cloudy eyes! my lil guys first shed with me!

[SLACkra]

Hey everybody,

today I went to take a look at my lil guy and his eyes were cloudy so i put him straight back in and gave the enclosure a mist and made sure his water was topped up(though he dosen't touch it ever). i am a bit excited. used ye old search function on the board so i know what to do and how long it will take.

mist the enclosure to increase humidity
provide something rough so he can rub against it to loosen the skin off
it can tanke 3-14 days after cloudy eyes to shed

i can't wait to take a photo of him after he has shed! ever since i have gotten him he has just became darker and darker, soon i get to see his true colours again

Cheers(and thanks again to TrueBlue for this awsome snake)

Andrew

 

[pugsly]

Good to here he is doin well mate, when ya going to get him a girlfriend!? LOL

Be sure to chuch up some pics when he is done, if your lucky enough to catch him shedding its really quite something!

 

[Menagerie]

Yay! I was so excited when my first baby shed for me hope you get to watch it happen

 

[moosenoose]

Gday Andrew, hope to catch you at the APS meet on Friday (hint hint lol)

The snake will also use quite a bit of strength pushing up against the branches etc to get the old skin off, so also ensure there is nothing it can push over and injure itself with :wink:

Cheers,
Luke

 

[steve6610]

made sure his water was topped up(though he dosen't touch it ever).

hi slackra,
trust me when i tell you he does, just might seem like he doesn't,
shedding is one of the great things to watch, and the good thing is that if you miss it this time, you only have to wait a few weeks until the next time,

cheers,
steve.........

 

[SLACkra]

The snake will also use quite a bit of strength pushing up against the branches etc to get the old skin off, so also ensure there is nothing it can push over and injure itself with

there goes his branch. i will boil up anouther brick. there are these bricks with must be old mortor but they are very rough. put one in a week ago, thought it would be good for rubbing up against when shedding.

shedding is one of the great things to watch, and the good thing is that if you miss it this time, you only have to wait a few weeks until the next time,

considering this is his first shed since i got him it's going to be more than a couple weeks lol!

Gday Andrew, hope to catch you at the APS meet on Friday (hint hint lol)

theres going to be an aps meeting? why wasn't I informed lol!?!

 

[zen]

shedding

You didn't mention what species of snake you've got :?:

You may know this already, but after the cloudy phase they become clear again, though remain dull. Then a few days after that they shed.

My pythons invariably use branches with the smallest twigs snapped off. The twig stubs are retained & are used by the snake to push up against when starting the process. They first rub their snouts on the bark of the twig until the skin peels off the snout. Then, with the stub pointing towards them, they hook the skin onto it and it holds fast. Then the whole of the skin is held securely by the twig stub as they crawl forward.

So I recommend putting in small to medium sized Eucalyptus branches held down with secure rocks or interlocked with each other.
I've found that they prefer branches to rocks, as their new skin is very delicate and rocks are generally too rough a surface for them.

My juvenile pythons tend to shed about every month or two, as I try to grow them at about the same rate as they would in the wild.


zen

 

[OuZo]

Yay Andrew! It's so exciting hey! I think I remember putting up a thread veeeeerrrrryyyyyy similar when my first snake had his first shed lol . You won't be able to stop staring at him when he comes out looking all shiny and new...like velvet

 

[SLACkra]

You didn't mention what species of snake you've got

You may know this already, but after the cloudy phase they become clear again, though remain dull. Then a few days after that they shed.

My pythons invariably use branches with the smallest twigs snapped off. The twig stubs are retained & are used by the snake to push up against when starting the process. They first rub their snouts on the bark of the twig until the skin peels off the snout. Then, with the stub pointing towards them, they hook the skin onto it and it holds fast. Then the whole of the skin is held securely by the twig stub as they crawl forward.

So I recommend putting in small to medium sized Eucalyptus branches held down with secure rocks or interlocked with each other.
I've found that they prefer branches to rocks, as their new skin is very delicate and rocks are generally too rough a surface for them.

My juvenile pythons tend to shed about every month or two, as I try to grow them at about the same rate as they would in the wild.


zen

ok cool, i don't want to disturb him atm unless feeding(which is next saturday) so i might miss the clearing of the eyes. how thick would these euk branches be?

andrew

 

[zen]

Hi Andrew,

The size of the branch depends on how big your snake is.

It'd be easier if you just told us what size & species of snake you've got. :?:
Then I'll give you the appropriate branch size needed.


john

 

[SLACkra]

Oh sorry, it's a bredli. maybe 2.5ft maybe 3ft. Eventually one day I will messure him, but I think I will avoid annoying him with a bit of string. He's only a lil fella.

Andrew

 

[zen]

Thanks Andrew,

I'd recommend branches about the thickness of your finger or thumb for a bredli that size.
Just make sure you use bone dry branches, cause they snap cleanly, so the buts are not splintered.
Ensure this is the case. Make sure the buts aren't splintered or fibrous.
You may have to snap alot of twigs until you get the perfect few branches.
But it's worth it when you see how easy it makes shedding for them.

Some people say you should boil the branches vigorously in a pot first, then dry in the sun. This kills all the micro greebies that may be in/on them.
I don't bother doing that though and have never had a problem, but if you want to be go to the extra trouble, then boil and/or bake the branches.


Cheers, john

 

[glacey]

Wouldnt worry about feeding him next Saturday unless he's finished the slough.

 

[SLACkra]

Ok so dead branches then? with lil bits sticking out where smaller branches extened from... i will have to take a look around the yard. probably won't boil them.

Wouldnt worry about feeding him next Saturday unless he's finished the slough.

does it really matter? he will definatley eat it, the lil guy hits those pinkies like a frieght train!

 

[zen]

It matters!

Yep, it definitely matters!

I too strongly advise against feeding a snake just before it sheds.

What can & does happen is that the skin as it's peeling back, get's stuck at the lump caused by the food item. Then it forms a bracelet, effectively preventing the skin from being shed past that point.
So it's intervention time on behalf of the keeper to remove the ring of skin much is often tough to remove, requiring soaking, ripping, cutting etc. to get it off.
All this is very traumatic to the snake especially just after a feed, when you shouldn't be handling them anyway.

Best to avoid the whole situation in the first place by not feeding your snake prior to shedding.
Going without a feed for a few extra days will do no harm at all to your snake.


zen

 

[Jason]

if you are going to feed him just give him a much smaller feed so he doesnt really have a lump, but you could just wait and feed him the day after he sheds.

 

[glacey]

Most snakes will refuse food at this stage anyway - so you'd only be wasting it.

Missing a feed won't hurt him - we tend to overfeed in captivity anyway.

If you ever get to cut open a snake that's been kept in captivity, you'll be amazed at the amount of fat, compared with a wild speciman.

 

[SLACkra]

point taken, no food till the lil guy sheds. oh his eyes were clear today, i took a lil peek(there goes my just leave him alone when hes coming up to a shed policy) and well the eyes are clear! also hes royally in a bad mood. normally he dosen't get that frazlded if i just lift up the box.

andrew

 

[shellshock]

with the feeding i havent heard about not feeding the snake if your snakes eyes have just clouded over it will still be a while before it sheds although you may be there a while because they cant see as well and might miss a few times. As for boiling the branches idont know better safe than soory being a young snake as well as haveing new soft skin at least give them a good scrub

 

[SLACkra]

i gave him his old branch. i took it out becaues it was a pain is the @$$. had to move it to get to the warm end hide box. its back in there with 3 bricks(which have bits of mortor on them which must have been covered in sand)

andrew