Hey guys,

Another quick question today, I came home from work yesterday to find my snake had shed. I looked at it a few days ago and thought to myself that it looked like a shed was coming up, and from recent behaviour the snake has been quite shy. However I dismissed the idea when I looked at my notes as it shed in January. I was surprised to see it has shed again so soon.

Last few sheds have been almost exactly 8 weeks apart, give or take a few days, and this one has been between 4 and 5 weeks.

I have in the last few weeks (last 5-6 weeks) I've increased the food size from velvets to weaners and hoppers, which I suspect is responsible for the growth spurt.

I've read in a few places that its not good for a snake to shed more often than every 6 weeks so I just wanted to get some opinions, should I reduce the amount I am feeding? I try to mix it up but usually give him 2 small ones, or a big one and a small one, or just one big one. Really just depends on the size when I pick a few out of the freezer.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Cheers,

Patrick

Haha sorry im at work, can't believe I forgot the most essential info!
Thats what happens when I get distracted every 10 seconds when trying to write a post.

Its about 10-12 months old and I feed it once a week. Approx 65-70cm long.

Exan,

The 6 to 12 week sloughing is an overall growth rate indicator.  Animals can be made to grow faster (but ultimately not longer) by feeding them more and more often.  The problem with sustained over-feeding is that the animals will also become obese.  This has some very real and very serious health consequences.  At the other end of the scale, an animal that is under fed will be slower to grow.  In the more severe cases this can cause stunted growth, so that normal length is never attained as an adult.  It can also result in an animal which is behaviourally inactive, so it hides away most of the time.  I am sure there are some relate health issues but the memory is a bit shot at the moment so I would need to research that one.

A good rule of thumb for feeding rate is once a week a juveniles and once a fortnight thereafter.  If you think about it, your snake is simply in transition.  If it is shedding once every 4 weeks on a weekly feed, it should shed once every 8 weeks on a fortnightly feed.  So if you feed in between, once every 1½ weeks, it should shed every 6 weeks or so.  Once that shedding rate drops down to 4 weekly or so, then you go to fortnightly feeds.

Thanks for the feedback – that is what the information was aimed at achieving.

I meant to mention that experienced keepers do not necessarily adhere to a strict feeding regime, in terms of both timing and quantity.  However, they have the ability to judge body condition of their snakes. They are able to tell by looking at them whether they are too fat or too skinny. There are, no doubt, behavioural clues that they pick up.  The feeding regime I outlined is not the only way to do it, but it is tried and proven method that is easy to follow and therefore highly appropriate to use until experience dictates otherwise.

Mike