rainbow boa and shedding

[cheetah]

Hello there ..
I have a question and I hope to get an answer from you guys :D :
Is it possible rainbow boa to get off her skin two times without eating?
This is my story:
My rainbow boa get off her skin before about two moth ,and after the shedding it has refused to eat for about 2 months (two months with out eating) and now her skin started to get pale (shedding is coming) is it normal or what? and how did she get bigger and wanna shed without eating anything?
thank you !

[Cyclops]

Sometimes they go off their feed for seemingly no reason. What is the temperature that you keep her at?

[cheetah]

in daytime 25-27 celsius.... and in the night 22-24 celsius

[bigsnakegirl785]

There is no need for a night drop, it may be getting too cold at night. Try keeping it 25.5-27 throughout the day and see if that helps. Maybe include a hot spot of 26.6-29.4C if you can. This can be achieved with a heat pad, which would be the surface of the enclosure right above where the heat pad is, or by measuring the floor temp under an ambient heater.

And yes, snakes will shed regardless of if they're eating or not. They may shed less often if they continually go off of food, but snakes have to shed old skin just as we do. They don't necessarily shed because they're growing, my adults shed just as often as my babies do, and sometimes my babies don't shed for awhile even if they've grown a lot (this is across all species that I currently own). They pretty much shed as they want. lol

[akane]

All of mine shed more when younger and I've been told they will but even when they pretty much stop growing as adults they will shed. I think it's more something to do with age and differences while maturing than actual size change. My 3 year old rosy boa was underfed and caught up on growth very fast but then has barely eaten all winter or grown much in a few months. She shed the same. Twice while rapidly putting on proper size, once early winter before pretty much not eating for over 2months and then shed recently.

[cheetah]

that's was so helpful ,,, I am really thankful
In fact I am just a beginner breeder of snakes and this 2 rainbow boa are my first snakes I have saved.

[dannybgoode]

There is no need for a night drop, it may be getting too cold at night. Try keeping it 25.5-27 throughout the day and see if that helps. Maybe include a hot spot of 26.6-29.4C if you can. This can be achieved with a heat pad, which would be the surface of the enclosure right above where the heat pad is, or by measuring the floor temp under an ambient heater.

And yes, snakes will shed regardless of if they're eating or not. They may shed less often if they continually go off of food, but snakes have to shed old skin just as we do. They don't necessarily shed because they're growing, my adults shed just as often as my babies do, and sometimes my babies don't shed for awhile even if they've grown a lot (this is across all species that I currently own). They pretty much shed as they want. lol

I actually think there's a number of good reasons to drop the temp at night and all my thermostats are programmed to do this.

Primarily it mimics the natural environment and there's research to show a snakes metabolism and digestion is specifically adapted for a drop in temperature. Their cicardian rhythms are turned to temperature fluctuations also.

Finally, leaving the temp high means the snake is running on maximum 24/7. Whilst I don't have any specific evidence reptiles it is well proven that keeping tropical fish toward the upper end of their temperature ranger 24/7 significantly shortens their life and I can see this applying to reptiles.


In short many of the herpetologist I know varies temperature not only day/night but offers entire days and entire nights at different temperatures to the norm provided.

[Tsubaki]

I was typing something similar to Danny, but was taking forever due to being at work. So I'll just say I agree with the post above! :D

[bigsnakegirl785]

I actually think there's a number of good reasons to drop the temp at night and all my thermostats are programmed to do this.

Primarily it mimics the natural environment and there's research to show a snakes metabolism and digestion is specifically adapted for a drop in temperature. Their cicardian rhythms are turned to temperature fluctuations also.

Finally, leaving the temp high means the snake is running on maximum 24/7. Whilst I don't have any specific evidence reptiles it is well proven that keeping tropical fish toward the upper end of their temperature ranger 24/7 significantly shortens their life and I can see this applying to reptiles.


In short many of the herpetologist I know varies temperature not only day/night but offers entire days and entire nights at different temperatures to the norm provided.

Temps will already naturally drop at night by several degrees (sometimes by up to 5+ degrees depending on where you are and if you use a heater at night) without your intervention, I see no reason for any additional temperature drops.

Plus, rainbows are already kept at the absolute coldest they can be kept at on average anyways.

[dannybgoode]

I guess both our comments need clarification. We both seem to agree that a night time drop is desirable but you're right in so much as the exact nature of the set up is important in determining how that drop is achieved but incorrect to say you never need to alter the star settings.

Take for example my house in the uk and my vivs (and apologies I'll be working in centegrade). I use radiant heat sources in all my vivs and even though in the winter the temperatures outside can get to well below zero because I live in a house with 18" stone walls the ambient temperature inside stays remarkably stable. In my reptile room even on the coldest nights the ambient temp doesn't drop much below 20c.

None of my set ups therefore have any problems whatsoever maintaining a constant temperature of I so desired and therefore the stats absolutely need to have a drop programmed in them to achieve an temp drop in the vivs.

Even if my room temp dropped much more, most of my vivs are on the smaller side so the ambient temp in the Viv would change very little. When I get the larger vivs then the cool side my drop more at night but I'd expect the hot side to stay and what ever temperature I set the stat at.

Yes, if I used uth's the ambient temperature would drop more significantly but its one of the reasons I don't.

So in summary - a night time drop in temperature is desirable-how that is achieved depends on exact curcumstances.