Errr...\'Normal\'?

[Squirgle]

Hey all,
Ok my BRB had her eyes glaze over monday night and hasn't shed yet so I soaked her tonight for a bit. By the way, she hates water, its like a fight to keep her in there, thank god she is still small and not aggressive. Anyway, she wound up getting 'the itch' and she's been rubbing on a rough barked branch I have out for her since then but, this is the weird part, every now and then she stops rubbing around and gives this all out, hinge popping, wide mouthed 'yawn'. Is this normal? I haven't seen her do this before. Oddly my Dumeril did the same thing about a week ago. I had him on my desk while I surfed the web (heh, he loves curling up around a speaker, its kinda goofy) and he just started yawning, over and over again. He must have done it at least a dozen times before I put him back. Call me stupid, but do snakes really yawn when they are tired? Even if they do, why is the rainbow doing it now, while shedding, at 11 at night? I thought they were 'nocturnal-ish'. So I guess the main point of this is, is it normal for my snake to be yawning so much when I've never seen it from them except those two times?
TIA
Squirgle
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[kogoz]

They do that to start thier shed. I may be wrong i donnt know snakes that well
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[txgirl266]

I think someone told me that it does break the shed loose! Makes sense I guess but Im no expert
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[telefrag]

Sounds likeits just not ready yet, snakes can take several days, to over a week to finish the shedding process.
Soaking her when she doesnt like it will just strees her out,
keep the humidity up in her cage and im sure she will shed on her own just fine.

Be patient.
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[Solidsnake]

dont worry...your snake should shed within the next few days...that happens to my snakes...as for the yawning...my snakes do that too...so thats normal...make sure the humidity is up there so that she has a good shed...like tlelfrag said...bathing her when she doesnt like it will put stress on her...and you dont want that...she'll be fine [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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[Squirgle]

oh, so the yawning is rather normal then. Well thats cool. I guess it kinda makes sense about breaking it loose...
Yeah, I wasn't trying to rush the process or anything. I just wanted to help her out a little, you know, ease the process. As for bathing her when she doesn't like it? Well, she has Never liked it. Heh, every time, she holds onto me like a vice and once she is in she finds the fastest path out of the container and then gives me a look like, "Are you nuts?!". [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img] ah well...I love her anyway.
Thanks guys and gals [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Squirgle
P.S. I'll try to get some pics of my babies up here 'Someday'
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[mirabelasunshine]

If she gets as upset as that about swimming, could it have anything to do with water temperature? ~80-85 F... easy to overshoot that, unless you're using a thermometer. Just a thought. Although I've used a thermometer, and my brb has never liked it much either. Just keep her humidity up -- you can even mist her directly -- and she ought to be fine. And not only do they yawn to start their shed and yawn to realign their jaws after eating -- I've seen mine yawn out of the blue a few times, for no evident reason at all. Just something they do sometimes.
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[Squirgle]

Yeah I know about yawning after eating so that was no surprise, I just didn't know about it starting sheds...
And with the water temp, I've never used a thermometer on it, but I've always done a 'wrist test' to see if it was hot. I always make sure its only warm and not hot. Its kinda a battle since the snake is so small the water has to be shallow, so I want it warm enough that it isn't going to cool off in 2 mins, but not too hot for the snake...its rather frustrating.
Squirgle
Thanks by the way, I just remembered my cage thermometer works in water as well so I will try that next time.
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[JC86]

My Ball Python likes to yawn when it's curled up resting around my hand. I think snakes yawn a) after eating b) to help start a shed and c) when they are content. C is prolly the equivolent to us just kinda randomly stretching our arms when we are relaxing. Since they don't really have arms to stretch they stretch their jaw=p


Scott
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