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New snake owner...I need to talk this out

J

Jenstet

New member
My son has had a new corn snake for 2+ weeks now so we are very new to this. I've been reading a lot of threads about the shed cycle so I think this is normal.
A little over a week ago we noticed the dark black on her belly graying. It was like that for quite a few days so we kind of figured a shed was coming eventually. This past Monday he took her out to handle her and her orange skin on top was noticeably lighter. He left her alone and we peeked in on her Wednesday. Her eyes were cloudy and she was doing this weird head movement. An upward jerk. Her feeding day is Wednesday and we opted to skip it until she sheds. We took a peek today, her eyes are clear and I don't think her skin looks as light. It looks kind of normal but she's still doing the weird head jerk thing.
I have been reading from you all that their eyes clear up before a shed.

Does their skin continue to look pale until it comes off?
When they shed is it always left on top of the substrate or can they bury it?
I feel like we are starving her.
She's 1 1/2 years or so. Not really a baby. She's been in her hot hide (85 degrees) and hasn't peeked her head out in days. She did come out yesterday to poop which made me feel better. I placed her water dish at the entrance so she doesn't have to go far to get a drink.
I'm trying not to be neurotic about this but it's so foreign to me.
Thank you in advance for your help. I feel like a first time mother again calling the pediatrician every five minutes. I'm thankful you are here :)
 
After they go from cloudy to clear again it usually takes another day or so for them to actually shed the skin. I usually always find my snakes sheds on top of the substrate, once I found my Rubber Boa's shed under hers...just depends :) When my lavender sheds he is hiding out for days....he will come out when he is ready for help (he is special needs so I assist him with his sheds).

You are not staving her :) I've actually fed my snow stripe on accident a couple of times because its REALLY hard to tell when she's going to shed lol. I've fed her and literally the next day I find her shed skin lol. (I don't intentionally feed them if I know they are shedding though). She will be fine. After she sheds she will be good to eat. I feed my lavender the same night after he sheds.
 
What I have found is that sometimes the skin does look pale until it comes off, but it kind of depends on the snake. Sometimes the "paleness" disappears. My sheds have always been on top of the substrate.

When was the last time your snake ate? They can go for like 3-4 weeks without eating.

That behavior you described is actually quite normal for snakes. They often are grumpy and will stay hiding while they are about to shed. Could I maybe see a picture of your snake?
 
Zombiegirl said:
After they go from cloudy to clear again it usually takes another day or so for them to actually shed the skin. I usually always find my snakes sheds on top of the substrate, once I found my Rubber Boa's shed under hers...just depends :) When my lavender sheds he is hiding out for days....he will come out when he is ready for help (he is special needs so I assist him with his sheds).

You are not staving her :) I've actually fed my snow stripe on accident a couple of times because its REALLY hard to tell when she's going to shed lol. I've fed her and literally the next day I find her shed skin lol. (I don't intentionally feed them if I know they are shedding though). She will be fine. After she sheds she will be good to eat. I feed my lavender the same night after he sheds.
Click to expand...


Is the lavender you are talking about Omnom?
 
I imagine having a light colored snake would present a challenge in determining when they are ready to shed. That's something I hadn't considered.

She was starting to get a little hazy here. This was last week.

She ate last Wednesday so it's only been 9 days. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that a creature can only eat once a week and not die :)

I've read that some people feed though the shedding process, I just wanted to avoid any problems. This regurge thing doesn't sound pleasant. We've only fed her twice because we haven't had her long.

thanks for your quick responses :)
 

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Is the lavender you are talking about Omnom?
Click to expand...

Yep. He's the only lavender I own :)

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that a creature can only eat once a week and not die
Click to expand...

I know right?! Snakes never cease to fascinate me...how they can eat with no "hands", how they can be ok for a week between meals, etc.
 
the shedding sounds normal to me, just keep an eye on it.....they do tend to hide a lot while they are in shed.

now the head movement, as long as it doesn't look like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0vO6jfIe9o then you'll probably be fine.

the feeding ones a week, it might be good to take a look at this chart, there are a lot of people out there that think they are feeding their cornsake good but are actually really over/under feeding them.
http://medusa-corns.webs.com/feedingchart.htm
This chart is what most people here use, I like to weigh my snake every time before I feed them just to keep an eye on if they are gaining or loosing weight.

hope this helps

very nice snake btw
 
What everyone else said!

Actually, a healthy fed yearling snake can go much longer without food than you'd think, especially if they aren't moving much (ie. in shed). I have heard of some refusing food for 2-3 months and being totally fine. Larger snakes of course can go much longer. Ball pythons in particular are picky, and I've heard of one going as long as 18 MONTHS without eating anything! Of course that is not quite like a corn snake :p

You don't have to move the water dish closer to your snake if you don't want to, by the way. If s/he's thirsty s/he will come out :) maybe just at night when no one is around.

Also, are you worried about the head jerking? I don't really understand how you've described it.
 
okay, I uploaded a video to Youtube. It's my first time so let me know if the link doesn't work.

http://youtu.be/q7bJikLFtuA

She did the movement although it wasn't as pronounced as on previous days. This is a new behavior that started during this whole shed process so I'm hoping it's related to that.

I will get to the store this weekend to get a scale. How do you keep the snake on the scale? I assume you put her in something with a lid. She's very wiggly :)

I really appreciate all your comments. Thank you so much.
 
She's still in shed, even though her eyes look clear she can't see as well as normal and won't want to be disturbed until afterwards. Which accounts for the head movement. Some snakes get really grumpy and will strike while they're in blue. As for regurging due to a shed, that's more common in hatchlings than in adults. I can't off the top of my head think of any of my adults ever doing it, but quite a few babies have.
 
To keep her on the scale, get a tub or something (in my experiences with a lid works best, so they don't keep climbing out) and put it on the scale, then press the reset/zero button to get it to 0, and then add the snake.
 
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