Kenyan Sand Boa has not shed in 4 months

[PocketPython]

Hi there guys,
i have a question... out of concern. in early December 2010 i added a lovely Kenyan Sand Boa to my collection. he eats weekly and has everything he needs in his viv. But he hasn't shed once. not sure if he shed before i got him. is this usual? any reasons why he wouldn't be shedding. the only thing i can think of that would be reasons for a snake not shedding is if the snake isn't eating and therefore not growing. he eats like a champ.

Thanks in advance

PocketPython.

[Westley Price]

Hi Pocketpython

Please give us a bit more info on your snake.

How old is it? What does it's condition look like? etc.

[Bianca]

He's about 5 months old.

Condition is really great, he's round and beautiful. He lives in a tank with a bowl of water and sand, obviously. He has a heating pad on the one side. This is not temperature controlled and pretty much on all the time. We are getting a thermostat soon.

He eats well. At first we fed him fuzzies once a week, he's moved on to rat pups once a week. He eats both live and thawed. Last week we fed him twice without any problems, so he's not fussy.

We're taking him to be de-wormed today in case that is the problem. We have noticed growth, but no shed.

[Westley Price]

Is his skin wrinkled or dry-looking?

Is there any chance that he could have shed, but you have not picked it up?

If he is feeding and still looking fine, I don't see a problem. It is quite strange for such a young snake to go so long without a shed, but definitely not unheard of.

If you are really starting to stress, soak him in some luke warm water daily for a week and if he still hasn't shed, he is definitely not due to shed.

Good luck

[Bushviper]

We're taking him to be de-wormed today in case that is the problem. We have noticed growth, but no shed.

Deworming a snake of this size is not straight forward and probably not required anyway. If you have noticed growth in those few months then he does not have worms.

[constrictor,]

post a pic, or email marcwright@gawab.com and I will tell you if there looks to be an issue.

cheers,
marc

[mailjvdb]

Keeping young Sand Boas on sand doesn't work for me. They almost always have difficulty shedding, even with a water bowl provided. Then there is also the risk of compaction and a host of other issues. I find that a rather thick layer of newspaper works best for me.

If my Kenyan Sand Boas go into blue, I wait until their eyes clear, and then a day or four after that, I just pour a decent amount of water directly onto the newspaper to get it saturated completely with water, but no excess! I leave them like this overnight, and usually they shed the same night. I do however change the newspaper after the shed and it should be noted that they should preferably not be kept wet for longer than a day or two.

[Bianca]

We changed the sand and he shed!!!! He finally shed!!! Hooray!!!

[Silvrav]

Question now, was it due to the substrate or jsut time?

Sand is there natural substrate, so I can not see why it would be that...unless your cage humidity was low?

[Bianca]

It was part substrate, part humidity.

The sand we were using before, when humidity levels were up, would clump and become hard. For this reason we gave him a humidity box and he used that for a while, but still did not shed.

We then changed it to a different type of sand, the black type with bigger granules, I forget what it's called. We sprayed this and wet it a bit, and a day or two later, he shed. So i'm sure it was the substrate, and how it reacted to the humidity.

Very relieved.

[mailjvdb]

Glad to hear all went well

In my opinion, this is just one more reason why its not the best idea to keep KSB's on sand.

@Silvrav - I think that in nature its just easier for them to control the humidity levels they need to shed successfully. I've always had problems when using sand. Wet sand also tends to stay wet for long, and can be very abrasive to the snakes skin. Any other substrate works for me, but not sand.

[hammies]

I have 2 pairs of Sand Boas and both are kept in fine bark chips with no shedding problems in the last 3 years.
I feed them outside the enclosure in tubs.

[neko]

We only have the one and we haven't had him for that long, but we keep him on sand with no problems. He's shed 3 times already and I haven't had a problem with humidity. I feed him in a plastic tub so there's no risk of ingesting sand. Autely amazing little snake. I can't wait for the expo so that we can find him a mate.

[neko]

Eish.. That's absolutely, no autely. Miss the edit button....