Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alright, I apologize if my questions may seem a bit silly, but I am still trying to get my bearings on things. First and most importantly, my juvenile female just finished shedding, but it took her forever to shed just one section of her tail. Is it normal for corns to shed is sections? I was worried that it might constrict. I made sure to keep her moist with misting, and I even tried soaking her tail, but it still took forever to come off. I finally was able to catch an edge and peel it off for her. What's the deal?
Also, I was reading the post from Michelle1010, and I was currious, is it normal for them to eat more than one pinkie at one time, and if so, how should I know how many pinkies to feed the snakes at one feeding? Both my corns are juvies, just for the record. Any input is most appreciated. Thanks.

First of all, there are few stupid questions, so if you need to know something for the well being of your pet, don't hesitate to ask, definitely.

About the shed. Normally if the shed comes off in pieces it can mean a couple of things. The most likely is that the humidity was not high enough to help her have a proper shed. Even misting occassionally can not be sufficient if the air is real dry. If you find you have problems again, or if you just want to be sure and avoid the chance of problems again, you can set up a moist hide for her. Take a plastic container, like a butter or cottage cheese container nicely cleaned out, and put a hole into the side of it nearer the top where the lid attaches. Put either damp peat moss or damp paper towel in it and put the lid on and put it in the snakes home, being careful not to place it over the heat source if you have a UTH. The snake will go into it and stay in there usually till it sheds. These work GREAT! IF you use paper towel, though, you will have to remoisten it every couple days. Peat moss generally only needs its first dampening and it holds out fine. Also, make sure the material you use is DAMP and not sodden.

One other reason could be poor health. But if you are not sure, you can have your vet check your snake for parasites, internally and externally.

By the way, if you ever have hard sheds again, what you did was just right. Soak them in water by putting them into a shallow dish with a lid and a SMALL amount of water and leave it soak for a bit to loosen the shed and then use a cloth to wipe the shed off.

About feeding. The food that the snake leaves should leave an obvious lump in the stomach. Not so big as to make the snake look like he wouldn't be able to slither, that could cause a regurge from over feeding, but a definte, obvious sign that the snake ate. If you can hardly perceive that the snake ate after it swallowed its food, then you need to up your prey items size. You can either double the quantity of the size you are using or go up to the next sized prey. Always keep in mind that pinkies are not as nutritional as the mice that have fur on them, so if your snake can eat 2-3 pinks with ease, then it would be time to feed a fuzzy.

Hope this helps and good luck with all.

PS... I don't have time to check spelling so I apologize if there are any typos.

When you notice her getting into the shed cycle (milky eyes, faded skin colors), you want to increase the humidity in her cage. You can do this one of two ways: spray a few times each day or provide a humidity box, which is just a hide box filled with wet spagnum moss. If you are keeping her in a glass tank with a screen lid, you will want to cover part of the lid to retain humidity. She SHOULD NOT be shedding in stages like that. If it happens again, you can soak her in a Kritter Keeper type box, like they sell at Petsmart to keep small animals in. Use about an inch or so of warmish water, stick a few paper towels in there, put the snake in, then put a few more paper towels on top. Leave it sit for about 30 minutes. Make sure she cannot escape! After 30 minutes or so, remove the snake. If there are still pieces of shed left, they will be soft enough that you can take a damp paper towel and just slide them off.

As far as the feeding question, some people will increase the number of food items as the snake grows. After they can eat two or three pinkies at a time and digest them properly, you can start considering fuzzies for them. Remember that the food items should make a bulge in their stomach, otherwise it is too small.
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