| When you keep a snake as a pet, it is important to understand their physical process know as "shedding" or "sloughing" of the skin. It can be alarming to see your perfectly healthy snake begin to act or look funny as it enters a shed cycle. However if you know what to look for and how to care for them through this, it becomes a normal occurence in your pet's life. The first sign many new owners notice is that their normally active snake is not showing itself or "hiding". This is normal behavior for a snake about to enter a shed cycle. In the wild, a snake is vulnerable to predators when in shed. The captive snake still follows these strong instincts & should be provided lots of privacy with only necessary handling. Your snake may even become nervous or mildly aggressive when in shed. The hazing over of the eyes make it difficult for your snake to see and it will be easily frightened and may feel it needs to defend itself. Handling should really be halted until the snake has completed a shed ~ the new skin under the outer dermis to be sloughed is very delicate and can be easily damaged by handling. It is okay to gently hold your snake if you must move him or clean his house. This probably won't be necessary since most snakes "hold" their waste internally until the actual shed of the skin when they usually do defecate. Along with hiding and reduced activity, your snake will often refuse a meal prior to any obvious signs of a shed time. Some will even act annoyed or make false strikes at a food item ~ on the other hand, we have many individuals of various species who will eat through the shed cycle as if it were not happening! It is perfectly okay to cease feeding attempts until your snake has completed it's whole shed cycle. A normal, healthy snake can easily go a week or two without feeding. If you do choose to offer a meal, make it smaller than usual ~ a large bulky meal can put undo strain on the animal and make shedding difficult or even dangerous. Your snake will resume feeding as normal when it has shed it's skin (some snakes we have found need one whole day to have a feeding response afterwards...shedding can be a tiring process and the fresh skin is tender and delicate ~ some will feed as soon as it's off and some need a day to "rest"). The second thing most owners notice is their snakes eyes look cloudy. Snakes have a modified scale similar to the rest of their body covering called a "spectacle" or "eyecap". To aid the snake in separating the old skin from the new, glands in the body secrete a fluid which runs between the two layers including under the eyecap. This gives the eye at first a hazy look, gradually increasing to a light blue color which completely covers the eye. Snakes in this phase of the shed are termed "in blue" or "opaque" referring to the eye color. This is roughly the halfway point. The amount of time the whole process takes depends on the species, the age of the animal, it's physical condition, it's living conditions and other various factors. As a rule babies and young snakes will shed quite frequently as their bodies grow. Once a snake is full grown, they may shed as little as twice a year. The condition of their skin is another factor: snakes who suffer with mites, poor husbandry, bad sheds, skin infections, burns or wounds will often shed more frequently as the body tries to heal the skin. It is very important as a snake owner, to make sure your snake has a "good shed". A good shed is when it is completely intact, and like an inverted sock that has been pulled inside out. |
