Unusual Shed - Young Spotted

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miki_k8

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Hey so I purchased a 6 month old spotted python from a breeder on Monday the 12th of Feb. They said he had shed that morning, and provided a feed (but not shed) record. However, this morning I woke up to him starting to shed again (just around the head). That was 3 hours ago, and he has not progressed any further with the shed.

I have experience with older pythons, but not hatchies, so I am concerned that 12 days is a short period of time to grow enough to shed. The python has smashed 2 pinkie mice (Tuesday 13th, Tuesday 20th) since I got him, and I saw no signs at all of him coming into shed, making it even more unusual. I had checked for mites repeatedly, and there was no bathing in his water bowl (big enough for him to submerge in if necessary) and he ate on Tuesday (yet to defecate).

Additionally, how long should I leave him partially shed? It has been 3 hours since I noticed (just the head), and there has been little/no progress in the actual shedding in that time. In my experience, shedding has always been an active process rather than 3 hours of nothing happening post starting to shed.

Opinions would be great! Thank you :)
 
Perhaps the shed is the last part of what the breeder was talking about. Spotted's are notorious for bad sheds.
 
Thanks for the reply. That's what I was thinking, however he is now fully shedding, 12 hours after having started. Definitely not the best shed, but the second half seems to be coming off in one piece.

Still not entirely sure about the 12 days between sheds, seems a bit short of time. Any experience?
 
I've had my now 14 month old spotted shed like that twice in really quick succession, (think it was 14 days from memory without going and turning my computer on to look) and it was about 8-9 months old at the time and had only had 2 fuzzies since the previous shed.

Has never taken that long to shed though, it literally shed tonight and I watched the entire process from start to finish... 8 minutes.
 
It does seem a short space of time, maybe the breeder thought it was going to shed, but it didn't actually shed.
 
These are not Spotted's but some baby snakes just take a while to get it right, this little albino Darwin started it's shed perfectly from the nose but then took it of nicely in one piece but from the neck which a lot do leaving part of the head. A lot like this other little one take a bath before shedding.
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Young snakes shed very often- my Stimmie grew like a weed and shed 4 times in a span of 5 weeks at his peak.

Always worth double checking for mites or any injuries that may be causing excessive shedding, but if he’s all clean then it’s just a matter of a growth spurt
 
Thanks everyone. I'm thinking it was a growth spurt, and after spilling all the water out of his water bowl overnight (increasing the humidity considerably), he was fully shed this morning.
 
Twice in 12 days is a bit extreme as the process takes around a week to 10 days.
Could be a genuine back to back slough as they do grow quickly as youngsters if well fed. I wouldn't worry too much at this stage but start keeping meticulous details of feeding/shedding so you have plenty of data should it happen again.
 
Unfortunately he refused a feed last night, and the mouse was untouched this morning after being left in his click clack overnight. Going to leave it a week before I try and feed him again.

His freshly shed self appears to be taking on the duller colours of a snake which is preparing to shed, so possibly 3 sheds in a row. It seems a bit extreme, but there is no signs on mites or injuries and he is otherwise active and a happy little snake.
[doublepost=1520056185,1519772224][/doublepost]He started shedding this morning, exactly one week after the last shed. Seems extreme, not entirely sure what to do.
 
@miki_k8 When they were about 8 months old 1 of my Spotties shed 3 times in 12 weeks so i would not worry too much about it. Pinky Mice at 6 months ????? at 6 months my Spotty's were taking hoppers, pinky's at that age are not going to give enough sustenance or calcium all they are is a bag of puss that takes up room in their stomachs, get it onto fuzzies or hoppers as soon as you can so it can attain it's growth potential, or even better get it onto pinky or fuzzy rats, it is amazing how big a food object they can get down for their small stature.

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( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) -ronhalling-
 
3 times in just over 3 weeks, and having only fed twice on pinky mice in that time, I didn't think he would have grown enough to need to shed that many times.
I hadn't even considered food item size. The breeder had him on brained pinkies so I kept going with them, but I will up the size for the next feed.
In terms of his current size, he seems quite small for his age which is why I stuck with pinky mice. But I might move up the food size and see.
Thank you!
 
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