Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Queenie hasn't shed yet, she's about 4-5 months old by now. Three weeks ago she gobbled down two pinkies. She's got a great feeding instinct. She hasn't eaten since, and her skin started getting kinda wrinkly, which is the way King is before he sheds, so I figured, "Great, she's gonna shed."
The past two weeks she's refused all food, even brained. Her eyes got cloudy, then went back to normal. Her skin is still wrinkly and very dry now. Her feces has been normal, no discharge from anywhere, no injuries anywhere that I can see. I've got a large water container for her in her enclosure, it spans the depth of the 29 gallon tank we've got her in, and its about 4 inches deep. She's always got fresh water.

Is she getting enough humidity? Should I have some damp paper towels in her hide?

Some ideas for moist sphagnum moss containers. All my snakes get these and they always have good sheds. The sphagnum moss tends to hold the humidity better than paper towels and since it is in a container, it satisfies their desire to hide in a tight spot.

Your little snake will probably shed soon, since her eyes have gone back to clear. It seems to vary how long it takes from eyes clear again to actual shed. Some of mine do it in four days, others take over a week.

I totally agree with the other poster. You must REALLY turn on the humidity during this time. It sounds to me like the humidity is extremely low, and I would make darn sure it is humid enough so there are no shedding issues. The damp spagnum moss "humid hides" are a very simple way of ensuring this. You can even cover a greater portion of the enclosure to contain more ambient humidity in the rest of the cage too. As dry and wrinkled as it seems to be, the snake will VERY likely be hanging out until it sheds in a moist hide if you placed one in. This is extremely important to do.

regards, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I second the previous statements about including a moist hide in the enclosure. My climate is such that I don't have to use a moist hide, but I still soak Zorro for about 10-15 minutes in room-temperature water at least once before she sheds. All of her sheds have been complete and without incident.

It's not unusual for some snakes to go off-feed before they shed. They also tend to be less active and much more sensitive to movement, etc. - especially while opaque.

When your snake does shed, be sure to check that the eye scales (caps) have come off and that the shed is complete (the new scales are shiny).
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0.1 Banded California kingsnake - Zorro
1.0 Manx cat - Mako
0.1 RES - Chopstick
0.1 Crested gecko - Hiyori
1.1 crazy dogs - Tumnus, Jet