New owner, Is it time to shed?

[badbunny42]

Hi all. We're new to snake ownership, Our little'un arrived on Christmas eve.
She is a 5 month old Checkered Garter.

Since her feed yesterday she has been spending nearly all her time in her waterbowl. Even though her eyes haven't gone opaque yet, we were wondering if this could indicate an impending shed.

Thanks for any advice.

Ben

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard.

[badbunny42]

Just given her a bath. The first she has had since she came to us from Chris-uk and Char. She seemed to enjoy it, though her definition of exercise seems to be 'just float about nonchalantly'.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you on the forum.
Is your Checkered a normal of albino?

[badbunny42]

She's normal, but big for her age. Goes by the name of Lightning

[EasternGirl]

She may just be soaking. What is the temp in your tank? Sometimes snakes do that to cool off or signal that they are not comfortable with the temp in their environment. If I notice my snake soaking a lot or staying on the cool side of the tank a lot, I may turn off her lamp or heat mat and let the warm side of the tank cool off a bit. Yes..we know Lightning! You may want to ask Chris and Char what temps she is used to...or if she tends to soak a lot. Welcome to the forum! We look forward to sharing your experiences with Lightning!

[badbunny42]

Thanks for the warm welcome.
Her cold side is 22.5'C, her warm side is currently 25'C, but despite a thermostat it varies between 25 and 29, usually sticking to about 27.5 (when there is less traffic going through the room).


On a side note. I just realised that I no longer notice that distinctive snake/viv aroma.

[chris-uk]

Welcome to the forum Ben.

I don't think she'd be due a shed yet, but given how Lightning eats and grows she may be. Look out for the opaque eyes., that's the dead giveaway.

Water-wise, she had gone off swimming for a, while before we handed her to you, but that could have been because she was getting too large for the bowls in her viv. The one you have is bigger so she may just have realised that she's got more room now. When she's in the bath swimming she usually needed a bit of encouragement to keep her swimming rather than just floating around.

If you're worried I can pop in tomorrow.

[badbunny42]

Hi Chris. We aren't worried, we were really just wondering about the shedding thing. Swimmingwise, despite the floating, she did do a fair bit of wriggling up the sides of the bath.

[chris-uk]

I think she's got her love of water back. In the first few months with us she was our water baby, much more so than Binky or Eskerina. She's only pipped to the water baby crown by the Mexicans.

[badbunny42]

Viv temp back up to 28.7. Lightning is either hidden or in stealth mode.

[chris-uk]

Burrowing? They all do that. Binky is burrowing queen in our viv. :)

[guidofatherof5]

I would say less then 1% of my snakes burrow. Once in a great while someone will take a snooze under the compressed aspen pellets.
They probably don't burrow for fear they'll miss a meal. :D

[PINJOHN]

Welcome from a dark but now windless Liverpool
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4y1dPtN-EVPENg1BYYsLqoHg5jOJOmruRHFC-G6D7nGLBSxPphAhttp://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSaz93quM1Ay0V0d7uMRqvUm3CpZZtMC wWq2SdiSWB_eWH5brgjzg
TODAY'S SCOUSE FACTOID
Liverpool was the first city in the world to have a railway system and was also the setting for the first railway fatality, the victim being non other than its own member of parliament. ..

[chris-uk]

I would say less then 1% of my snakes burrow. Once in a great while someone will take a snooze under the compressed aspen pellets.
They probably don't burrow for fear they'll miss a meal. :D
Really? I thought it was common based on our bunch. We sometimes get an ant farm effect in the substrate that's up against the glass. It's really funny the way they pop up out of the substrate sometimes, we call it the sand eel pose.

[chris-uk]

Welcome from a dark but now windless Liverpool
Just so you know Ben, this ^^^^^^^^ is where Lightning came from.

[EasternGirl]

My snakes love to burrow too...and to make little tunnels all through the substrate and pop their little heads up and look at me..I love it!

[tress29]

I would say less then 1% of my snakes burrow. Once in a great while someone will take a snooze under the compressed aspen pellets. Well, the pellets are heavier than a lot of the bedding options. Maybe they are afraid of getting squished!

[guidofatherof5]

I don't think they fear being squished but the pellets are heavier then many substrates so maybe they just don't want to make the effort to get under them.

[katach]

Our snakes love to burrow as well. We use carefresh though. No chance of squishing. :)

[badbunny42]

Thankyou for Lightning Pinjohn. She's lovely.

[PINJOHN]

Thankyou for Lightning Pinjohn. She's lovely.
You are most welcome Ben....when you need another just give me a shout.
As you are about to learn garter snakes are like chocolate digestive's ....you can't stop at one

http://images.quebles.com/hotmail/emoticons/1511769.GIF

[kimbosaur]

I have not seen my snakes burrow in their new tank at all and I use a good thickness of Carefresh. In their smaller individual tanks (5 g), they would do it once in a while, but I think it was more because they had so few places to hide in such a tiny tank. Actually, they currently spend much more time on a platform with no substrate at all.

[snakehill]

You are most welcome Ben....when you need another just give me a shout.
As you are about to learn garter snakes are like chocolate digestive's ....you can't stop at one

http://images.quebles.com/hotmail/emoticons/1511769.GIF Chocolate digestives! Had to google that one!! :p

[EasternGirl]

I have found that the more hides that my snakes have the less they burrow. As time has gone by that I have had them, I have been adding things to their enclosures...more plants, logs, hides...and they use these more to hide under and burrow less. Also..Seeley and Cee Cee, my easterns, seemed to burrow all the time when I first got them...not so much anymore...so it may be a security thing...or something they were used to doing outside for protection and lack of hiding spots...something they don't feel the need to do so much anymore.