[w/ pics] BP becoming underweight, won't eat anything larger than hoppers

[FluppleWott]

My female yearling has got me scared. Just a few months ago she was weighing in at a reasonable 400 g

Now she's roughly 270 g, making me highly concerned and hoping that my scale is just broken. She's 11 months old now, thicker than an adult mouse but will not eat anything larger than a hopper that maxes out at 12 g. If she eats anything larger, she will regurgitate or stress her cloaca to the point of bleeding. She's 25 inches and I'm very concerned that this phase will permanently stunt her growth. She does not feel thin and she is still rounded but not as plump as before. I usually feed her on a weekly basis. Today I will start offering her 2 hoppers in hopes that she'll fatten up. I've never had this problem with any if the other snakes I've had. Has anyone else encountered this problem? If I have to I'm willing to breed gerbils (already keep them as pets) if it means getting her back to a healthy weight. Recommendations?

Took these pics yesterday. She otherwise seems healthy.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

If anything larger than hoppers really creates the issues mentioned there is obviously a problem that need to be adressed.

Did you take her to a vet yet?


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[FluppleWott]

If anything larger than hoppers really creates the issues mentioned there is obviously a problem that need to be adressed.

Did you take her to a vet yet?


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Yes, I actually took her to a vet the very first time I had an issue with her having trouble eating adult mice. They couldn't find a single thing wrong with her. I've never been able to figure out the problem either. Her cage is always clean, appropriately heated and the humidity is good. She also doesn't seem stressed.

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[YZGuy79]

Did she get attacked? My big one got classes clawed while she was constricting. Fasted for 6 months. Wouldn't even look at a rat. I've had to work her up to rats. Hoppers. Small. Mediums. I'm finally going to try a large next week.

[KitaCat]

Did she get attacked? My big one got classes clawed while she was constricting. Fasted for 6 months. Wouldn't even look at a rat. I've had to work her up to rats. Hoppers. Small. Mediums. I'm finally going to try a large next week.

A live large rat? That seems like more risk than I'd be willing to take with my snakes, personally...

My large female BP's are perfectly fine with medium rats.

[200xth]

Yes, I actually took her to a vet the very first time I had an issue with her having trouble eating adult mice. They couldn't find a single thing wrong with her.

Was it a vet with experience in snakes and reptiles?

This part:

will not eat anything larger than a hopper that maxes out at 12 g. If she eats anything larger, she will regurgitate or stress her cloaca to the point of bleeding.

If she's lost 130g from 400g to 270g and can't eat anything more than a mouse hopper without regurging or bleeding, there is something wrong. Your vet may not have found it for one reason or another (possibly inexperience with reptiles) but I would say your snake is in need of a visit to an experienced herp vet.

How many times has she regurged in the last two or three months (or whenever the troubles started)?

[bcr229]

When she regurgitated the first time how did you treat it? Did you wait several weeks for her stomach to settle and then offer a smaller than normal feeder, or did you keep her on the same feeding schedule? Did you dust her feeder with a probiotic such as NutriBAC to help re-establish her gut flora?

When you said the vet found nothing wrong, what did he test for? Did he do a fecal exam for parasites and PCR for cryptosporidia?

What is your quarantine process when new snakes arrive?

[FluppleWott]

Did she get attacked? My big one got classes clawed while she was constricting. Fasted for 6 months. Wouldn't even look at a rat. I've had to work her up to rats. Hoppers. Small. Mediums. I'm finally going to try a large next week.

No. She eats f/t and the only one who ever even occasionally eats live is my boa. My bp always eats dead mice. And I'm sorry about what happened! Poor girl

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[FluppleWott]

Was it a vet with experience in snakes and reptiles?

This part:



If she's lost 130g from 400g to 270g and can't eat anything more than a mouse hopper without regurging or bleeding, there is something wrong. Your vet may not have found it for one reason or another (possibly inexperience with reptiles) but I would say your snake is in need of a visit to an experienced herp vet.

How many times has she regurged in the last two or three months (or whenever the troubles started)?

I think she has regurgitated two or three times since I bought her in March. She's bled at least twice from what I've seen. I've been keeping her on paper towels as opposed to the aspen she was on in the petstore so I could monitor her droppings. She usually will very willingly accept food on a weekly basis. But every now and then she will ignore food. I usually adjust her surroundings and clean to remove any smells and then she will eat.

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[FluppleWott]

When she regurgitated the first time how did you treat it? Did you wait several weeks for her stomach to settle and then offer a smaller than normal feeder, or did you keep her on the same feeding schedule? Did you dust her feeder with a probiotic such as NutriBAC to help re-establish her gut flora?

When you said the vet found nothing wrong, what did he test for? Did he do a fecal exam for parasites and PCR for cryptosporidia?

What is your quarantine process when new snakes arrive?

Yes, after regurgitating I first got her out to check and make sure she was okay. She looked healthy from the outside. I skipped the next week's feeding....or it could have been two weeks I honestly can't remember. The next week I offered her just a hopper to see if it was because the size of the last meal was too large. She accepted it with no noticeable problems. The following weeks she would eat hoppers. She has ignored adult mice since then.

And also I'm not sure what the vet did when she checked out the bp. I wasnt in the room. She just told me that everything seemed fine and brought my snake back to me from the back room. But then again the only reptile vet in my town also misdiagnosed our "male" rescue bearded dragon a few years ago. Turns out it was female, even though the vet said otherwise, and then we found out that she had been egg binding! Needless to say we have since then found a solution and we now have a healthy 9 year old Beardie

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