Last piece of shed

[kiiarah]

If it is any help, Shesha's (my pastel) has had his humidity around 70% (sometimes as high as 85%) for about the last 7-9 days. It is common practice to keep the humidity high for the entire shed cycle, which can be as long as two weeks. The fact that he was mid shed when he arrived home with you buys you some additional time. I would say you are safe to keep it high for a couple of weeks. Keep in mind, scale rot is not something that develops from moisture alone but a combination of high moisture and unsanitary conditions. Bacteria thrives in damp, warm areas so that is really the major concern. If the tank is clean, and if you spot clean regularly you should be just fine. If you are worried you can always do a substrate change after a few more days just to be sure. I check my little guy's tank daily and sanitize the entire enclosure once a month, so he is never left in urine or feces for even a day. However, if a person were to keep a snake in high humidity and rarely spot cleaned then that would be a danger.

As for feeding, there is a chance that she will refuse food (in which case you are out a rat, but at least you offered) but also a good chance that she will eat. Snakes are typically very ready to eat after shedding, they expend a lot of energy during the process and are usually eager to feed. In your situation, I would definitely try it and see. I would rather offer and have to throw out a rat, but know she had a chance to eat if she needed to than wait and worry that she is hungry. When you say she is losing weight, how much exactly has she lost? Keep in mind that snakes tend to look strange prior to shedding due to the loose skin. Unless you are measuring with a digital scale, I wouldn't try to judge visually. Signs of an emaciated snake would be loose skin (which of course also occurs prior to shed) and a triangular shape to the body with a very prominent spine. Healthy snakes will still have a slight ridge along their back but it shouldn't be a pronounced edge. Also keep in mind that she is still adjusting to her new home. My little one went into shed very shortly after arriving home, it took me about two weeks to get him to eat well. He took his first pinky rat (which I later learned was too small for him) and pretty much went straight into a shed cycle, during which he refused feedings. After shedding I offered and due to stress of a bad shed that I had to assist him with he refused that week as well. Finally I scented his rat with tuna and tried again and he has been eating like a champ ever since. I can't say if it was the scenting or just giving him time to settle in, but I want to say the record for refusing food was nearly two years and the snake recovered and started eating again. They can go a ridiculous amount of time without food.