Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As if my snake's homecoming hasn't been stressful enough...when I put a mouse in his cgae and waited for him to come and eat it, I saw he is turning all milky. I guess he's going to shed now. Should I not feed it another mouse now? How long does shedding take? His eyes are all milky looking and his skin is pretty dull and white looking. I suspected this was coming by a few pictures I have seen but wasn't positive since this is my first snake. I feel so bad for it.

I am also confused about heating. My cage has a stick on thermometer on the hot side about two inches above the reptibark. Day time temps are between 84-90 depending on the weather at this point. when I see it get above 88 I start turning off the heat lamp and just letting the under tha tank heater on. I have no idea what my cold side is running yet as I need to get another thermometer to find that out. The heat lamp is off all night and when I get up his tank is usually 75 in the hot side.

Thanks!

Your setup sounds fine, and from what you describe, it sounds like the snakes going into a shed. Some snakes might still eat during this phase, but prolly not. A blueish color over the eyes is a good determiner for shedding. I wouldnt sweat the little guy too much yet. If the snake looks foggy, you've got about another 3 or 4 days till the shed comes off. The eyes will actually clear up for a day or so, then the skin will come off. Just keep humidity up in the tank and it'll go fine, and the snake should take the food pretty readily right afterwards.
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Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

If im correct you posted the striking snake post right? Perhaps the reason he was so angry when you were clening his cage was because he was going into a shed.
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-Doug Daly

Yeah maybe. The weird things is he has been hiding for pretty much the entire time I have had him and now he's been stretched out acrossed a branch in his cage all day. This is the most I have ever seen my snake. I can't wait to see what he lookslike after the shed. I adore this guy (hope its a guy.)

He might be all stretched out because when snakes are about to shed, they feel pretty "compressed" inside their old skin. He might be trying to find a comfortable postion that wont really kink his armour up too much until it comes off.
Back at your aggressive post, I was gonna guess that maybe it was going to shed soon. Seems I was on the right track
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Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"