Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When I got him he was in a 10 gal. The man said he was caught 4 years ago and only had one button for a rattle, this snake now has 14 rattles but no growth at all, like I said he had room in a 10 gal. (now lives in a 4' precision) yesterday was the first day that his rattle worked, prior to that there was no sound coming from it but I could tell he was moving it. He has eaten 4 mice since last saturday when I got him and his attitude has gone from very lethargic to lets get it on, but my point is even with no food to speak of( the man said he has eaten about 10 to 15 times in four years, he has 14 rattles, Anyone know why the shed cycles kicked in even without food for growth? pics are coming waiting on my wife to download them I still can't figure it out. Jason

Contrary to pupular belief, shedding is not just about growth. It has a lot to do with simply replacing the damaged outer layer, removing parasites and I suspect from my experiences, removing cantaminats from the skin.

I took in a 7 foot burmese python that had gotten loose and crawled through roofing tar. It shed 3 times in about a month...
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

I had a similar experience when I discovered a (highly dangerous!) red-sided garter trapped in a mouse glue trap as skinny as a pencil. I took it in and fattened it up, and there was almost immediate then weekly shedding until the glue damage was gone.

My guess is if you keep feeding this snake it wont matter what you do it will die of shock to its system. Slow down pounding this snake and you wont kill it 4 feeds in one week is very extreme.

I was surprised no one said it before you did...

I was thinking the same thing.
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Jason

Steve, I did about four posts down. Sometimes people just want to do their own thing.

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1445642,1445760

...I'm glad the warning got out earlier

thx,
Steve

I saw steves post after I wrote mine at that time he had only fed twice I hope a lesson can be learned with out the cost of a good snake.But he did not listen the first time so ?????????.

I mean djs27