Signs Your Snake is About to Shed its Skin

Most of us have seen at least a picture of the papery-thin shed skin of a snake -- skin that looks a bit like a ghost of a snake. Snakes are quite remarkable in that they tend to shed their skins in a solid chunk, making an opening at the head end and then pretty much crawling out of their old skin. Skin shedding will happen regularly over your snake's life, though young growing snakes will shed more frequently than fully grown snakes. Some new owners are alarmed when their snakes eyes turn a cloudy bluish color -- but this is most often a sign that a shed is about to happen. Their eyes turn blue because specially adapted scales over each eye (called eye caps, or spectacles) are in the process of separating from the new one growing underneath it, in preparation for the shed. The other signs are a bit more subtle and variable, but by knowing the signs that your snake is preparing to shed, you will be less alarmed by things like changes in the eyes. You will also be aware that you need to make sure the humidity is high enough to encourage a successful shed, possibly providing extra humidity in the form of a humidity hide if your snake does not already have one. Once shedding has happened, you will also want to monitor your snake for problems with shedding and retained eye caps.

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