Rescued a ball need some advice.

[jfaria1891]

i was recently selling some things on craigslist and i was offered a female ball python as a trade as i had put in the posting that they are pretty much the only thing id trade for. the buyer showed up with the ball python in the worst condition i have ever seen, i couldn't send him home with it i went through with the trade for the BP's sake.

its a female normal about 2.5-3 feet long 2 years old and 371 grams, as u can picture in your head nothing but spine. looks like he fed it 4 times a year rather then a month. it was kept in a 20 gallon tank with some kind of dry dirt like stuff as a substrate, she was dehydrated, when she would put out her tongue to sense things she could hardly pull it back in like her mouth was too dry! you can see skin down her spine between her scales not like shes missing scales but just between the scales does anyone know what could cause this i have heard of obesity causing this but deff not the case here.

as soon as i got her inside i raised the humidity levels of one of the bins on my rack as much as i could soaked the paper towel substrate and gave her a big water bowl for her to soak. i know everyone says to let there stress levels go down before feeding after they have been transported i couldnt wait i defrosted a 51 gram small rat (smallest i had(shes skinny!)) and tried to feed it to her making it do the "zombie dance" right away she was interested as i had expected so i zombie danced and zombie danced and zombie danced ... nothing she was just smelling it i stopped and just held it there and VERY slowly she bit onto it and slowly wrapped around it with hardly any force and it must have taken her a good half hour to swallow it. as far as movements she is not head shy shes active loves being held clearly wasn't abused just very uncared for. after 24 hours she had eaten the 51 gram rat but her weight had gone from 371 to 485 .... she had taken in 63 grams of water! on day 2 i gave her a second 50 gram small rat and weighed her shortly after and she weighed 564, so if we do 564 minus 371 thats nearly 200 gram gain in 48 hours half being water!

(i dont see any signs of mouth rot or mites)

so some of my questions are

Whats the deal with the scales? is it from her skin being draped over her spine so drastically? any ideas? (you can only see skin along the spine)

should i power feed her feeding her a small rat every 3 day untill shes back to a healthy weight? or should to still do a small rat once a week? my instinct tells me to power feed because i want to see her healthy.


and general advice is ALWAYS welcome, i fully plan on seeing her through a full recovery before anything gets done with her weather it be keep, breed, sell or trade.

the pics im posting below one is of her so u can get an idea of her size mind you this is after she put on the 200 grams with me. and the other is so you can see the scale situation.






thank you all so much in advance.

[dillan2020]

Her back looks kinda like an old burn from a heat rock thats healed up.

[CDs Ball Pythons]

Whats the deal with the scales? is it from her skin being draped over her spine so drastically? any ideas? (you can only see skin along the spine) It looks like a burn where he might have had an under the substrate heating pad or something of the sort. Possibly could also have been a result of being underfed.

should i power feed her feeding her a small rat every 3 day untill shes back to a healthy weight? or should to still do a small rat once a week? my instinct tells me to power feed because i want to see her healthy.

I would feed her every 3-5 days so long as she is ready and willing, she is at a really unhealthy weight for her age. Maybe continue this regime until she is healthier looking.

and general advice is ALWAYS welcome, i fully plan on seeing her through a full recovery before anything gets done with her weather it be keep, breed, sell or trade.

Some things I would recommend would be to:

A. Make sure her enclosure matches her size. Large enclosures will stress out a ball python.
B. Provide a hide. Anything as complicated as a log or simple as a cereal box. She's been stressed out living in her condition, make her feel as safe as possible.
C. Keep humidity at the right % and check it every day, if possible. This will help her shed easier (Shed should roll of like a sock, shouldn't be "patchy".
D. Kudos to you for taking on a Ball Python in need. If you have any more questions PM me and I'll do my best to help!

Answers in Red.

[Tfpets]

I agree with her back looking like scars, but I would guess from a rodent chewing on her. I have one that I detained from his previous owner that was in with 3 rats. He was chewed to his spine and once healed, the scars look just like that. I wouldn't try to power feed her. Once every 5 days should do fine for a while. Just keep up what your doing and she should come around nicely!

[BHReptiles]

I rescued a baby back on July 5th. She was supposedly 6 months old but only weighed in at 44 grams. She was very skinny, very dehydrated, and had a back stuck shed with eye-caps. What I was advised to do was ignore the skin issues until she's back up to proper weight. Like others have said, make sure she's in the appropriate sized home with a hide (or two). Make sure the temps and humidity is spot on and feed her on a 5 day schedule (I started out with small meals for the first three or four feedings and then slowly worked up to an appropriate sized meal) until she looks fuller. Then deal with the shedding issue.

This was my girl when I first got her:



Here is her about a month later. I was working on getting her to gain weight. I hadn't dealt with the shed. You can CLEARLY see that she has an entire layer of skin all over her body. It was starting to flake around her belly.



And finally, here is her about two weeks ago. Since I rescued her, she's now at 100g (total gain of 60 grams in 2 months). I fixed her shedding issue and she has since shed on her own (perfectly, I might add!) She's still recovering but she's my best eater and most tolerant of my affections.



I hope your little girl will pull through just as my Fluffy did. Good luck! Keep us updated!

