rescued a nomral bp this weekend and now have questions

[ballpythonluvr]

I rescued a normal BP on Saturday. It is in rough shape. It is severely underfed as it was only being fed one small adult mouse once a month. This snake currently only weighs 206 grams and it's body is very triangular and looks concave. I have it quarantined from my other BP. I looked for mites and respiratory issues. It seems to be healthy except for the obvious condition of being severely under fed. I fed it a small hopper mouse last night just to see if it would eat and it just hogged it down. Adult mice just seem to big at this point. What other prey can I offer to this snake? Can I offer rat pups or rat fuzzies? I suppose it could handle small adult mice seeing as this is what was orignially offered but I am just concerned about how thin this animal is. It was said to be two or three years old. This poor snake is so agressive due to being under fed. I would really appreciate any advice from anyone. Thank you in advance.

[rabernet]

At 206 grams, it can eat a small adult mouse or fat rat fuzzy. My hatchlings are on small adult mice (just out of hopper stage) by their third or fourth meals.

Don't be tempted to over-feed it (like feeding it every other day), even though it may track your every move.

I rescued two very neglected female ball pythons several years ago (fed one large rat every three month if he remembered to feed that often - his words to me), and it's very hard not to try to feed them up quickly, but slowly is better.

It should lose its "aggressiveness" once it's finally feeling satisfied that it has a full belly, which could take weeks. Just know that it's not really aggressive, it's essentially starving and wanting to eat anything that moves. But you could do more harm than good if you feed it too much too soon.

It's heart breaking to see it seem so frantic for food, but it will recover with your patience and loving care.

Here they are when I first brought them home:





And in the same order, a few months later when I re-homed them into better homes:





These girls constantly struck at their tubs and frantically tracked me whenever I walked past their tubs until they were no longer hungry. I got to where I covered their tubs with towels to help them settle - they constantly roamed their tubs looking for prey.

[ballpythonluvr]

Thank you so much Robin for your input! I will go ahead and feed small adult mice to this poor snake. I can't wait to get some meat on it's bones. It is a very beautiful normal. I will get pics up when it has settled in. Thanks again for your help!

[rimelame]

Good advice Robin! I also was in a similar situation. Make sure to feed your snake on a normal schedule, of once a week-10 days. If you feed too much, then you risk a slew of other issues. Make sure your snake enclosure is set to the correct temp and humidity - that way you can eliminate a few reasons for your snake to be stressed out.

Keep well and goodluck with your new snake!

[deadsmiley]

i personally would start with rat pups every week and work your way up from there. new borns are fed rat pups and do just fine, it shouldnt take long till she sheds. after first shed you are going to notice a pretty decent change in the size of the snake, it may have a little bit of loose skin after that but it will fill in. my first snake was only fed 2 mouse pinkies a week for the first 5 years of its life and now that i have her, shes quite the sexy fatty lol.
good luck with the rescue