read that euthanizing a rodent and feeding it immediately to a bp can have adverse effects because the concentration of CO2 has not fully dissipated yet. Is there any truth to that?

[Bogertophis]

Again this may sound stupid but I’ve read that euthanizing a rodent and feeding it immediately to a bp can have adverse effects because the concentration of CO2 has not fully dissipated yet. Is there any truth to that?

Nope...all creatures (including snakes, rodents, & humans) exhale CO2 (carbon dioxide). It's rather hard to avoid, lol. The amount in a rodent is negligible.
If that were truly an "issue", you'd better not breathe near your snake, because YOU exhale FAR more CO2 than a rodent ever could.

Just make sure the rodent is fully deceased, what you DON'T want is for the rodent to wake up.