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Is it an absolute no-no to handle snakes right before they shed? My BRB is supposed to sppear in a music video but she decided to go into shed right before the shoot! She is past the milky eyes stage and probably will shed before Sunday morning (day of shoot) but I was curious if she would be past the point in her shed cycle of being harmed from handling.

Thanks,

Chris

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's not a "harm" the snake so much as a lot of snakes are tempermental while they are in shed.
Obviously just make sure he/she is very well hydrated, but otherwise.. I don't think it's an issue...
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1.1.0 beardies
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0.1.0 leopard gecko
0.1.0 golden gecko
0.2.0 mourning geckos
1.1.0 cats

soon to be:
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BRB!!!!!

yeah as long as you are just handling and not pulling off shed then you shouldn't harm your snake. I handle my BRB's when they are blue on a fairly regular basis since cage maintenance has no respect for shed cycles

The issue with handling while in shed is the snakes can become more irritable and if they are milky eyed or blue then they can be very defensive. My BRB's are very mellow and I pay close attention to how they behave/react. As a result I have never been bitten by them and the closest I have gotten was having Brunhilde go into a defensive pose and slightly open her mouth once.

Main thing I would be worried about is if your BRB is shed blind at the time of the shoot and decides to bite someone because of being scared.

Sean.
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Chris,
...As already stated they are a little more likely to be defensive when getting ready to shed. Before a shed their skin is delicate and if you scratch through it the new skin underneath is not ready to be exposed yet and so will be rough and slightly messed up after the shed. They almost always completely get through this though and look fine after the following shed.
Jeff

>>Is it an absolute no-no to handle snakes right before they shed? My BRB is supposed to sppear in a music video but she decided to go into shed right before the shoot! She is past the milky eyes stage and probably will shed before Sunday morning (day of shoot) but I was curious if she would be past the point in her shed cycle of being harmed from handling.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Chris

I knew that the snakes are more testy when in shed but wasn't sure if they could be harmed from handling them. She shed last night so it is irrelevant but thanks much for the info. NOw if I could just get her to eat thawed rats!

Have you tried getting them onto fresh killed rats first? I had a much easier time going live>>fesh killed>>Thawed instead of live>>fresh killed.

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

I just don't want to deal with killing the rats myself. I started doing it and then just didn't feel up to it at her next feeding. What is your technique?

I used rubber ended tongs. If you hold the f/t mouse/rat on the end of the tongs and just barely shake it in front of the snake, they usually bite it. Just be sure to use the softest rubber tongs you can buy, just in case the snake misses. And if the snake is longer than the tongs, wear gloves. This is how I train my snakes to eat f/t. Good Luck!