[jfaria1891]

Whats the deal with the scales? is it from her skin being draped over her spine so drastically? any ideas? (you can only see skin along the spine)It looks like a burn where he might have had an under the substrate heating pad or something of the sort. Possibly could also have been a result of being underfed.

a burn on the back seems odd id assume burns would be on the stomachs then again i have never delt with a burn on a reptile before. it could very possible be from being chewed on by the rodent/s that would make sense as it starts 1/4 way down her body and goes to the tail, it could also be from being underfed so, good news is it doesn't seem to require a vet visit, bad news it sounds like permanent scaring. still open to other ideas of what it could be if any ones got another idea.

should i power feed her feeding her a small rat every 3 day untill shes back to a healthy weight? or should to still do a small rat once a week? my instinct tells me to power feed because i want to see her healthy.

I would feed her every 3-5 days so long as she is ready and willing, she is at a really unhealthy weight for her age. Maybe continue this regime until she is healthier looking.

ready and willing to eat is not an issue with her she ate a 3rd of her body weight within 24 hours and was still ready for more tho i was too weary to continue feeding her. if she wants to eat on the 3rd day ill feed her hopefully she will slow down to 5 days on her own, its hard not to feed something that feed starved i feel bad for it but i know if i let it, it will most likely over eat and die.

and general advice is ALWAYS welcome, i fully plan on seeing her through a full recovery before anything gets done with her weather it be keep, breed, sell or trade.

Some things I would recommend would be to:

A. Make sure her enclosure matches her size. Large enclosures will stress out a ball python. shes currently in a 24 qt tub with the other bp's on my rack

B. Provide a hide. Anything as complicated as a log or simple as a cereal box. She's been stressed out living in her condition, make her feel as safe as possible. in her bin is a half log hide and a water dish big enough for her to coil in

C. Keep humidity at the right % and check it every day, if possible. This will help her shed easier (Shed should roll of like a sock, shouldn't be "patchy"). im lucky in that the big water dishes keep the humidity in the bins perfect (unless they soak and then get the water everywhere XD)

D. Kudos to you for taking on a Ball Python in need. If you have any more questions PM me and I'll do my best to help! Thank you for your response


responses in blue =P

0.1 spider
0.2 normal
1.0 Pastel
&& breeding for the first time this season finally have a female over the 1500 =)

[Flikky]

Definately looks like a rodent chewed on her. I personally wouldnt feed her a rat every 3 days. Maybe a small rat every 5 or 6 days. Don't want to rush it. I havent dealt with under weight bps before but that's what Id do

[jfaria1891]

I rescued a baby back on July 5th. She was supposedly 6 months old but only weighed in at 44 grams. She was very skinny, very dehydrated, and had a back stuck shed with eye-caps. What I was advised to do was ignore the skin issues until she's back up to proper weight. Like others have said, make sure she's in the appropriate sized home with a hide (or two). Make sure the temps and humidity is spot on and feed her on a 5 day schedule (I started out with small meals for the first three or four feedings and then slowly worked up to an appropriate sized meal) until she looks fuller. Then deal with the shedding issue.

This was my girl when I first got her:



Here is her about a month later. I was working on getting her to gain weight. I hadn't dealt with the shed. You can CLEARLY see that she has an entire layer of skin all over her body. It was starting to flake around her belly.



And finally, here is her about two weeks ago. Since I rescued her, she's now at 100g (total gain of 60 grams in 2 months). I fixed her shedding issue and she has since shed on her own (perfectly, I might add!) She's still recovering but she's my best eater and most tolerant of my affections.



I hope your little girl will pull through just as my Fluffy did. Good luck! Keep us updated!

wow yeah she was in pretty bad shape she looks awesome now very nice looking normal right there. luckily i didn't have a shedding issue like that she had some old shed still on her but if lacked off after i soaked her for about an hour no big deal. i picked up a hatchling about a month ago that weighed in at 31 grams (you said 44 grams so i made me remember) she wasnt a rescue just a runt shes about 70 grams now and about to move up to mice from hoppers heres a picture of her when i first got her at 31 grams

- - - Updated - - -

Definately looks like a rodent chewed on her. I personally wouldnt feed her a rat every 3 days. Maybe a small rat every 5 or 6 days. Don't want to rush it. I havent dealt with under weight bps before but that's what Id do

by rat i ment small rat i deff wouldnt go any larger with her yet lol, at the three day mark i will defrost a rat and present it to her if she goes for it right away she can have it if she seems kinda half interested like shes not that hungry yet ill just throw it to one of my other bp's and feed her on the 5th day, how does that sound for a plan of action? yes? no?

[angllady2]

As hard as it is, only feed her every 4 to 5 days, but feed her small prey. If you overstress her weak system with too much food too soon, she could easily crash and you'd loose her. I have had a number of malnourished ball pythons over the years, and please believe me when I say keep it slow and steady. She'll gain weight slowly but steadily, and before you know it she'll look like a different animal.

You are in for a long, hard road with her, take your time with her, and if you are patient she'll reward you.

Gale

[jfaria1891]

As hard as it is, only feed her every 4 to 5 days, but feed her small prey. If you overstress her weak system with too much food too soon, she could easily crash and you'd loose her. I have had a number of malnourished ball pythons over the years, and please believe me when I say keep it slow and steady. She'll gain weight slowly but steadily, and before you know it she'll look like a different animal.

You are in for a long, hard road with her, take your time with her, and if you are patient she'll reward you.

Gale

sounds good gale makes sense i just figured if she was that hungry then i should feed her but she probibly doesnt know whats best for her she just sees food and wants to eat. thank you for that reply

i buy a bunch of small rats ( all my bp's are on small rats with exception to the one on mice lol) so i buy a ton of frozen ones at a time and i go through them and the 50-60 gram smaller small rats go to her. once she looks fuller ill start giving her normal small rats.