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#1993737
Smbluz
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Handling After Shedding 
Friend found this little gopher snake (17 in) on a job site wrapped up in his wheel spokes. Thought I might want it to feed to my hawk. (Yes Im a licensed falconer) But my family fell in love with it and we now have a nice pet snake. We have a small zoo here but this is our first snake. Called a guy who has quite a few snakes and got us started. He is out of town right now so thought I would post this question to you all. Sammie the snake just completed a nice shedding and I was wondering if we can go back to handling him right away or do we need to wait awhile (couple of hours or days)?? Also should we feed him now or wait a day or so? Should we feed him extra on the next feeding? We have been feeding him every 8 days and he is due for a feeding tomorrow. My 7 yr old is going out of his mind not being able to hold him every day. LOL I will call Pet Kingdom tomorrow morning and seek their advice in case I dont hear back on this message board tonight. Any other info or good websites would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance
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04/26/09 11:19pm
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#1993772
JackAsp
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Message To: Smbluz In reference to Message Id: 1993737
Handling After Shedding
Handling after a shed is harmless. To be honest, the physical danger of handling BEFORE a shed tends to be hugely exaggerated, but before a shed they tend to want to be left alone anyway. The only problem is that handling may, in the case of a wild-caught snake, interfere with his appetite and cause him to be late for his next meal.
I’ve found that babies will usually eat on schedule no matter what, even if they’re about to shed. Adults will usually stop until they shed, and then eat immediately. I assume you already know not to play with them for a couple days after feeding. So my advice for this particular shed is to feed him, leave him alone to digest, and then go back to handling normally. But if his last mel had been, say, three days before the shed, you could go ahead and play with him right after the shed.
Every 8 days is an okay feeding regimen for an adult, but for a baby that young I’d go a little more often. Every five days until he’s a little bigger, slowing down eventually to every seven days as an adult is more like it. When he’s older, you’ll have to worry about making sure the weekly feedings aren’t too big, but at this age he’ll just keep growing long and skinny for a while. Feeding TOO often, like every other day, would put a strain on his kidneys, but don’t be in fear at his current age of actually getting him fat. You couldn’t even if you tried.
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04/27/09 01:11am
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#1994393
Smbluz
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Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 1993772
Handling After Shedding
Thank You very much. We fed him a fuzzy tonight and it took him all of 3 seconds after it was in his feeding tub, to strike it. Little Sammie is pretty cool. Cant believe we haven’t had a snake before this.
thanks Again
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04/28/09 12:21am
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#1994461
JackAsp
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Message To: Smbluz In reference to Message Id: 1994393
Handling After Shedding
Your phrasing makes me wonder. Are you putting him in the feeding tub and then adding the mouse? To avoid accidents (aka having an excited snake bite on and coil around your hand and constrict until you run cold water on him) try it the other way around and put the mouse in first, then wash the smell off your hand and add the snake. Hand brings snake to food, not food to snake. Less confusion that way, and less chance of him someday jumping the gun and striking without thinking. Not that he’s dangerous anyway, but it’s a good, stress-free protocol that’s easy to teach kids. Especially if he doesn’t make the switch to dead prey items. I had one pine snake that insisted on lie until he was over eight years old, but he never got a feeding injury because I’d always put the mouse in a bucket, hold him above it, and let him choose the exact moment of ambush. And if he wasn’t hungry, he didn’t even have to go near it. (Of course, as you’ve noticed, they’re usually hungry!) Usually they’ll make the switch to bulk-purchased frozen/thawed prey pretty easily though, which saves you not only on money but also on pinworms an things like that. Worst case scenerio: if you thaw one out and he doesn’t take it, the bird gets a treat!
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04/28/09 07:55am
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#1998052
Smbluz
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Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 1994461
Handling After Shedding
Thanks for the info. I do appreciate it. Yes we where putting the snake in the feeding tub first and then the mouse. I see what you mean and that makes sense about doing it the other way around
Thanks,
Shannon
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05/03/09 10:29pm
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