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Shedding, or something else?

K

Kidme

New member
I've had Poppy for about 2 months now and haven't seen her shed yet. Last week, I noticed she wasn't very active and preferred to hide a lot. I usually let her be and catch her out eventually, but it had been about 10 days since she last ate so I pulled her out and fed her. She didn't take her pinkie as quickly as usual, but ate it within 10 minutes (usually eats it instantly) and didn't have any problems. I noticed a couple days later that she had some flaky scales so I thought she was probably getting ready to shed, even though I haven't seen a blue phase yet, unless I missed it during that week she was hiding. It's dry because of the winter so I put a damp paper towel in the tank and covered the screen with a towel, which raised my humidity. Still, I haven't seen her shed yet. I've seen her out and about a little bit and climbing, but she seems strange though. I picked her up one day while she was out, and she seemed like she didn't have very good grip on me compared to usual. In fact, she slipped a bit so I had to grab her a little tighter (still very gentle, just between the side of my thumb and the flesh part of my hand) and that freaked her right the heck out so I just put her back. I also watched her slip off her water bowl even though she's usually really good at crawling along the edge of it. I know she's not totally immobile because she climbs her vine and she's currently up on the humidity gauge, but it seemed strange. Then, to top it off, she's looking a little thin or something. It has been 7 days since her last feed. I can't recall specifically seeing her drink this week, I don't have any reason to think she isn't.

here's a picture of what her tail end looks like, where it's more prominent
405661_621060977165_50403151_32903124_1027154229_n.jpg


is there something wrong, or can all these things be attributed to an impending shed?
 
oh, and when she crawls, it's not as smooth as usual. It looks like she's sticking a little. I first noticed as she was crawling out of her feeding up last week, so even on smooth surfaces it happens.
 
It looks really strange to me, but maybe I'm looking at it strangely. Could you possibly get a picture from the right side of the snake, the part on the picture I marked with a yellow rectangle? It looks almost pinched to me...

And then the part on the picture I circled in red, looks almost like a pink chunk of regurge? Or maybe just the color is weird?

405661_621060977165_50403151_32903124_1027154229_n.jpg
 
The pink thing you have circled is just an oddly lit aspen chunk. Discoloration from my phone, or a reflection or something. I double checked and didn't see anything pink, and there's no smell at all (I've heard that you can't miss the smell of a regurge)

snake2.jpg

snake.jpg


My scale is acting up, but seems to be indicating that she has lost some weight, so could that be it? I don't know why she would have lost weight since she hasn't regurged. Poop was normal too. Should I try feeding her? It's been 10 days since the last feed since I was going to wait until after her shed to feed, but that skinniness makes me worried now. I definitely see some skin flaking off, but not in one nice big piece, unless small frays are common before the full shed.
 
I'd say pinched looking is a good way to describe it too, but there's nothing at all that could have pinched her.

And, just for the record, tank temp is around 86-90degrees on the high side and around 70ish on the cool side (it fluctuates because we don't have control of our thermostat in the apartment). Humidity is currently at about 60-70 because I sprayed the inside. It was at 40 over the weekend. Our own fluctuating weather is making it hard to control the tank.
 
does anyone else have any input? She's still showing the same symptoms. her body seems really stiff and still looks pinched and she's at 5g when she used to be 7g (I don't weight regularly, so not sure when she dropped). she almost looks like she's dehydrated. I've been feeding her and she's still taking it with no regurge. keeping her tank moist. she still has flaky skin too. getting worried.
 
The pinched/folded skin looks like malnutrition. If she's on pinkies, she should also be eating more often than every 10 days. Every 7 at the bare minimum, and every 5 is recommended. Give her a good soak to possibly help with any flaky skin.
And PLEASE read a care sheet. You won't find a single member here who recommends feeding a snake that small every 10 days. On a feeding schedule like that, you could quite possibly be starving her to death. If at all possible, you might also want to get some Nutribac to put on the pinks as well.
 
I apologize if the last part of my post sounds a bit rude or harsh, but if you had done your homework, you would know that your feeding schedule can be very detrimental to your snakes health.
 
Every ten days is too much to wait. She probably isn't getting nutrients correctly . Most people feed every 5 days at her size. Feed her much more frequently and try adding some calcium powder with vitamin d3
 
I'd have to agree. Please do your homework before getting an animal. The way her backbone is sticking out shows upcoming starvation.
 
