Is it not safe to feed a milk snake in shed?

[Redneck_Crow]

My pueblan milk snake is eating but he is in shed, is this normal, or should i stop feeding him because this is unhealthy. If so, why?

OK, this is only my speculation on why some snakes won't eat when they shed, and based on my observation and best guesses only.

Shedding has a greater effect on a snake's physiology than just to make their eyes cloudy. BPs have heat sensing pits on their snouts. These are creatures that hunt at night, and scent and heat sensing have a great deal to do with their ability to find prey, and sight not so much.

I've always known that belly scales turn a little pink on most ball pythons when they shed. Pink means more blood flow is going to the skin in that area. It's normal, and most of us have seen it and know that it's nothing abnormal.

It wasn't until I got my piebald snake that I noticed how much blood flow is getting diverted to the skin. Her white areas turn pink when she's about to shed. My guess that this is happening all over her body, but that I can only see the effect on the white areas. Within a few hours of shed the pink is gone and the white areas are back to plain old white. What this tells me is that when she's shedding a lot of her circulation is being diverted from other areas to get the new skin nourished and ready to replace the old.

So here is my speculation, and it's only a speculation: When blood flow is diverted to preparing the new layer of skin to maturity, some of this blood flow is being diverted from the snake's gastrointestinal tract. Less blood flow = a decreased amount of circulation available to handle digestive processes. My theory is that is why many snakes go off feed when they are in shed--not because they can't see but because they are temporarily less efficient at processing food because some of their blood flow has been diverted to nourish the new layers of skin that are growing and maturing quickly.

Some of my snakes will eat in shed. It's never harmed them. But I can see where less circulation to the gastrointestinal tract could potentially result in a temporary loss of appetite.