First shed question?

[DumerilDembe]

Our baby just had her first shed since we brought her home. We have had Dembe for 2 weeks. Hatch date 7/21/18. Not sure how many sheds she has had before. Last night I had her out for 2 hours and there were no signs that she was going to shed. This morning we woke up to shed everywhere.
Will her sheds become better with age? If she shows no signs how do we know? My biggest question is that today is feeding day....Do I try to feed her?I was told she may not eat when shedding but I dont want her to be hungry. Thanks for your help.

[Zincubus]

Our baby just had her first shed since we brought her home. We have had Dembe for 2 weeks. Hatch date 7/21/18. Not sure how many sheds she has had before. Last night I had her out for 2 hours and there were no signs that she was going to shed. This morning we woke up to shed everywhere.
Will her sheds become better with age? If she shows no signs how do we know? My biggest question is that today is feeding day....Do I try to feed her?I was told she may not eat when shedding but I dont want her to be hungry. Thanks for your help.

Sounds like it simply wasn't humid enough tbh ..

I have a simple way of dealing with it ..... next time he goes into shed ( usually they hide away completely for days ) then I start increasing the humidity somewhat by spraying the viv well daily ..... then as soon as the eyes clear and the colour returns I start spraying well TWO or even THREE times daily . They then have a perfect shed a few days later ..

As regards feeding .. if it's finished shedding it will probably be ravenous .

How and when are you feeding incidentally?


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[DumerilDembe]

Thank you! She has been hiding in her log all week but she loves that thing and not soaking in her bowl (which we were told she would do) I never noticed her eyes hazy and she let us handle her.

We feed her once a week. 1 live baby mouse in a separate container.We dont want to rapid feed her as we are hoping she doesnt get 10 feet hahaha

Humidity question....I was told with Dumeril's and the fact we live in North Florida where it is always humid, we dont need to worry about humidity in her husbandry. In addition, we were told that the evaporation from her bowl was adequate. We have an undertank heater and that is it. She seems happy and healthy. She never has laid on the hot side. Have we been misinformed??

[Bogertophis]

Thank you! She has been hiding in her log all week but she loves that thing and not soaking in her bowl (which we were told she would do) I never noticed her eyes hazy and she let us handle her.

We feed her once a week. 1 live baby mouse in a separate container.We dont want to rapid feed her as we are hoping she doesnt get 10 feet hahaha

Humidity question....I was told with Dumeril's and the fact we live in North Florida where it is always humid, we dont need to worry about humidity in her husbandry. In addition, we were told that the evaporation from her bowl was adequate. We have an undertank heater and that is it. She seems happy and healthy. She never has laid on the hot side. Have we been misinformed??

Hiding in log all week- yes, that's a tip off; when snakes are cloudy (in the wild) they hide, because they're at a survival disadvantage (worse vision than usual).
Keep in mind that most of our snakes NEED a snug hide on both the cool & the warm sides of the cage for them to feel secure & do well...so you may need to add?
Also, they'll use an open-ended "log" if that's all they have, but snakes prefer hides with one doorway only (not overly large) & of a size that they feel snug in (so they
typically need larger ones as they grow). For snakes, it's the opposite of homes we admire in magazines, with big dramatic doorways & high ceilings...

Never noticed eyes hazy: a snake's body secretes some moisture between the old & new skin layers shortly before & to help the old skin come off, so when that happens,
we say they've 'gone clear' because while they looked cloudy BEFORE that, the skin will become (almost) "clear" (because of the moisture, as with oil or water on paper).
When they've been cloudy, then gone "clear" (appear normal to the untrained eye), we know that their shed is imminent. That's a good time to add humidity if not before.

Feeding: you want to feed prey that is age-appropriate for your snake (in terms of size), & as the snake grows, so should the size of the prey, and the length of time
between feedings should also get somewhat longer, as larger prey takes longer to digest. While it's best not to over-feed a snake (making them over-weight) it is
cruel to deliberately under-feed a snake so it stays "small"...chronic starvation results in very thin (permanently damaged) skin that tears easily & poor health overall.
I'm pretty sure you don't want that... Also, please consider (for the safety of your snake) switching to pre-killed prey only, either frozen-thawed or freshly-killed if you
are up to it. Rats & even mice fight back & can injure snakes causing death, either directly or by injury & infections that don't respond to treatment. Vet bills are
expensive, & feeding live rodents to a pet you love just isn't worth it. Get some long tongs (with rounded ends) to offer food with, so you snake doesn't mistake you
-warm & wiggling - for the prey. Most bites are avoidable (snakes can make mistakes, they don't identify accurately by vision) & feeding bites are the worst.

Handling- while that horse is already out of the barn & I'm glad your snake fed for you, it's best not to handle any new snake until they've settled in & fed at least 3
times easily for you. Just saying...at this point I'd back off & let her be a snake first...there's no rush to "tame" any snake & when they feel more secure in their new
surroundings, they generally are calmer still. Stress in snakes contributes (in a bad way) to the function of their immune system, making them more likely to get sick
from anything they've been recently exposed to...just like in humans. Also, many refuse food when overly stressed.

