How long should a shed take?

[keelerskiddiecare]

Mrs. Wiggles is in shed. At least I am pretty sure she is. Every time she has shed my son (the one who owns her, has seen her eyes gray over before the acutal shed happens). As well she has a giant feed and then stops eating until she is done shedding. I have finally caught onto all of her clues now, and am paying close attention to her shed process. In the past, we always made sure her large pond was full of fresh water for her to soak in but never sprayed her down as we did not know better and all of her other 4 or 5 shed have come off perfectly. This time knowing that we should also spritz her we have been doing that 1 or 2 times daily as well as the full pond. The process from the gorge feed has now been approx. 2 weeks. It has been approx 5 days since her eyes greyed over and still no shed. Is this normal, am I just worring because I have never actually known her cues and paid attention from start to finish? Has anyone and ideas on how long it should be from the grey over point in a garter who is approx. 3ft and 2-3 inches thick? :confused:

[Sid]

Tisha, It is normal for them to remain "opaque" for several days. Then the eyes will clear, but they remain dull looking. Another couple of days and the shedding starts.

[keelerskiddiecare]

Thanks Sid I was starting to panic, she is definitely a member of this family and there would be a lot of tear shed(don't mind the pun) if we lost her!

[anji1971]

Different garters spend different amounts of time getting the job done.
My older snake, Chili, is cloudy-eyed for days, and takes over a week to complete the whole process. With Deejay, it's two days blue, shed within 36hours after the eyes clear. Babies are so fast, I usually miss the blue phase.:)

[gregmonsta]

Definately ... babies are like rockets getting through a shed cycle.

[snakems]

Different garters spend different amounts of time getting the job done.
My older snake, Chili, is cloudy-eyed for days, and takes over a week to complete the whole process. With Deejay, it's two days blue, shed within 36hours after the eyes clear. Babies are so fast, I usually miss the blue phase.:)
the second snake you mentioned sounds much like mine.
good to know :)

[TheBeansprout]

Hi, I agree. One of my older snakes seems to take forever to shed. From the time her eyes fog over to 'shed day' can be a couple of weeks. She takes a long time to actually shed also. Does a little bit, rests, does some more, rests. lol

Then some of my boys it's lightening speed. Eyes fog over to complete shed can be a couple of days.

One thing I found is to make sure that their tails are completely shed off. Sometimes they can miss the tip and if that builds up, they can end up losing the very end of their tail.

Hope that helps.

TheBeansprout

[ephemerata]

Hi, I am new here. I actually joined because my snake, sugar, had cloudy eyes then not & I was wondering when she/he(?) would shed or what I could do to help her along. I did not know her with her first shed (she was a rescue/unwanted from my elementary school educational science lab) but had her in her second shed which went off quicker after the blue eyes or "like a rocket getting through a shed cycle" (I like that imagery!) We did two daily soaks in warm water, and she really enjoyed that along with swimming outdoors in our bathtub pond. I am kind of a procrastinator and she beat me to shedding before I could ask! But anyway happy to be here and great information available. How marvelous! How bright her blue and maroon checkerboard is, with orange and white sides!

[drache]

Jen
not to rush you or anything . . .
but you must show us pictures of Sugar - very soon

[anji1971]

One thing I found is to make sure that their tails are completely shed off. Sometimes they can miss the tip and if that builds up, they can end up losing the very end of their tail.

Hope that helps.


Good call on the tail reminder! I forgot to check that only once, and little Checkers is now a few millimetres shorter than he was supposed to be.:eek:

[keelerskiddiecare]

Thanks to all for their reassurance, Mrs. Wiggles finally, finished the job! I did Steve's shed box trick for 3o mins and it still was not until almost 30 hours later that she took it all off. But she had a little trouble right in the middle of her back on the dark part right beside her orange/yellow stripe. The shed tore and left some unshed, so I had to put her back in the box and then rub the stuck parts off. It now all seems to be off. Thanks so much for all of the great advice, with out it I would have never known that there was any problem with her broken shed!

[Snake lover 3-25]

congrats on the shed:)