Shedding question

[Norm66]

and I know it's not 100% knowable but....

Is shedding, and the process leading up to it, painful for a snake? Uncomfortable? I can't see how it could be anything less than uncomfortable: the current outer skin is too tight (I know I've been there myself), the process of the liquid building up between layers and then the peeling off has to impart some level of discomfort. And surely at minimum the actual shedding process (though I still haven't actually witnessed it) must be fairly tiring.

The reason I ask is that my boy Malaki, the Burm, just seems miserable. He usually meets me as soon as the lid comes off his tub, likes to hang out with us on the couch and fights to go back in. He's been in pre-shed (haven't seen him actually turn blue but we may have missed it, he's obviously dull) for over a week and I got him out last night because his bedding needed some work. He wound up curled up between the couch back and a pillow hiding. And when I put him back He actually crawled *into* his tub which is virtually unheard of. He definitely wants no part of us (he hissed, but not the serious danger hiss) and just generally isn't himself. I regret having to get him out because I don't want to add to his discomfort.

Our other snakes seem to show some level of grumpiness around shed time but not to the extreme that Malaki does. Or maybe we just notice it more because he's normally so much more outgoing than the others (our JCP excepted).

So what say you? Actual pain? General discomfort? Hmmmm?