Humidity: best to judge using a reliable gauge (not the cheapie stick-on kinds, they aren't very accurate & often end up stuck on the snake instead). While Florida is
very humid, the difference is that your snake isn't living outside: the fact that there is heat in the snake's cage as well as heat in your house (in winter, I'm assuming)
causes much of that natural humidity to be lost. Even air conditioning removes humidity...I'm quite sure you don't use a "swamp"/water cooler in Florida.

[Craiga 01453]

First off, welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of snake keeping. Is Dembe named for the character in Blacklist by chance???


I suggest ditching the seperate feeding tub. You're not doing yourself or your snakes any favors there.

Seperate feeding tubs are old-school and proven counter productive over time.
Using a seperate feeding tub can:
A) lead to refusals because the snake is stressed from being moved
B) lead to regurgitation because you're moving/stressing a snake that just ate
C) increase the chance of you getting tagged by an animal in feed mode.

If you're worried about cage aggression/the snake associating opening the enclosure with food, don't be. I have always fed all of my snakes in their enclosures and have never even been struck at INSIDE the enclosure. I've been tagged OUTSIDE the enclosure though.

If you're worried about substrate ingestion, don't be. I've had hundreds upon hundreds of feedings and never an issue. Remember: they eat in the wild, nobody puts them in a clean little box, and they've survived thousands and thousands of years.
If you're worried you can throw a piece of cardboard or paper plate down in the enclosure ahead of feeding time, but I find they drag the prey off if it the vast majority of the time anyway.

VERY IMPORTANT, are you regulating your UTH (heat mat) with a THERMOSTAT?

As for humidity. There's no one right answer. It will vary drastically depending where you live, how you're heating the enclosure, what substrate you're using, how large the water bowl is, size of enclosure, etc....so having an accurate hygrometer is a must.

[DumerilDembe]

Boy, I am overwhelmed. I want to do the best for her but there are alot of different opinions and info out there. Thank you for your information regarding the shedding. This is her first shed with us and I am sure we will get better with time. I am going to check into getting her humidity up and making sure she is happy. As far as feeding, she currently is on once a week feedings but am going to increase or go up in size of prey as needed. I may change to frozen but for now we are doing hoppers. It is my understanding that the size of her feedings should be equivelant to the thickness of her body....am I correct?
Oh and poor baby had her first poop and urea too. She had a rough night

[Bogertophis]

And it goes without saying that we're just here to help you & your snake have the best experience....so if you need clarification of anything, just ask.
(We were all new snake-keepers at one time, lol...)

And yes, feeders should be roughly the same diameter as the thickest part of a snake's (un-fed) body.

Snakes do defecate, that's normal, not a "rough night"...only for us, doing clean-up. I suspect your snake feels better now.

Feeders: as far as rats or mice, when their eyes are still closed ("pinkies" or "fuzzies") they do not bite back. When their eyes are
open (from "hoppers" on up) they do bite, just so you know.

[DumerilDembe]

Thank you for your information. Yes, Dembe is named after Blacklist and after finding out the meaning is "peace". We didnt know what sex it was and still are unsure but 99% sure it is a female.

We do not have a thermostat but after today will be getting one with a humidity gauge. The heat pad is just a low watt pad that takes up 1/6 of her enclosure and has no danger of getting too hot. She always is burrowed on the other side of the tank. We were told no heat lamps were needed bc of her breed. Any thoughts?

[Bogertophis]

Oh, now that she has shed, yes...it's fine to feed her. I'd wait until night-time though, that's more normal for snakes.

You might want to check her over first, though (like now, not right before you feed her), to make sure that all her shed skin has
come off. That's one reason we like to see intact sheds, as snakes can have stuck eye-caps that cause trouble, or they can fail
to shed their chin, head or tail tips...you need to look, gently, & make sure all came off. Tail tips left with only a couple layers
of old shed can cause constriction of the blood supply to the tip & then death of tissue (requiring amputation of the tip).

Sorry to throw so many things at you, it feels overwhelming when you're new but pretty soon, it will be second nature to you, I promise.

Heat lamps: depends on how warm or cool you keep your house...you need to be aware of ambient cage temperatures, and do what you
need to, to replicate what your snakes needs. If you use lots of A/C for example, you might need more than just UTH for heat. Likewise
if you run very little heat (for you) & prefer your house on the cool side in winter. That's why thermostats & getting accurate readings for
both temperature & humidity are important...our snakes need different things than we do, they cannot make their own body heat, and be-
cause they're stuck in a cage, their ability to thermo-regulate depends on us providing them the means to do so. We are typically 98.6*
so we want different things from our homes than they do.

[DumerilDembe]

is it ok to pull off the shed that remains on her? She still has quite a bit on her lower half. We have left her alone all day but I would like to help her if I can.