Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there all!

First of all - many thanks to all of you who helped with my lengthy handling questions about Lilly. Things are going swimmingly! She comes out to play (almost) every evening, is as sweet as pie with the kids (actually, amazingly so! All those little fingers dangling in her face and not once has she even tried to get stressy!) - she's a real love! All the patience advised has paid off!

Now I've got something else to worry about. Just to put you in the picture (again!) she's approx 19 months old (we were told she was 15 months old when we got her) and, at a guess, just over three foot (I mean, how do you measure a snake? 'Please line up against this wall, sweetie, so I can put a mark against your length!' Her last shed was just short of three and a half feet, so with stretchyness included, I'm guessing just over three feet - anyway, I digress...)

She shed about five weeks after we bought her, then again just over seven weeks later - but now she's gone into shed again! It's only five weeks since her last shed! (Ok - she's only at the looking slightly milky stage - her eyes have already gone blue-ish, so I'm thinking she'll shed at the weekend, but still - five weeks!) Is this normal? I know snakes shed 'regularly' but at this rate she'll be the size of a boa by the time she's two! Any ideas? Are we over-feeding her? She gets two little mice per week (bigger than fuzzies, but not a lot - and certainly no bigger than her girth - actually, not a great deal bigger than her head!) Is the humidity wrong? (what with winter and central heating...) - or am I just being a big fussy mum (not to mention a wordy, waffly Brit!!!). Maybe she's just having a teenage growth spurt...?

I'd be really grateful for any advice!

Thanks

Theresa

As for how to measure your snake...there are many different ways that people use, but I will instead direct you to the post below entitled "how do you guys measure?" posted by x1purpleXhaze1x, Nov 16, 2003

According to my records, my one snake (my other snakes are too young to use their data) when he was 19 months was fed 1 weanling mouse every 10-14 days. He was also 35 inches long.

Take a good look at your snake. In cross-section, she should sort of resemble a loaf of bread. If she's round then she's too fat, if you can easily see the spine then she's too skinny. Another way of telling is by looking at the scales. If you can see skin in between the scales she's too fat and you should cut back on the food.

I've had snakes that age shed as early as a month after there last shed up to 4 months after there last shed. It's not that big of a deal. But... the more you feed, the more they grow, the faster they shed.
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alstiver@hotmail.com

Current pets:
1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla Coil)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.2 Goldfish (Isamu, and Yuki; RIP Kabuki)
1.0 '99 American Eskimo mix (Rusty)

Next to be added:
0.1 '04 Hypo Nicaraguan boa
1.1 Maricopa Rosy boas
1.1 Amber cornsnakes
1.1 Hypo Het Lavendar cornsnakes