Reptile & Amphibian Forums

All of you experienced snake owners are probably going to laugh at me, but being new to this...I thought it was cool. I had posted earlier because I had yet to see any poop from our baby that we had for about 2 weeks (it could be hidden and I just haven't found it in the aspen). He wouldn't eat this week, so I decided to give him a "bath"...since that works for my beardie. He was not thrilled, but after a few minutes he stopped moving and did the deed. Just for my reassurance, please tell me if this sounds right...several tiny beads of white along with some brownish matter. The next morning I went in to check on him and I thought there was a long piece of scotch tape in the tank. When I got closer I could see that he had shed for the first time since we have had him. I was surprised because his eyes hadn't looked cloudy before hand. Very cool looking and much more spectacular than my beardies patchy shedding!

Just like your beardie, your snake doesn't have a bladder, so waste filtered through the kidneys is excreted as uric acid, a white crystalline material that contains very little water, which enables the snake to retain moisture. When he does the deed on dry land, you'll see that it more closely resembles your beardie's waste stream. My corn snake really needs to exercise a lot before going potty - so sometimes I put him in an empty glass aquarium or the bathtub so he can move around a lot - he usually goes quickly.

Yeah I use the bath technique every week now coz I got so fed up with my snake pooing on me when I took her out, I swear she was waiting for me to take her out before she'd go!
The bath probably helped loosen the skin enough for it to shed.

What's really cool is getting to see them shed, I was lucky enough once to catch it from the very beginning, very class!

I wish I could have seen it. You mentioned that you bathe yours once a week..is that about how often they go? How often do they shed? Thanks

I think it depends on how often they eat which affects how often they grow and, therefore, how often they shed. My corn sheds at least once every couple months. He actually used me to shed on once - he started his shed by rubbing on my earrings. It was a very humid evening and I took him outside and he started rubbing on me. I put him in his cage and he finished there! Very cool.

I feed Snail (my snake) every 7-9 days, depending on what day it is and if I have time etc. If I fed her on a Monday I'd give her a bath Thursday morning, later would mean she wouldn't wait any longer and I like to give her at least 48 hours to digest it properly.
As a baby they tend to shed every month and a half-two months because they grow lots. Snail still sheds about every two months coz she's only 2.