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Shed signs?

Maloof

Maloof

New member
Hey guys, I have kind of an odd question for ya. My snake is 8 months old and I have a shed based question. My snake never had the normal shed warning signs, like the dull body coloring and the blue phase of the eyes. The only warning I ever got from him on all 3 of his sheds was an odd burrowing behavior. He would kind of dig instead of burrow, meaning that instead of him just going down below the substrate he moved the substrate away and sat in a hole, resting on the bottom of the tank and below the top level of the substrate, but still 100% visible.

Well today was a handling day and when I moved his hide I saw that his colors were extremely dull, and his belly was gray and had a dull waxy look. These would be obvious shed signs which he most certainly didn't display for his other sheds. He still handled fine, wasn't grumpy or anything, and still didn't have the blue eye phase.

My question is: do a corn snake's shed signs change over time? Will he eventually start showing these more distinct shed signs more often? Has anyone seen this odd digging behavior? How different is one individual corn snake's shed signs to another? This isn't really urgent or anything, I'm just curious. Thanks for any input.
 
well about the digging. I would say that its probly normal that your snake behaves a little different while shedding. While in that state snakes feel more vulnerable, but not all snakes react in the same way. About not turning blue. Do you think perhaps you might have just missed it or not noticed? I dont know what to say about that but maybe someone else will.
 
RE the digging, I would check your temps are ok, but as you've only noticed this around shedding, that's probably all it is. They feel very vulnerable at this time and it can therefore alter their normal behaviour somewhat.

I'm sure the dull colouration you're seeing now is an impending shed. I must admit it wasn't until my boy got really big that I could tell every single time a shed was coming up - he did used to surprise me at times as a nipper! Now you can see it a mile off! I'm sure you'll find the same.
 
The temp's are good, 80-85 on warm side and normally around 70-75 on cool. It's HIGHLY unlikely that I missed the blue phase, because I handle my corn 4 times a week, and feed him on another day. The other two days I don't handle him or anything as he's digesting, but I see my corn daily, and all three of his previous sheds were during the 4 handling days, so I would have clearly seen the blue phase.
 
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