Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How much shedding is too much shedding?

My snake sheds alot.

It shed completely last month and went into shed again..
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0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Checkard Garter Snake
0.1.0 Green Anole
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider
1.0.0 Russian Campbell Drawf Hamster
0.3.0 Love Able muts

how old is the snake and how much are you feeding it. if it is a younger snake they are growing alot and do shed often. Another reason snakes can shed alot is due to an injury, but I doubt that is the issue here.
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Misty Sprouse Ball Pythons

I am not certain how old the snake is. But it's young. It's only 2' and 6" long.

I have been feeding it large mice up untill it's last feeding. I switched to small rats. I feed once per week. The mice were 3 inchs not counting the tail, the rat was 4. Should I feed every 10 days now that I moved to rats?

It is also F'N hot in my house. Today I noticed the tank temp was 98. I soiled my pants and qucikly tried to lower it. (That was with out any heat source) Heat doesn't factor in?

She had some minimal looking scars when I got her. Then she got a mystery small wound while I had her. I guess a mouse bit her.. but I doubt it.. t'was on her tail. They never mnake it that far. lol. I would doctor it semi daily with anti biotic cream. It's gone now.
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0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Checkard Garter Snake
0.1.0 Green Anole
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider
1.0.0 Russian Campbell Drawf Hamster
0.3.0 Love Able muts

Most likely it is shedding because it is growing. Also, if it did have a wound that could decrease the time between sheds. Some of the scarring you see will fade with time...but don't expect a miracle shed to come along and clear it all up.

Sometimes, the substrate a person uses can irritate to scales and this will cause a snake to shed more often than usual. Since you stated that your ball is still pretty small it is most likely also pretty young and will go through "grow spurts" from time to time causing it to shed more often than what you normally expect.

As far as your temperatures go...did you say it was almost a hundred degrees without a heat source? I'm not sure how to help you there. Get some A/C? If your house is warm enough to where you don't need a heat source that's fine. But, it's a lot easier to heat up a tank or rack than it is to cool it off.

If this wasn't just a fluke and the temperature is frequently "too high" I would suggest getting the temp down in the house to a temperature you are comfortable with (98?... in the house?... mother-of-mary you had to be dying in there) and then invest in some sort of heating element along with a reliable thermostat to bring the temps in the tank back up to a range your snake is comforable with.

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www.mosaicmorphs.com

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Edited on July 18, 2005 at 17:51:11 by phwyvern.