Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a friend with a 5 foot female BCI.

this animal was completely normal up until a year ago.

since tha time it has gone into shed, and apon shedding gone blue, and back into shed within the next 2-4 days.

the animal refuses to feed while in shed so it has lost some weight, but is not what i would consider to be malnourished looking.

a couple htings of note:

1. when the snake sheds, teh shed skin is extremely thick, and the new scales are rather dull in appearance.

2. he bought the snake from a respectable breeder, and the snake has been in his care the entire time, and has been in close proximity to other animals in his collection. non of his collection exhibits these symptoms.

3. there are not mites, nor have tere ever been.

4. the snake breathes, moves, rights-itself, hisses, tongue twitches and acts compleltey normal other than the shedding issue

we could really use some insight into what may be causing this, as it is a ratehr valueable animal and we would hate to loose it.

thank you

it has shed dozens of tiems over the last year. all within rapid succession

Rapid sheding seems like a sign of bacterial infection to me. Damage to the skin and bacterial infections are really the only two causes I'm aware of that cause rapid shedding. Since it has continued for a long period of time I would think the latter, also damage to the skin would show scars of cuts or other wounds.

Whenever something like this pops up a fecal and blood work at the very least will rule out what it is not.

Chris is on the right track in this thinking.

Only 1 time in the past 10 years have I experienced something similar ... the boa shed every month (or less) for 8-9 consecutive months and refused food, losing 9 pounds (23 pounds down to 14 pounds). When the boa finally released some fluid (when a boa is not eating, it is hard to get a fecal sample), I immediately took it to my vet. He saw a worm-like finding that he could not identify. We treated for worms via injections, and after several months the boa began eating again, and has regained all its' weight.

End of story ... get whatever specimum you can and take to your vet immediately.

Hope this helps ... Bill

this helps so much thank you.

what you described is exactly what he is experinceing.

If you can't get anything, take a fresh shed and let them look at that under the microscope too. If it's a skin bacteria, or a skin pathogen of any kind it should be inside the fresh shed.
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com