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haydnrobinson

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As you may have read in another thread, we expected Salvador (6 month old normal) to be in blue at the moment as she's hiding a lot and her skin does look an odd dull colour (although only slightly). However we've been checking her every couple of days or so (just uncovering her from her bedding rather than handling her) and haven't noticed her eyes being blue at all. I took her out last night to have a proper look and she doesn't have blue eyes, but her skin is still an odd colour. She hasn't eaten for 13 days today (8th december) despite us offering f/t pinkies 2 nights ago, as we couldn't see her eyes being blue at all. We first noticed her being slightly dull on the 1st of December- 7 days ago today. She is behaving like she's blue though, hiding all the time when usually at night time she's quite active exploring her viv.

We thought maybe she's trying to brumate because the temp has suddenly dropped in our house? We can't keep her warm end of the viv hotter than 75F at the moment without using a fan heater, but thought it best not to as in the wild it'd be colder in the winter anyway. If this is the case, is there any way to keep her from brumating because she feels a little thin now, and she was a bad eater at the beginning anyway so we're worried she won't eat again. And if this is the case why does she look dull? Should I take her to the vet to get her checked out?

Sorry about the long post and all the questions, we just want to do what's right for our little snake and we know you're all so much more experienced than us!!!
 
Do you have a UTH on her? That should definitely be able to bump up her temp.

As far as the in-blue/not-in-blue thing goes, the shedding process does take a little while. Sometimes, the blue eye period doesn't last very long, and it can be easy to miss. When was her last shed?
 
Hey, thank you for the speedy reply!

Yep she's got a heat mat, and it covers between a third and half of her viv. It's got a thermostat too, it's a 'living earth electronics habistat'. I just checked, the hot side is actually around 83F at the moment so that's ok right?

Her last shed was on the 15th of October, and we noticed her being in blue 6 days before that. (So glad I keep super detailed records for her!!!) Before that she's been shedding around once every 5 weeks approximately, so I guess she's due to shed now.
 
haydnrobinson said:
Hey, thank you for the speedy reply!

Yep she's got a heat mat, and it covers between a third and half of her viv. It's got a thermostat too, it's a 'living earth electronics habistat'. I just checked, the hot side is actually around 83F at the moment so that's ok right?

Her last shed was on the 15th of October, and we noticed her being in blue 6 days before that. (So glad I keep super detailed records for her!!!) Before that she's been shedding around once every 5 weeks approximately, so I guess she's due to shed now.
Click to expand...

The heat mat setup sounds fine!

If her last shed was that long ago, and she's only 6 months old, I'm willing to bet she's ready for another shed!
 
Cool, thank you for your help. Humidity seems high at the moment (as we want to help her shed) but I may put in a humidity box just to make sure she feels comfortable. If she doesn't use it that's fine (we've never given her one before and she always sheds beautifully) but I'd like her to have the option :)
 
Your definitely doing things right...I also keep very detailed records of all my snakes. I find that because snakes hide illness so easily and you generally do not know they are ill until they are really ill, that the detailed records help me to notice even the slightest difference. Then I can easily monitor differences and learn from them.

Sometimes differences turn out to be just changes in their behaviour and sometimes they are things to be concerned about.

With your snake, I would agree with Robbie and your records, she is likely about to shed. Sometimes it is just so hard to be patient and not worry with our little snakey babies!
 
Tell me about it! Haha maybe us women have maternal instincts for our snakes, I haven't got any children yet so she's my little baby! Haha :) Thank you both for all your advice, I'm keeping a close eye on her as always. Would you advise not feeding until she sheds? We usually don't but she's feeling pretty thin and this has already taken longer than usual :(
 
Haha I just realised I put 'maternal' and I'm writing under the name 'Haydn"! He and I (Chloe) have the snake together and we both come on here to post things so it's in his name as he came on first... sorry if that seemed weird!!! Haha :D
 
It's not weird Chloe people pick all kinds of user names so you never know if it is a male of female unless it says or they have their pic up there. I am with you about the whole maternal instincts thing!!

My personal opinion don't feed till she is done her shed. Some will take food but then regurge and some will be fine and some will just refuse. I don't like taking risks with my babies so I will not offer food when I think they are going through the shed process. They would amaze you at how long they can go with out food.

Just out of curiosty what kind of feeding regime do you have her on? Do you use the Munson Plan.... so you have an idea of weight gain or loss as a guide to health?

Just incase you have not seen it yet here it is(this was created by a user on here), I love it because I am detail oriented and I like to have some way to confirm if the snake is graining, maintaining or loosing weight, as it is a good sign of health.

The Munson Plan (Sample Feeding Chart): Revised 06/08/08
-When they're on single pinks (2-3g), I feed every 5-6 days. (Snake = 4-15g)
-Double pinks (3g x 2) every 5-6 days. (Snake = 16-23g)
-Small fuzzies (5-7g) every 6-7 days. (Snake = 24-30g)
-Regular fuzzies (7-9g) every 6-7 days (Snake = 30-50g)
-Hoppers (9-12g) every 6-7 days (Snake = 51-90g)
-Weaned (14-20g) every 7 days (Snake = 91-170g)
-Adult (20-30g) every 7-x days (Snake = 170+) See below.

Note: Adult females are fed more frequently than adult males (especially following brumation). Adult females are fed every 7-12 days; adult males are fed every 11-14 days.

By the way nice to meet another European!
 
Hey, she shed last night yay! So she will be fed today :) Yep we found the munsen plan on here and go by that. She's almost 16g (we have super accurate scales and she's about 15.75g at the moment!) and we have a few big pinkies left and then lots of small ones, so our plan is to keep feeding her the big ones for just one per meal, and then (providing she's about 16g by that point) start feeding her 2 of the small ones every 6 days. She's eating 1 big pinky every 5 days at the moment and usually is quite active the next night with not much of a visible lump so we think she's ready for bigger meals now. We just don't want to give her a big pinky when we give her 2 just in case it's too much for her. :)
 
And once again, thank you both so much for your help, it really calmed us both down. This forum and the people here are so helpful, especially for first time snake owners like us! :)
 
That is exactly how I felt about it when I joined to! I love this forum and it's members.
 
Everyone's just so friendly aren't they! Anyway, I forgot to ask before, where in Europe are you from(since you said it was nice to see another European!)?
 
I said that because lately I have noticed a few more Europeans on the forum and have liked each one I have talked to.

To be honest Chloe, I am not from Europe, I was there a couple of times and found it to be such a nice place. Loved the people I met and the places I went. My brother and his wife lived there for a few years in East Croydon, London, England. He brought my husband and I over for a Christmas present because it had always been my childhood dream to see Big Ben! While there he also took us to Paris.
 
Awh that's nice, we must be representing Europe well then! London is amazing, I'm from England and only live a couple of hours away so it's nice to go sometimes. Always hectic though and super busy which sometimes is too much! I just got back from London yesterday actually, went to stay with Haydn's sister for the night :) Big Ben is really cool, I love it even though I've seen it lots of times! Paris is also beautiful, but again can be quite hectic, especially around the Champs Elysses (I don't think I spelt that right!). You've made me want to go back to Paris just from mentioning it, it's such an amazing place!
 
I totally agree with you there Chloe and I only got to spend a day in Paris and approx 12 in London and neither were enough time!! My husband and I loved it so much we considered moving our family there but were afraid we would never be able to afford it.
 
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