shed skin sperm plugs?

[dr del]

Hi,

My male house snake just shed (literally about 3 hours ago) and when I was inspecting it for spectacles etc I noticed something weird I'd never seen before.








In a previous post someone mentioned that sperm plugs can be seen on a males shed skin but when I checked my male ball python I didn't see a thing. Is it a colubrid only thing or was it because he'd bin "doin the nasty"?

Or am I once again lowering my trousers to talk and these are something else entirely?

Feel free to educate me.

Also since I stepped him up a prey size ( up to 1 half-grown mouse from 2 fuzzy mice) he seems to be growing like a weed!! He has shed once every month since (11th Dec, 10th Jan and now 15th Feb)- should I cut him back to every 10-14 days or just trust it's a growth spurt and won't last forever?


dr del

[speepdaedeesi]

sperm plugs lol.

they are called spurs. they are whats left from evolution of the snakes back legs. you know the lizards that only have back legs? well thats where snakes came from. males AND females both have spurs, and if the shed comes of as nicely as yours did, you can see them in the shedded skin. post some pics of your house snake with his brand new skin!

i dont know if house snakes are the same as garter snakes, but ive seen a garter snake eat a goldfish! anyhoo

feedings up to you, but its been said that keeping them on a diet of more smaller prey items at once as opposed to one large prey item at a time can increse their lifespan...

[dr del]

Ummm,



Colubrids don't have spurs - only some of the pythons. And they don't get shed.

I havn't heard the lifespan thing either - unless your refering to overfeeding shortening lifespan in an animal you allow to become overweight?

House snakes are lovely little african snakes with cat slitted eyes - will try and grab you some pictures while he is still awake.


dr del

[dr del]

Boy was he in a pissy mood.



Here are some pics of him tonight - sorry about the quality. There are a few older pics of him in my gallery as well.









dr del