Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well it seems my yearling yellow rat has finally decided to come out of hiding and look around his cage.. He was pretty much just keeping dormant hiding under the aspen bedding coming out every once in awhile to drink or feed on a fuzzy every 3-4 weeks or so... Anyway.. I checked him last week and noticed he was about to shed his skin off cause his eyes... anyway after I few days I checked him again and it looked like he shed cause his eyes were clear but i couldnt find the shed anywhere...he was out in hunt mode so I went out and bought two fuzzies.. he ate the one then the next day I was sitting in the room and heard the fuzzy so I went over and to my suprise the snake was in the middle of shedding AND eatting the fuzzy!! Has anyone heard of that?...I mean he ate the first fuzzy before he shed and the 2nd one WHILE he was shedding... I am actually out of town and someone is watching the snake so I don't know if he fully shed yet or not but it looked like he wasn't even worried about the shed and more worried about eatting.. i mean the caps were off his eyes and all and it seemed like the shed was peeling off him nicely.. But I just never heard of a snake eatting right before a shed and during a shed...

A snake that age should be fed more then once every three weeks. I would guess it went for the mouse despite the fact that it needed to shed because it was very hungry.

By the way, it is normal for the eyes to become clear again just before the shed.

Try feeding it once every week and it will grow more quickly and feed in a more normal fashion.

I offer him 2 fuzzies or pinkies EVERY WEEK... Sometimes he eats.. sometimes he doesnt.. I would guess the last time he ate was 2 1/2 weeks ago before this feed and I have offered him 2 fuzzies/pinkies every saturday steady since I got him...Over the summer he would eat every week like clock work... 2-3 pinkies... I think in the winter time his natural instinct was to hybernate so he didn't eat as much.. not that the weather is warming up around here he has been a lot more active even though the temp. has remained the same in his cage.. about 81-85 on the warm end and 75-78 on the cooler end...on colder days the temp would drop a little but nothing DRASTIC...

His growth rate is normal.He was 8-12 inches when I got him early last summer and the last time I checked,which was 2 mths ago,he was nearly 25 inches long.He was pencil thin when I got him but VERY healthy and alert. The thickest part of him now is about as thick as an average adults middle finger.He is always alert and has always had clean sheds since I got him.Like I said.. I was just curious cause I never seen a snake eat while shedding!! Thanks for the replies!

Anyway the shed came off clean in one solid piece...

Different rat snake will have different eating habits. My Luecistic Texas rat snake will also eat before a shed. I do however reduce the size of his meals before a shed. This guy has NEVER met a mouse he would not eat. (summer, wintr, spring or fall). On the other hand I once had a grey rat snake and he was alot more picky about when and what he ate.

Hi, I'm considering a yellow rat so was reading your post. My snakes often shed & then eat but have never eaten while shedding. I feed in separate rubbermaid containers and if they are ready to shed they will often shed in the feeding container, then eat right after. I feed f/t. I agree with the other post on feeding more often. My concern is that you weren't sure if the snake finished shedding even though you where able to watch it start to shed. Shedding is not a slow process. It normally only takes a few minutes. So unless it happened as you were running out the door, you should have observed the whole process. When you see the snake again, pick it up and be sure all shed is off. If not, you can assist it by soaking it in shallow tepid water for a few minutes then gently rub off any stuck skin. Another way is to line the bottom of a container with soaked paper towels and leave him in there for a bit. He can't drown that way and will usually rub off the stuck shed on his own. Good luck with your snake, I'll hopefully be getting mine next week and will post pics! Oh, and yes they turn "blue" then clear up then shed so that part was normal.

The shed should come off in one continuous piece...

Usually only takes a few minutes...

The shed will be longer than your snake. This shed measures 9 feet, but the snake is only 7 feet.

There are pics of this snake shedding from start to finish on my website if you are interested. Just click on Bear the Python and on the bottom of his page is a link to all of the shedding pics.

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www.LynsLair.com
0.1 Cat (Mia)
4.1 Ferrets (Wolf, Shadow, Verdell, Boo, Sullivan)
1.0 Carpet Python (Bear)
1.0 Malagasy Blonde Hognose (Wilbur)
1.0 Whites Tree Frog (Trevor)
1.0 AFT Gecko (Cocoa)
5.9 Leopard Geckos (Trouble, Scooter, Simba, Firenze, Teddy, Buttercup, Nala, Mystique, Jewel, Freckles, Dotty, Zipper, Princess Leo, Twister)

Nice snake lyn! I see you have a lot of pets. I have a lot of animals also.The yellowrat is named Mufasa. I have 5 marshall ferrets all female.. trinity,switch,lelu,bubbles and buttercup..... a cat named Simba,A doberman named Jake,A rottie named Nala,one green anole named greenbean,a lepard geko named ozzy and a painted turtle named sunshine...lol .. I feel like I have a zoo sometimes! Only problem I have with the ferrets is after a day the cage stinks even with the spray.. anyway I wanted to ask.. i usually order the ferret supplies from ferretstore.com.. you know any other places that are cheaper?

I love all your names, seems we even have some animals with the same name although different species! I have 6 ferrets. 5 are Marshalls and I just picked up a baby Path Valley a few weeks ago. I don't have a problem with odor. What food do you feed, what litter do you use, and how big is your cage? I have two of the 4 floor superpet cages linked together with tubes. I filled the bottom trays with litter (yesterdays news). I spot clean daily and do complete changes on the weekend. Total Ferret is an excellent food and their poop doesn't stink as much as with some of the other foods. Marshalls food leads to horrible smells, stay away from that for sure. I wash all blankets and hammocks once a week and only bath my ferrets twice a year. Over bathing leads to very stinky ferrets. Do you post on the Ferret Store forums? If not, definitely do so. My name on there is Fuzzy Luv and it's an awesome board. I have bought from the Ferret Store but buy most of my stuff from local pet stores just for convenience sake.

As for the Rat Snake, I read your other reply about offering food weekly but he's only been eating once a month or so. Ditto here. My Python didn't eat all winter despite an amply heated cage. And he basked every day and was active. He went 3 months without eating (I kept offering, he just wouldn't touch it). I threw away alot of jumbo rats before getting wise and buying medium ones. No sense throwing away $4 per week when you could just offer a $2 rat instead. He finally started to eat again much to my delight. I think the baby ferret got him hungry, he could see her from his enclosure and that's when he started moving around like he was hungry, I fed him and he just wolfed the rat down. Then I moved the baby ferret out of his sight.

My Hognose has only eaten a few times this winter, also in a fully heated enclosure, also offered food every week. Used to freak me out when my animals would go off feed in the winter. Now I don't even worry about it.

If you post on the Ferret Store, let me know who you are, I don't remember seeing those particular fuzzy names in anyone's signature, unless I just missed it.

This is a pic of "Peach" the day I got her (two weeks ago). She's already twice this size! They grow soooooo fast!

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www.LynsLair.com
0.1 Cat (Mia)
4.2 Ferrets (Wolf, Shadow, Verdell, Sullivan, Boo, Peach)
1.0 Carpet Python (Bear)
1.0 Malagasy Blonde Hognose (Wilbur)
1.0 Whites Tree Frog (Trevor)
1.0 Albino American Bullfrog (Prince)
1.0 AFT Gecko (Cocoa)
5.9 Leopard Geckos (Trouble, Scooter, Simba, Firenze, Teddy, Buttercup, Nala, Mystique, Jewel, Freckles, Dotty, Zipper, Princess Leo, Twister)