Elderly Snakes, Care and Unique Health Issues

[d_virginiana]

I imagine it's probably lower for breeding females than for males too...

[ConcinusMan]

I don't know about that, but over breeding probably reduces life span. I only bred that pair 3 times. The female still lived longer than the male. (male 18, female 21)

[katach]

Quick update on Blade. She seems be shedding quite often. She gets very active around 7pm every night. Maybe a little sun downers syndrome. Still eating and pooping. She gets very into get water these days too.
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[Selkielass]

Lovely color on that Blade.
My only old snake is Cranky, and I have no idea how old he actually is- he turned up full sized(huge for a male butler at 20 inches), battle scarred and with several injuries and infections. Since recovering from those injuries he's shown no other signs of age aside from a stubborn crotchetiness ess that will probably never go away- he doesn't like people. He isn't afraid of them, and tolerates the servants presence, but as soon as they begin to take 'liberties' or attempt unacceptable familiarities, he 'stomps' off in a huff with a sharp whip of his tail.
He's a cast iron codger.

[katach]

Blade is sweety. She lives to be held. She like kisses and will be more than happy to just curl up on my glasses for hours.

[ConcinusMan]

Quick update on Blade. She seems be shedding quite often. She gets very active around 7pm every night. Maybe a little sun downers syndrome.

Maybe too warm also. Snakes that get a significant drop in temperature at night as they should, tend to be out and basking/active a few hours after the lights come on. When things are very warm, or don't cool down at night, they tend to be active in evening or right after lights out.

[katach]

Good thought Richard, thanks!

[d_virginiana]

Houdini is almost always out at 3 or 4 am. I think it's probably more because he can't tell when it's dark than because he's old though. When I do my before-bed temp check, he always feels me walking around and starts begging for food.

[jitami]

Thank you, Greg, for mentioning shedding issues. Our old girl seems to be taking longer to shed than usual and looking odd in her dusky, dull, old skin. She's otherwise active and seems fine. She has soaked some, but nothing out of the ordinary. I just changed her water and she's soaking now. I'm really hoping she starts the process on her own. No clue how old she is... she was a big girl already when we brought her in, in 2007, and we had seen her around for a couple of years before that... I'm probably a bit paranoid after loosing Sly earlier this year at 14ish - he acted normal until the last day or so before he passed :/

[jitami]

Ok, a week later & still no shed for our old girl... I've got her in a warm soak now, but not sure what else to do for her. Muscle tone seems good, activity level seems normal, especially considering she should be going into shed. She's definitely not limp, lethargic, etc. just hanging out in her old skin. You can see the scale separation at her head, etc. You could see that a well over a week ago, fwiw. Thoughts?