Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my baby Fl(brooks) kingsnakes, shed twice one right after the other. I do believe that it's just him growing, but I thought I would run it by everyone. The first shed was on 2/2/11 then he shed on 2/7/11. What do you guys think?
Thanks Tom S.

There had to have been a problem somewhere. Even insanely fast growing young snakes cannot ever grow anywhere near that fast to shed in 5 days from the last. Snakes shed in very rapid succession when there is........

a) a skin problem like another previous stuck shed it is trying to get rid of. Or a severe injury on the body.

b) a mite problem. And the snake tries to rid themselves of the parasites by shedding their skin as fast as they can.

No way that is from growth. An extremely fast growing young king might shed every three weeks to a month at best, if not slightly longer.

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Well it could be that an eye cap was still on. But I checked the first shed and it looked good. I don't have mites and I can't think were he would have gotten hurt.(I took him out today and he looks great) So the only thing I can think of would be a stuck eye cap.
Thanks Doug
Tom S.

That's what I thought. I have had some shed once a month like clock work. But never this. Like I said That's one of the things that I like when you mentioned the humidity hides. That really help them shed real nice sheds. But maybe I missed an eye cap, on his first shed. The second shed was nice eye caps and all. Thanks again Doug.
Tom S.

Sure thing Tom.

Yes, a stuck eye cap could have sent it into another fast shed cycle. But wow, 5 days is unbelievable..LOL!

I had a little tricolor hypo some months ago that had a shed on top of another one that it never shed off, and it went immediately into another shed cycle pretty much just like yours did. I noticed this and quickly helped it out with a humid hide and misting, and it shed the other one without incident.

Yeah, yours should be just fine too now Tom.

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

I had the same thing happen with a juvenile corn snake. The shed was about a week apart.

Doug, you've never heard of a double shed? I've heard others talk about it too.
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>>I had the same thing happen with a juvenile corn snake. The shed was about a week apart.
>>
>>Doug, you've never heard of a double shed? I've heard others talk about it too.
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Wow, I don't think I ever had one shed that quickly?
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

the only times I've had that happen were when the snake was injured or had stuck sheds (like Chomper when I got her, or a BP I took as a rescue...malnourished and old sheds all over them). But then, I'm not hardly the end all be all. if there's no externally obvious stuff and it doesn't happen again I wouldn't stress.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
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3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

Well, yeah, I have "heard" of them before, but I would think there is usually always a pretty good reason for it happening, and is probably caused by something the keeper isn't really aware of. Rather than it just happening for seemingly no real reason right out of the blue. Know what I mean?

Hard to prove or disprove though unless you know for a fact it wasn't caused by one of the other things I mentioned.

In my personal experience, I have only noticed this ever happening with any of mine when there was a previous shed that was never sloughed off in the drier winter months, albeit an extremely rare occurrence.

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

I have two kings in brumation now that went blue a month ago and have stayed that way. They still have not shed even with humidity around 60%.

I also had a king that went in blue during brumation and the whole prosses took over a month, maybe 2, for it to shed. I think it was in blue forever. This was back when I used to brumate them at 55º. I think the shed cycle slows down as the heart rate of the brumating snake slows down.
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Yeah, that would be caused from the snakes metabolism being slowed to a snail's pace from the colder temps.

This as you know is also what would happen if it had a meal in it just prior to brumating. It would just sit there and rot poisoning it's system until it regurgitated the meal.

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

Anything is possible, you could be right, Doug. This was back in the early 90's and I don't have my records with me right now to see if there was a previous shed I might have missed, I doubt it though. Back then I only had a few snakes and held them all the time. It would be nearly impossible at that point for me to miss one going in the blue. I worked at a pet store at that time and was feeding them more than usual. I never questioned it because the snake went through the whole shed cycle of getting blue, clearing, then shedding. If it had shed just a few days later, then I would question it.
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Well, one thing we can both say with certainty is that... when it comes to animals, almost anything can happen!..LOL!

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

BTW, I just reread my reply before this and it didn't make any sense. hahahaha The key is to know the snake went into blue for the first shed.
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Exactly Ross!

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

my website -Serpentine Specialties

i had a hatchling last year that hatched earlier than the rest of the clutch; part of her egg had lost touch with the vermiculite and dried out.

she had the normal shed a week or so after hatching (9/28) a second shed on 10/22 and then shed again on 10/28, which i though was a little weird, but she had been eating every three days or so - so i guessed it was just because she was rapidly trying to catch up to her siblings.

hasn't been another shed like that. she's now around the same size as the other '10's i held back and sheds every 3-4 weeks like the rest.

Interesting! That's something I've only seen once in my life.
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Well i do not know the history or anything about the naimal you are referring to. But I have had this happen with neonates that have not eaten for a while and then get some large meals in them causing a growth spurt.

It also happens with snakes that go through a large feeding growth spurt and then starve for a while. They shrink. Then feed them again and they pop back into their former size.

Snakes (like humans) have growth memory. if you starve a human and they lose 20 pounds and then feed them they will gain weight back quick.

Also bodybuilders.. Gain 20lbs of extra muscle and stop working out for a month and lose 15lbs. Then start eating lots of protein and working out the muscles will come back very quickly (like a week) and just as strong as before.

Just keep feeding him larger and frequent meals and you are on the right track.
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www.Bluerosy.com

Thanks everyone, I know it was weird All six of my new babies shed with in the same week.I have spreadsheets on each one. I went in to feed everyone and when I looked in his cage there was a shed. I went ahead and fed him and he ate. So I am not worried about it. It just seamed a little off.
Thanks again, all of you have really made it fun. I just keep learning more all the time.
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Tom S
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