Abnormal and excessive shedding?

[Jay84]

Hi guys,

My housemate has a water python, about 7 years old, roughly 6 or 7 foot long and female. Now for the 'problem' - in the last 5 weeks she has shed 4 times, and tonight her skin has gone dull and her eyes have clouded again! Why is she shedding so much?

There are no mites in the cage, she is active and healthy and has eaten once in the last few weeks inbetween sheds. should i be worried?

 

[Slateman]

Check for mites first. Is the snake shedding unbroken skin?
I would suggest vet for snake shedding each week.
Actually I newer heard about something like this yet.
I would like to hear if somebody have same problem. That would be interesting.
Once a week 4 times in row is bit to much.

 

[richardsc]

4 times in the last 5 weeks is excessive,even with mites,especially for an adult,is it completing sheds in one piece?????if in pieces perhaps its one shed but mistaken for more cause its taking a while,beats me what else it could be,but im sure you will get a few ideas from others,keep us posted

 

[Jay84]

There are no mites in the cage, i have looked really hard. and yes iv had mites before so i know what to look for.

she is shedding great with no problems, full sheds and unbroken.

????

 

[MrKite]

My Black headed python used to do exactly the same thing. I posted a thread about it way back when, but i got no definite answers. The snake did NOT have mites.

The snake would shed, or seem to be shedding pretty much all the time. Apart from constantly having really wrinkly skin and cloudy eyes all the time, the snake seemed very healthy and fed regularly. It was quite stressful as the snake looked terrible most of the time and i was worried something was seriously wrong. This went on for a few months.

I took it to a vet one time, but i got no real reason as to why this was occurring. Eventually i put it down to a humidity problem and swapped his larg-ish water bowl for something smaller. Ever since i did this, the problem quickly stopped.

However, in hind sight, i had another thought that began to develope. The larger water bowl had originally come with an adhesive sticker on the inside of the bowl (where the water would go) that was very hard to remove, and although i got off all the adhesive i could, there still appeared to be slight remnants that would not budge. In my mind at the time, i thought surely a pet manufacturer would never use a harmful adhesive on their products, especially for water bowls. Needless to say, just tp be on the safe side, i dont use that water bowl any more for any of my animals. Maybe this adhesive affected the water just enough to cause skin irritations when drank or swam in...

Anyway, i guess you could say i have no difinitive answers, but as this same problem once happened to my snake, i thought i would share everything that i knew about it. It may be the humidity, or perhaps some sort of chemical that the snake is exposed to. Of course, it could be something completely different.

Hope you can work it out mate.

PS - I did a bit of searching and this is the thread i started when i had my problem. No real answers lie within, but thoought it might give you something to work with.

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-snakes/the-shed-a-thon-84346

 

[Jay84]

Thanks so much for your reply Mrkite!

Being a water python we have a large bowl of water in the cage so she can fully submerse herself. I will remove this in place of a smaller one and see how that goes. Nothing in the cage has changed over the last few years tho so its all very unusual.

As for her looking awful, yes, she looks terrible. until she sheds then looks great for a few days before clouding up again.

anyone else got any theories?

 

[LauraM]

Stepdad was looking for shoulder started laughing " cuz it thought it was to fat so it got rid of the extra layers" *sigh he is hilarious isnt he... umm im not sure what it could be if it isnt mites... might be worth taking to the vet (just to be sure)


Goodluck and best wishes .
laura

 

[MrKite]

Thanks so much for your reply Mrkite!

Being a water python we have a large bowl of water in the cage so she can fully submerse herself. I will remove this in place of a smaller one and see how that goes. Nothing in the cage has changed over the last few years tho so its all very unusual.

As for her looking awful, yes, she looks terrible. until she sheds then looks great for a few days before clouding up again.

anyone else got any theories?

Yeah, thats exactly what was happening with my snake. It was a nightmarish time to be honest so i hope you get it sorted out soon.

 

[Jay84]

MrKite, how long did it go on for with your BHP? did it just stop one day?

 

[MrKite]

MrKite, how long did it go on for with your BHP? did it just stop one day?

It went on for months. Pretty much because no one could provide me with any information on what was occurring. I took it to the vets a couple of times, but as bad luck would have it, those were on days between shedding cycles, so the snake didn't look as though anything was wrong so it was hard to describe to the vet exactly what was happening. I had an $80 blood test done which came back negative and from all reports, the snake was healthy. However, i knew something was wrong.

The snake also never missed a feed. Was always very eager to eat.

It pretty much stopped as soon as i swapped the water bowl to something smaller, but at the time, i was getting desperate, and cleaning the cage thouroughly every week to try and eliminate anything that could be causing an irritation (perhaps some traces of bleach or something used to clean the tank or hide boxes for example)

I wish i could tell you exactly what made it stop, but i have no real idea. Humidity seemed like a far too simple explaination in my reasoning given that the larger water bowl wasn't even excessively large, but perhaps large enough to warrant changing it over.

 

[Zoltag]

My female Coastal had a similar issue a year or two back.

She started shedding every second week and continued doing so for about 4 sheds. She was housed in the same enclosure as my male Coastal at the time (and had been in the same enclosure together for about 12 - 18 months) and he didnt display any similar behaviour.

I ended up putting it down to her going through a growth spurt, as at the same time she was feeding ravenously and gaining a noticeable amount of size in comparison to the male (more noticeably in girth, as checked by comparing head sizes). Also, as the growth slowed down somewhat, the time between shedding increased (so even though the short shed cycles started pretty much instantly, they certainly didnt stop that way).

Just an aside to this, I'm pretty sure my male shed once the entire time this was going on. Also prior to this, they both typically shed at the same time and ever since they shed at completely different times to each other.

 

[BlindSnake]

Abnormally frequent shedding can be caused by stress and illness.. it can also happen for reasons that are not apparent to the keeper.

Has anything changed in the tank, or room where the animal is housed in the last few months? Has the position of the tank changed? (ie. moved to a higher traffic area)

That is where my thoughts would be - what is different, what could be causing stress etc.
(and of course, keep an eye out for any further signs of illness)

 

[Jay84]

Thankyou guys and girls for all you advice and comments and possible reasons for the cause of this. I will tell my housemate to clean the cage thoroughly and remove the water bowl in place for a smaller one. hopefully this helps.

As for the cage etc, it hasnt been changed for over a year, same furnishings, same location, same everything. Which is why i just couldnt figure out an explanation.

Fingers crossed on of the above will work!

Thanks again

 

[Allies_snakes]

I know this may sound stupid, but do you take your snakes to a specialist vet or just the local vet down the road? I take mine to a vet that specialises in exotics who are far more educated and experienced with herps and exotic pets.

Maybe ask around and see what vets are experienced with exotics in your area.

Good luck with everything hey.

 

[Jay84]

There is a reptile vet in Karingal, about 10 mins away. Ill get my housemate to take his snake there. thanks for all the help guys!