Feeding sloughing snakes..?

[Pyror]

Would it be ok to attempt to feed a snake that i think is going to slough soon?

By that, i mean if i attempted to feed her and she took the offering would there be any problems if she was about to shed?

Ben.

 

[Guest]

No

 

[lutzd]

Hmmmm not sure if that "no" is in answer to the first question or the second.

In any case, personally, I wouldn't, particularly if it was a large item, as it could make it difficult to slough the skin. ..... but that's just my opinion....

 

[Guest]

I ment the second bit. I fed a Large adult rat to a 4ft Bredli in pre slough, shed 3 hours after feeding, was fine, skin just came off in two pieces

 

[NoOne]

You won't have a problem.

 

[soulweaver]

i prefer to wait until after the snake has shed.....but each to there own.

 

[Tommo]

why risk it? the snake isnt going to starve

 

[Guest]

there is nothing to risk though

 

[soulweaver]

got to take into account that each snake knows there ownselves, if they are going to shed then the snake will refuse...........still prefer not to offer though

 

[lutzd]

I have heard that some people have had to assist their snakes to slough after feeding a very large item. You may very well be right, Baritji, in your case, but it can happen, from what I've read (somewhere????? ).

 

[ad]

I offer food to them pre-slough, only rarely they refuse.
I think it can even help a shed. as Brodie said, they regurlarly shed quicker afterwards.
I dont feed huge items - maybe thats where a problem could occur David.

 

[craig.a.c]

My stimmie has eaten a few times just before sloughing, she had trouble sheding but she allways takes the skin off in pieces (never in one go)

 

[Pyror]

Well thanks for your opinions.

As i mentioned, i am not sure as to whether she is coming up to a shed. Usually i am on the ball with this sort of thing, but i've been diligently studying as of late (Uni exams), and havn't been able to pay as much attention to my herps as i would normally.

So to cover all bases, I offered her a smaller mouse than i usually would, probably one half to two thirds the size, and she took it with aggression (as always). I'll wait and see how things turn out and keep ya'll posted as to how everything goes.

Ben.

 

[Ricko]

i have a male stimmy that wont eat when he sloughs but after a slough he is my most aggresive snake and will eat anything even my finger on the odd occasion.

 

[NoOne]

Now thats funny Ad, i've said pretty much exactly what you just said in the past and i had people saying i was wrong and my snakes didn't have enough humidity and i didn't know what i was doing.

I always feed one of my adult waters before she sheds as she has trouble and it really helps her but for some reason i was totally wrong, funny isn't it.

Craig when the skin comes off in peices it can be because you don't have enough humidity or your cage is to hot and is drying up the oil under the skin, try dropping the temp a bit when it's on shed again.

 

[sxereturn]

If I am bored, and a snake is within a few days of shedding, I will feed it. 90% of the time they will start rubbing their nose as soon as they've got it in their guts...

Only once have I had trouble, and that is when I fed a carpet a large rabbit, and it split the skin in the corner of his mouth. He retained the skin under his bottom jaw...took 20 seconds to restrain it and peel it off, no biggy.

 

[Adam]

Yep lutzd heard it from me. I fed a 5 foot carpet a big rat when she was sloughing and a few hours later she tried to shed and it got stuck around the rat. I mean it was stuck badly, if she was in the wild I think she would have had problems because it was really tight around her belly as it had rolled up like a condom and wasn't going to break. Having said that, if you do feed the snake just make sure it is a small feed because as everyone has said the snake will refuse if it doesn't want it and if it does take it, well it can encourage them inot shedding. Hope I have helped.

 

[moosenoose]

My small experience with sloughing: My python feeds right up to shed time and has never refused a feed. The last time I fed her a reasonably large feed (for her size) she had shedding problems. I'm still not sure if it was due to the humidity levels being a bit low leading up to sloughing, as I always increase levels a couple of days prior. So perhaps from what I've read is that it can sometimes make shedding more difficult.

I'm probably going to try & work around her sloughing a little bit more because I get strange looks from my wife when I'm watching T.V with a snake sitting in a warmish tub of water on my lap helping get the shoddiest looking shed I've ever seen off her! LOL

 

[kevyn]

I've never had a problem with it. I feed one of my Retics no matter what. He eats while in shed, and hasen't had a problem. I don't exactly feed him small meals either. Most of the time my snakes won't eat while in shed. My albino Calking will eat no matter what too, and I've never had a problem with him either.

 

[Magpie]

I've never had a problem with a feed causing a bung shed. I have noticed that water pythons need very high humidity to shed in one piece.