Here's my Brazilian rainbow boa constrictor, she's about 5 years old. Lately she's been spending a lot more time than usual in her water dish; for weeks now she's spent most of her time there, but I haven't worried because this is a phase she sometimes goes through. I've done a good job of trying to keep the temperature regulated, trying to keep it around 75-80, so it's not like she's burning up or anything. Anyway, she just shed today and I noticed two things:

1) the shed skin she left behind (in her water dish) was NASTY. The skin itself was ok, but inside it was a load of...something. It's almost as if it was a half-digested mouse, although there was nothing recognizable; it was brown, but slightly reddish also. I'd guess she couldn't wait to get out of her skin before she had to 'go', but it's red-ish color worries me. Maybe this is what it looks like when it's underwater, I don't know. I didn't take a picture of it, and be glad I didn't, it was nightmare material. She doesn't eat as often as she used to so the her last rat was about three weeks ago; I guess it's possible that it was a rat she regurgitated, but three weeks seems like a long time to hold it in. The more I think about it the more I feel like a ninny, it was probably gross looking because it was underwater inside her skin.

2) Underneath she ought to be pale white, but she's a little pinkish, as you can kinda see in the bad photo. A bunch of years ago she had what the vet said was a slight skin infection and she was on antibiotics for a few weeks; in that case though she was much pinker and actually had (very) small amounts of blood under some of her scales. This cleared up quick and she's been fine since, but I don't know if something similar is coming back.

I guess my question is, is there anything to worry about? What could have been left inside her shed skin? Is her pink underbelly something to worry about?

Another shot

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• Sick Rainbow Boa? - te, Wed Jun 1 22:52:15 2005
• RE: Sick Rainbow Boa? - Jeff Clark, Wed Jun 1 23:13:55 2005
• RE: Sick Rainbow Boa? - te, Thu Jun 2 10:16:12 2005
• Jeff... where's the rainbow boa forum? - Charlotte, Thu Jun 2 11:13:21 2005
• subforums in a box at the top of this forum...np - rainbowsrus, Thu Jun 2 12:36:00 2005