Extremely malnourished ball

[Annarose15]

From what i've read on the forums taking it slow seems the best route whether she survives or not. Small meals so her system doesn't get over-loaded is probably the best(my guess for the first 3 feedings if she keeps them down). After the 3rd feeding then move her up in size or increase number of prey items.

^ This, absolutely. Give her the opportunity to feed without assistance next time, too. Since she is eating and drinking, she does not need other "remedies", only time. I would wait until after meal three or so to soak her, just so she has less stress and more strength.

[sho220]

i dont know: take it slow for now, or go right to a powerfeed scedule? im now a bit torn. she needs to get over the hill and into stability, but then when she is stable i guess some powerfeeding for a while is in order, to get her to normal proportions.

What's "powerfeeding"?

[sho220]

@OP - I'm not sure if they have pedalite in Finland, but that may help I hope but regardless it's still worth a shot. It's not the cheapest stuff and it doesn't have any kind of a shelf life but I know from a cases with a few dehydrated animals that worked wonders. So it's worth a shot if you can, but the only thing is you'd most likely have to pour a down a tube so a vet would be the best bet for this.

I've heard of this as well...and for the OP, it's spelled Pedialyte in case you try to find it. Supposedly, along with hydrating the animal, the nutrients it contains will help kick in their feeding response or make them hungry. I was told to put some in their water dish so when they drink they also get the Pedialyte. I've never personally tried it so I'm not sure how well it works, if at all, but like Neal said, it's worth a shot...

[Pythonfriend]

What's "powerfeeding"?

that is when you go for a food scedule that is quite a bit heavier than usually advised to get a higher than usual weight gain over time. like when you want a ball to breed sooner, or when you have a BP that was at 300 grams 8 months ago and is today at 112 grams while it should be around 400+ at least. an example of powerfeeding would be 20% of body weight in food offered every 5 days. done outside of the context of breeding, or recovery from starvation, it would lead to a really fat and overweight snake over time.

so powerfeeding is to go above a usual feed scedule when it comes to the amount of food, to a degree that it would lead to an obese snake if you would just keep it up for no reason.

But i already backpedaled, i would be all for powerfeeding this girl up to normal levels if and only if we would know that the internal organs are all fine, which we do not know. So i revised and said to take it slow and see if the BP does fine. and if she does fine, and digestion works and the organs work, maybe powerfeed her from 170-400 grams.

[satomi325]

That's not power feeding in my opinion. A snake won't eat it if doesn't want to. Just like how it will eat as much as it will eat when it wants.
If the snake is hungry they will eat on their own. Some snakes will not eat if a feeder is too large or too small.

I personally find power feeding to be force feeding. An example would be daisy chaining feeders together to trick the snake into thinking it is eating 1 feeder rather than multiple. Same thing goes for sticking a feeder down the snakes throat as its swallowing another. Or even unnecessarily force feeding.

If the snake is willing to eat on its own, I personally don't find that "power feeding". And I mean in the content of ball pythons. They go off feed constantly, so I want my snakes to eat a lot when they are willing so they have the fat reserves to endure those fasts.

Anyway. I agree that the OP shouldn't put his snake on a short feeding schedule. It will just upset the snake's digestive system. Start will smaller prey than normal once a week or every other week for a while. Try live hopper mice to entice her to eat and jump start the feeding response.

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[satomi325]

Also. If you don't have Pedialyte, any kind of electrolyte solution will work. You can get electrolyte powder mix from pharmacies and/or drug stores to put in water. Even a sports drink like diluted Gatorade will work in a pinch.

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[Kodieh]

powerfeed

Satomi knows, good information up there.

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[MootWorm]

I've only used pedialyte with severely dehydrated kittens, but I can say it works wonders if you can't get subcutaneous fluids.

[SlitherinSisters]

Holy cow is she thin. Her keeping the meal down is a good sign for sure. Is she not at all interested in eating on her own? Coiling is more than any of my assist fed snakes did so I'd take that as a good sign too. I would feed her a small meal every 3 to 4 days. Just don't stress her out too much. Assist feeding is really tough on them.

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[kat_black181]

This makes me want to cry. I can't believe how much of a fighter she must be to still be going. I am so glad you have taken her in!