guidofatherof5
12-19-2010, 02:42 AM
This thread you are about to read didn't happen overnight. It was a couple months in the making. It started with many good meals consisting of worms, pinkies and some occasional salmon. Add in fresh water, a warm hide and a predator free environment and you've got the makings of a growing snake.
She's been off food for the last 3 weeks. That once beautiful coating of colored scales is now dull and lackluster. She doesn't want to be bothered and spends hours by herself. For the past week her vision has been obscured by those cloudy lens which have now turned clear again. The time is near.
She begins with a bath. In her gallon of water she swims and soaks. She's not hurried and seems to enjoy the water. Then suddenly she knows it's time to get this show on the road. Out of the water she comes.
First she finds a good rough area on the fake vines that line the back wall of her enclosure. She starts with the top of her head. Snagging the old skin, she pulls it loose. She has a critical maneuver to perform first off. Those eye caps must come off clean. The first eye cap pops off, then the second. She continues to pull the shed off until she reaches her neck. Now she backs off and starts on the lower jaw. She quickly pulls the shed loose on her chin and before you know it she's caught up with the top shed. She doesn't stop and continues pulling. She works the shed down her body at just the perfect speed. It's not just the pulling that's making the old shed come off but she's contracting and flexing the muscles along her body. She's focused on this process. A complete shed is what she's after. She pulls all the way down to her vent(cloaca) and then slows. This part of the shed is important if she wants to keep all of her tail. The shedding process stops, she continues to pull but not hard enough to break the old skin just hard enough to pull past this area in one movement. Then it happens, she's passed the vent in a controlled pop. The tail shed then comes off in a matter of seconds. It over. She's shed.
Before me I see my beautiful Tourette. Bright and new.
The process only took a few minutes. I witnessed it from beginning to end. It was done systematically, with complete control.
These are amazing animals and I'm blessed to be part of their lives.
She's been off food for the last 3 weeks. That once beautiful coating of colored scales is now dull and lackluster. She doesn't want to be bothered and spends hours by herself. For the past week her vision has been obscured by those cloudy lens which have now turned clear again. The time is near.
She begins with a bath. In her gallon of water she swims and soaks. She's not hurried and seems to enjoy the water. Then suddenly she knows it's time to get this show on the road. Out of the water she comes.
First she finds a good rough area on the fake vines that line the back wall of her enclosure. She starts with the top of her head. Snagging the old skin, she pulls it loose. She has a critical maneuver to perform first off. Those eye caps must come off clean. The first eye cap pops off, then the second. She continues to pull the shed off until she reaches her neck. Now she backs off and starts on the lower jaw. She quickly pulls the shed loose on her chin and before you know it she's caught up with the top shed. She doesn't stop and continues pulling. She works the shed down her body at just the perfect speed. It's not just the pulling that's making the old shed come off but she's contracting and flexing the muscles along her body. She's focused on this process. A complete shed is what she's after. She pulls all the way down to her vent(cloaca) and then slows. This part of the shed is important if she wants to keep all of her tail. The shedding process stops, she continues to pull but not hard enough to break the old skin just hard enough to pull past this area in one movement. Then it happens, she's passed the vent in a controlled pop. The tail shed then comes off in a matter of seconds. It over. She's shed.
Before me I see my beautiful Tourette. Bright and new.
The process only took a few minutes. I witnessed it from beginning to end. It was done systematically, with complete control.
These are amazing animals and I'm blessed to be part of their lives.