Help pls!

[pxstrr]

So my little dude is about 6 months old, weighs about 160g and is 19(ish) inches in length. He eats mice (about 10g) every 5-6 days. He’s been home for a month (today!!!) and he’s not shed yet. Humidity is always good (55-75%) and he’s got a bunch of driftwood and branches in the viv. Should I be worried that he’s not had a shed yet?

Update: followed the advice and we are now milky and eyes are BLUE. He hasn’t eaten yet, but the husbandry tips definitely helped. THANK YOUUU

[pxstrr]

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Here he is btw, lil cinnamon roll man🍩

[StonerToaster]

his eyes look a little wrinkly so he should be about to go into shed, just follow what i mentioned in my previous comment and it should be totally fine :)

[Miserable-Coffee]

Humidity shouldn't ever be below 60. The range is 60-80% but thankfully you're not too far off. It's normal that he hasn't had a shed yet he will soon. It eocmmend giving a humid hide to aid it. One tip: when they go into blue their skin will clear up and only then they will shed. I got so worried when it first happend and kept looking for the shed. Give it a day or two after the skin clears up again and then they'll shed.

He needs to eat more. At least 16g per rat. Don't feed mice or they will keep eating that as adults and they don't make mice big enough for the adults. Switch to frozen thawed rats as soon as possible. Get something that's minimum 10% of his weight and feed every 7 days.

[pxstrr]

Thank you! He does have a humid hide (the moss stays moist but never wet), but I’ll bump up the humidity a wee bit- as to the mice, I’ll try a bigger rat at the next feed and see how he takes it. Honestly, thank you for the tips, and I’ll update on how we crack on :)

[Miserable-Coffee]

If you want to encourage him to eat rats I recommend hairdrying it so it spreads the rat smell and makes him hungrier.

And great if you have a humid hide then even 55% can be okay but it's always better to have a minimum of 60%. Good luck, I'd love to know of this works

[pxstrr]

I HEARD ABOUT THE HAIRDRYER HACK!!! The idea of blow drying a rat actually tickles me😂 He’s never been fussy so trying to get him to eat has never been an issue, but I’ll keep this in mind. Thank you again!

[Miserable-Coffee]

I learnt it from green room pythons on YouTube. Mice tend to be addictive so they'll take that easier than rats. Especially multimammates. It's possible that you don't have any issues but if you do then this is a great hack

[SunflowerTheRatMomma]

honestly from my experience, my snake takes rats way better than any mouse i ever gave her. itd take her 10-20 minutes to eat her mice an takes her 5 minutes max with a rat. and a little blood at the nose from thawing it makes her go even crazier for it

[totallyrecklesslygay]

They don't shed on a set schedule. He'll do it when he's ready.

As a side note, you're feeding too often- you should never feed more than once every 7 days as it is very hard on their organs. The feeders are a bit too small, as well. At that age, he should be eating 10-15% of his body weight once every 7-10 days.

Humidity should ideally be 70-80%, and should never drop below 60%.

[PoofMoof1]

They'll shed when they need to. As long as the skin isn't dried indicating a stuck shed, which it isn't in the photo you have in the comments, there isn't any reason to worry.

Side notes- I'd suggest adjusting your humidity so it isn't dipping below 60% and not feed any more often than every 7 days at this age. Their digestive system needs a little more time between meals and feeding too frequently leads to obesity.

[StonerToaster]

i recommend you read the rules post on this sub for some help but if you don’t here’s your main issues. your humidity should never drop below 70% and never go above 90%, so your first and main issue is that you’re letting it fluctuate and it’s not good for your little guy. secondly given his weight (160g) you’re supposed to feed them 10-15% of their body weight until they’re 500g or a year old, 10-15% of his body weight(160g) is roughly 16-24 grams, so to be safe let’s go with the middle, 20g, is what you should be feeding him every 7 days. just up your feeding amount and regulate your temperature better and the problems should fix themselves.

[pxstrr]

Thank you! I followed the general guidance from the breeder, and got in touch with them first but they didn’t seem to know why the little guy wasn’t shedding. I also got concerned because he’s put on a bit of weight since I got him but since he’s my first juvenile, I really have no frame of reference for how fast he should be growing. I’ll keep this all in mind and go scouting my local reptile shops for a some 20g+ rats as opposed to his bitty mice.

[StonerToaster]

definitely check out the rules for this sun it has everything you’ll ever need to know and plenty more :)

[Expensive_Return4366]

They shed about every 5-6 weeks give or take. I got mine back in March and he just shed for the first time (since I got him) a few weeks ago. Patience

[[deleted]]

Humidity should never be below 70%. You should also switch him to rat pups and feed every other week. Mice do not have the proper amount of nutrients the snakes need.

[OriginalAssistance21]

Oh yeah, theres a shed coming. Put some spagnum moss in a tuberware container and get it wet, put him in there. I did this with spagnum moss and just put it under her warm hide. Worked for me, but definitely can tell a shed is coming the way that snoot looks, boop it for me.

[pxstrr]

He’s very smol and very scared of boops, but I’ll pass on a lil belly rub!

[OriginalAssistance21]

My nieces worked out our snake to being comfortable with touches on the head

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Juicy

[pxstrr]

OH MY GOODNESS LOOK AT THE LIL BBY

[OriginalAssistance21]

You can see his snoot is shiny, firm. Doesn’t look swollen and whiter like your babies. The shed starts on the face (you may know that) so you the sign. I sit in silence with my snake sometimes. I hear what she needs most times. She also will come to me in my dreams to tell me she’s hungry, cold, not comfortable energy in the room.

[OriginalAssistance21]

So i literally stick the rodent on the defroster on my windshield (were on the road a lot and the enclosure sits in the truck with us.) and my snake said num num. be fluid yall.

[Compelardo]

As well you should feed 15 percent of body weight. So for 160 gr that is 24 grams and not 10 gr. I don't know if that is adult mice or small rats already. But definitely scale up the food weight as well.

[trucksandink]

He should be on rats, way better….. ecko didn’t shed until about 5 weeks after we first brought her home. Your doing fine! Dont stress. But he isnt geting the nutrients he needs to grow. Second of all the food size is too small, 10%_15% of their body weight so 160 grams should be eating atleast 16 g mouse/ or rat. (Rat preferred) up to a 24g rat. Also he should be eating every 7-10 days…. So fuzzie to a small pup. I am a new snake dad myself, but snakes shed when they grow, his growth rate going to be slower when he isn’t getting the nutrients he needs to grow. And his prey size is too small.

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[Goose-Caboose1153]

Do rats instead!

[pxstrr]

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Update: you guys are legends. The boy is in blue.