[Skin] Accelerated shed cycle , should I worry?

[Tekpc007]

I rescued this 2009(?) hog island girl last about 10 months ago , she was kept in a tank and had a light burn on her back and mites and was very fat . I was told she had bred and had babies in 2013 , I think the owner pumped her with rats for breeding then didn't want her anymore.

Anyway , she is much better now and healed up , eating well but still shy though i can handle her with no bites or hissing. I have been tracking her feeds and sheds , she gets a L or XL rat every 3 weeks . She has like clockwork sheds , every 3.5 months for the last 10 months . But , she shed 3/21 and again just last night so just 2 months past. Nothing has changed as far as environment . She is in a 4x2x2 proline , I have 2 cages run by a herpstat 4 and a male 2012 is in the other cage. Kind of odd , anything i should worry about ? If she sheds again in 2 months , is it vet time?

today's bad cell pic ( She moved and hit the probe when i opened the cage , she thought it was dinner time )

[Noelle7206]

Re: Accelerated shed cycle , should I worry?

I'd keep an eye on her for sure...it would have made more "sense" to me had she done the accelerated shedding right after having the burn & the mites. I think if she's still a bit heavy I'd taper down her food some,
either feed a med-large rat or feed about every 4 weeks instead of 3? I hope she's ok, health-wise...she's a very pretty girl & deserves the life she has now. "Fingers crossed" You might want to do a stool sample
to the vet, next time she dumps? (-if she had mites before, her 'irritation' could very well be internal?)

[Tekpc007]

Re: Accelerated shed cycle , should I worry?

the shed 3/21 was right on schedule , then the 5/18 on was 8 weeks later .Now when cleaning day comes i do have the male and female together on this cat tower i have just for the snakes to climb on for a few hours every few weeks , the male is young and has not yet exhibited any breeding behavior though. i never saw them connect , but i wasn't watching them the whole time. She is kinda plump , i'll keep her on smaller rats every 3 weeks, otherwise the male goes crazy when he smells rat and doesn't get one so i prefer to feed them both at the same time.

is it possible this was POS shed and she is gravid? I'm not into breeding , she hasn't been on the heat much , except after meals. I hope its not that , I'm not prepared for baby boa's ... I'll post a better pic of her whole body from the top so I can get some opinions ...

the male i was told is a nic x hypo CA het for albino but never planned to breed them, what would i get if she is gravid from that pairing? . I had hoped to find her a good home so i can use the 2 cages as 1 for the male in a few years.

check back for more pics shortly.

[Noelle7206]

Re: Accelerated shed cycle , should I worry?

Sorry, I TOTALLY misunderstood your question! Did NOT occur to me from your first post that you were wondering if she bred....my thoughts related to how snakes often shed more frequently when trying to heal from
some injury or illness...."never mind", lol!

If you're not prepared for baby boas why on earth would you let them be together? I'll let someone else answer your breeding questions as boa breeding is so not my thing either...but from what you're describing, I'd have
to say it's possible?

[Tekpc007]

Re: Accelerated shed cycle , should I worry?

i guess sitting on the cat tower together for an hour while cage cleaning it may be possible , the male is usually exploring though but i have seen them just coil up and wait till im done cleaning cages. I have read many posts and have several good breeding books and i had read the POS shed can come out of the normal shedding cycle schedule but i never saw any ovulation swelling, im just not prepared for it equipment wise like a shoe box rack .

I think im leaping too far ahead though. the burn injuries were not bad , just scale damage and scaring , it was healed up nicely after about 3 sheds and antibiotic gel but the scar/dmg scales are there but she didn't seem to shed more often then.

I'll get full body pics tomorrow evening to show if she is too fat/gravid?/ or what and the healed up area also.

[Noelle7206]

Re: Accelerated shed cycle , should I worry?

Well I HOPE she's not gravid as (in my opinion) it's too soon after coming from a "bad situation" for breeding to be good for her. It takes a lot out of a snake to breed...beyond more equipment for your snake room.
These things are always better off being planned.