I guess I wasn't very clear on that. I feed her every 6 days. When I had noticed that it looked like she was about to shed, and she was hiding all the time, I held off on feeding her since I had read conflicting advice about whether to feed your snake during a shed or not. I didn't want to dig her out of her hiding spot just to feed her because I didn't want to stress her out, but since it had reached 10 days, I took her out anyway. There is no way that postponing one feed 4 days has made her malnourished. It wasn't until she started looking like she was going to shed that she started looking like that. After her food settles I'll give her a soak. I've been keeping the humidity up in the meantime. I added some powder nutrients to her pinkie yesterday to see if that will help as well. I'll try some nutribac instead if you think that will be better.

My snake appeared to be in perfect health before I noticed her skin starting to flake. She was active, is a great eater with no regurges, I've seen her drink, pooping regularly. Everything. My temps were a tad high, fluxing between 85-90, but I've turned it down a bit. I have a thermostat, but it's not digital and impossible to keep it at one constant temp. Cool side also varies with the temp in my apartment which I have no control over, but it's generally between 65 at the lowest overnight and about 74 at the highest right after the heat kicks off. I am doing everything right from what I've read. She was growing and thriving. And even now she's still active and still eating, she just looks off and I don't know the cause.
 
It sounds like it could be parasitic. Call your vet and ask if they can do a fecal float test to see if she has worms. A fecal exam is cheep $30 ish.
When she eats her pinky is there a noticable sized lump?
Can you take a picture with her next to her food? The mouse should be 1.5-2x the widest part of her body. A friend of mine was given an adult corn that was eating pinky mice(advice from the previous owner), thankfully I happened to be near the town she lives in and he is now on f/t adults.
 
I'll try to get a picture, but she ate just last night so it will be a couple days. But yes, there is always a noticeable lump.

Will the vet want me to take the snake in, or just bring a poop sample?
 
Call and ask, most Vets just want the poo. If they find something they will want to see the snake. Then they can properly dose/diagnose.
 
I greatly apologize. Yes, I think a visit to the vet is in order. Most want both. Also, frequent warm baths (keep her tail out of the water in case she goes in there) will help her digest faster.
 
Well, just as an update in case anyone else has a snake that goes through this and needs some help. I took her to the vet yesterday and she didn't seem too concerned. She said it just looks like a shedding problem and the reason for the skin tenting is dehydration, but since she's so small she can't give her any fluids. She said to soak her 3 times a day for 10 minutes until she sheds and then 3 times weekly after that to prevent the bad shed in the future. So far the soaks do look like they are loosening up her skin so that's good. Hopefully she'll be back to normal soon. They also took a stool sample to test for parasites and I should get a call about the results soon. She also told me to keep my humidity up higher and to make sure my temps are warm enough where she is usually at in the tank, so on top of the substrate rather than the temp on the glass like I've been doing. That's about it! I'll update about whether she has parasites or not after I get the results. Thanks everyone.
 
How's she doing? Getting fluids down? If it's really dehydration, maybe there are things you can do to her setup to encourage her to drink more.

Are you providing enough water? Are you changing it often enough to keep it fresh? Can she reach into the bowl easily? Is the bowl out in the open where she's afraid to go drink from it? I put a hide right next the the bowl for my anti-social hatchling. And a branch over it so he can dangle down to get a drink (thinks he's a tree boa I swear).

Some members here say their snakes often drink during/after handling sessions. While I would probably keep handling to a minimum until she recovers, if it doesn't stress her out, you could try this. If you feed in a separate container, perhaps after she eats, put in a small dish of water and she if she'll drink it.

Finally, I've read of cases where keepers bathed dehydrated snakes in electrolite fluids (like pedialite) to try to rehydrate them. Definitely you should read up on it a bit before just trying it off of my vague memories, but it might be worth a look.
 
Thanks for asking! I forgot to update after the vet. No parasites! She still looks the same, but isn't getting worse so that's a plus and she's still eating. The vet said it will look normal once she fully sheds. It's still a working progress. I don't get to soak her as often as 3 times a day because I'm out of my house from 7am-10pm most days and I've been suffering from a bad cold. I've seen her drink so I know the water dish isn't a problem. I will put a smaller dish closer to her hidey spots, if that might help though. I've been wanting to inject her pinkies with a liquid supplement that's supposed to be for dehydrated and weak reptiles (she's not weak or anything though), but I just haven't gotten around to it. The directions say to let the animals lap it up or to force it down but she's way too tiny to force it.

and I know the vet suggested turning my heat up, but I think I will turn it back down because she's preferring to lay out in the open sometimes which she never did before which I'm attributing to being too warm.
 
She died today. I don't know why. I fed her Tuesday night. I came home tonight and found a regurge and a dead snake. No more snakes for me. I'm so sad.
 
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