Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So my young Rosy doesn't seem like her normal self these last couple of weeks. Usually, she's pretty active at night. She'll come out of her hide and patrol around.

Recently though, she's just been staying in her warm hide. I also haven't seen her poop in over a week now. Her appetite is fine, she still accepts her pinkies.

I held her just now and she moved rather lethargically in my hands and she kept bumping her nose against my hands as she moved.

Is she about to shed? She's going to be 5 months old in a few days and I haven't seen her shed yet since I got her 2 months ago. Or is there something else wrong with her? Thanks for any advice!

It does sound like she is going to shed. I would check on her periodically but try to avoid too much handling until she sheds.

Also, make sure the cage is dry. Too much humidity in the cage is not good. High humidity for a short time (like an hour) is fine, but prolonged humidity for days and weeks will cause rosies to get lethargic and sick.

Being that your snake has eaten and digested fine for months makes me tend to think she is just fine. Probably nothing more that the shed process. Sometimes with rosies, it is easy to miss when they go blue, since many rosies look faded anyway. They tend to seek warmth during that time and not cruise around.

Thanks for the advice, Mark. =)

I actually got quite the surprise this evening when I was feeding her. I spot clean her hides while she's eating and right when I picked up the warm hide, there was her skin! (And a huge pile of poop too.)

Is there a way of knowing if her eyecaps have fallen out too? She's just so small still that I don't know if I can find them in her bedding to verify that they came out properly.

If the skin is whole, I wouldn't worry too much about eye caps. Rosies are one snake that seem to shed w/o problems no matter how dry it is, unlike kingsnakes/milksnakes.

With rosies, if they digest properly, then usually all is well. One of the first signs of an unhappy/unhealthy rosy is regurgitation. That happens before any physical signs. On the other hand, a big BM with a shed is a good sign that things are pretty good, eye caps or not.

She's definitely improved since she shed. Showing those bold red stripes while being more active again at night. I feel so relieved.
Thank you again for the information!

If they haven't shed their eyecaps, the eyes will look more opaque or grey. Usually when they shed their skin, the eyecaps will come off also. I have a 13 year old Rosy and she loves to get her shed started by rubbing up against my hand when I hold her! It usually comes off just fine, but if she seems to have trouble I leave her back in the cage where she can rub her snout on her log and rock water dish.

I'm glad that your little rosy is okay! Do you have pics? Here's mine: