help - sheding taking too long

[coennie44]

I am new at this and bought my first albino corn snake about 2 months ago. It is about 4 months old now and is midway in the shedding process. It seems that is taking too long and I am starting to worry as she does not want to eat and has not eaten in 3 weeks.

I tried to feed her roughly 3 weeks ago and she did not eat. A few days later her skin turned pale and her eyes became cloudy. She then returned back to normal a week later. She has since still not shed the skin.

Please help as I don't know if it is normal for the shedding process to take this long. I can see she is starting to loose weight and is afraid she might die.

 

[cjbage]

here is a post for an incomplete shed, try this.

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56170

Also, I am assuming you have thoroughly cleaned the viv out ... just in case she shed and you haven't found it? Maybe try offering a smaller food item? thawed and nice and warm. I always get a good response if the mouse/pinkie is very warm.

 

[coennie44]

Thanks for the link. However she has not yet started to shed. Do you suggest I do this in order to try and start the shedding?

I will try your advice regarding the smaller pinki and see how it goes. In the past I have used warm water from the tap to thaw the pinki and it worked fine. I have read that it is not a good idea to use boiling water as this causes the pinki to partially cook. Not sure what the temp of the warm tap water is, but it is warm enough to burn my hand. I keep it in there for about 15 min.

 

[cjbage]

Sometimes it takes a while, try to find out what the humidity is in your cage, along with the temps. a warm moist hide may also help. Normally mine will go into blue, go hide and not come out for anywhere from 4-5 days then about a week later will shed.

I am a bit strange with how I thaw mine, I boil water, pour about a half a cup and then put a small plastic plate on top of the cup with the mouse or pink on it. It will thaw fairly quickly, and warm it up with out boiling.

You may also want to try to make a slit in it's skin once its warm, nothing deep but maybe it will help. I keep an exacto knife just for this reason.

 

[coennie44]

Good news. Found her shed skin this morning. looks healthy and all in one piece. Looks like I was worried for no reason.

I will try and feed her again tonight and see how it goes. I am sure she will have regained her appetite and must be starving.

Yes. it is a very unusual way to thaw them. I have done quite a bit of reading and have not come across this method before. i think i will give it a try and see how it works.

I always brain the pinky after thawing.

Appreciate the advice, thanks

 

[cjbage]

Good news. Found her shed skin this morning. looks healthy and all in one piece. Looks like I was worried for no reason.

I will try and feed her again tonight and see how it goes. I am sure she will have regained her appetite and must be starving.

Yes. it is a very unusual way to thaw them. I have done quite a bit of reading and have not come across this method before. i think i will give it a try and see how it works.

I always brain the pinky after thawing.

Appreciate the advice, thanks

yeah I am strange that way, but it works for me. They don't mess around when I do it that way, they head straight for it and strike then swallow it, my snow will actually strike his mouse hard then coil around and eat it.

Before they took a while and wondered around a bit then finally got around to eating lol.

 

[Rigby & Marcy]

Sometimes my snakes take absolutely forever to shed. Marceline has taken up to 3 weeks from being blue to actually shedding. It seems like a long time to skip feedings but it takes ages for a snake to starve. With young snakes a long wait will just delay their growth a tiny bit, but not do any harm. Hope your little one feeds better from now on.