Picked up a new baby, and she's "tiny". Possibly problems?

[NinjaKittyz]

Hey there, I picked up a new baby, and I’m more than a bit concerned about her size. I’ve had her 2 days now, and she weighed in at 54g, she’s about 16”-ish. I haven’t attempted to feed her yet, that’s on tomorrows agenda; planning on trying a fuzzy mouse. The person I got her from ( Free, from Craigslist) hasn’t responded to when she last ate, her hatch date or who the breeder was. She's in a 10gal glass aquarium with a heating pad on the side of the tank. The temp has been staying around 82 in the day, and about 78 at night. (I know it's a bit low.) I’m getting her an overhead light on Friday. (She wasn’t expected so I didn’t have everything for her.)

She’s on Aspen bedding w/a small log hide and a plastic “stump” hide as well. (She seems to like that one better as it’s entirely enclosed and darker.) I’m not sure about the humidity level. She’s got a small dish for water, but hasn’t made any attempts to go near it or drink. I’ve only handled her a couple of times, I don’t want to stress her out overly much given her size.

I have my other two girls. Both also in 10gal glass aquariums, they do have lights so their temps run about 85-87 in the day and drop to about 78-79 at night. Both are establish, eager eaters who used to be problem children, refusing to eat and underweight.

Having next to no information on her or her sister; I’d picked up one for a friend, and was given this one as well. (She tried to bite me the second the woman pulled out her tote from the rack and I fell in love.) I was told that she was eating f/t pinkies and that was it. I’ve emailed the guy I’d gotten them from, but no response yet. Mine is 54g and her sister is 46g. Both are skinny and “flatten” out when held. (Pics will follow) I have a few questions on her future care.

Here’s my question(s). I’m going to try live fuzzys tomorrow for mine, my friend doing the same. (Both my other girls won’t touch anything unless it’s live.) Is there any way I can “help” her gain weight, I don’t think she can afford to really lose much if any. Is there any way to guestimate her approx. hatch date, even to a set month. Both are still active, and sassy, so I’m not “too” worried. I think what I’m looking for is just general tips. She's also getting soaked 2x daily to help w/ hydration. Also, her little head seems... Sunken in almost, too. (Thus the soaking.)

Something that I rather like is on both of them, right behind their heads, they've got a really small spot on their dorsal stripe. Exact same spot on both. Only way to tell them apart is mine ( I'm calling her 54g for the moment.) has her dorsal split into 2 sections, where my friends (46g) has a solid dorsal w/ the same spot. (It's easily seen in the first pic.)

The smallest I’ve had was Eeek, and I got her knowing she had eating/shedding issues, but she was at 105g when I got her. (And I thought she was tiny. -snort-) She’s now at 170g after 2m. My other was 162g when I got her, and she’s now a very healthy and sassy 320g after 5m. Both are small for their age (Eeek is approx. 8m and Bobbitt is approx. 18m.) due to eating issues early on, so I want to try and avoid that with this one.

I keep almost ocd records on my girls, and will be doing the same for this one. Any suggestions, tips, tricks or ideas anyone has would be much appreciated. I rather like this sassy little girl. I’m planning on calling her Lilliputian. (It means Tiny. ) or Lil for short.

In this one the one on the left is mine, the 54g girl, and the one on the right is at 46g.



You can see how her head is a bit sunken, the sharp angles on her spine and how she looks "Flat". (56g)



(46g) You can see how obvious her spine is.



(46g) Another shot of her back. It reallllly bugs me that I can see the individual vertebrae.



(56g) Oddly, on mine, the larger one, her vertebrae are more obvious.




So, That's pretty much everything I know about them, as well as their pics. I can't say they weren't being taken care of, I know they've eaten at least once, (Got some lovely black poo all over me while popping them.) --- Oh, Just remembered, On the 46g girl, her poo was.. slightly orangey,which seemed a lil odd. --- but I don't know if they've shed, ages or anything else really about them. Any info would be really appreciated, as well as tips, tricks or hints.

Thanks guys!

[elbee]

The weight didn't alarm me for a hatchling in general, as my albino was a teenie guy, but how old are these babies supposed to be? They're very thin it probably wouldn't hurt to bump their temperature up to 90. It stinks that you haven't gotten a reply from the seller. I hope they do well for you.

[NinjaKittyz]

The temp will get bumped up on friday, she wasn't a planned baby. More of a "Hey, want this one, too?" and both were free. So I couldn't say No. Especially after seeing her. I wasn't told an age. The only info I was given is that they'd gotten them, they were on f/t pinkies, and were getting rid of them due to downsizing. So that's the info I've got to go off of.

[Evildrdee]

Looks like you have a good challenge on your hands, get a humidity gauge and keep that up along with the warmer temps. Best of luck. Hope they will eat for you. My guess is they havent ate at all and are very young, not more than a few weeks? Just a guess though, never seen one that bad. They are gonna need some tuff survivor names, they had it rough.

[Annarose15]

Stop soaking her. This could cause stress that will lead to not eating. As long as the tank humidity is good (or provide a hide filled with damp sphagnum moss), she will hydrate on her own. She needs to focus on eating. I would feed her every 4 days, if she'll take it, until she is solidly over 150g. You can reduce frequency then if you want to. Also, why are you making her wait until tomorrow for heat?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The size mention is basically the size of an hatching right out of the egg.....of course they could have hatch much smaller than the average also.

At this size they are unlikely established feeder and here is what I would do to make sure they eat and become consistent.

You need to treat this the same way a breeder would with getting hatchings started.

Separate them and have them set up in a 6 quarts tub with aspen bedding, a 6 inches flower pot saucer, a water dish and temps of 76/78 and 86/86 do not allow any night drop when it comes to temps.

No more handling, not more soaking.

Once setup in their new setting wait a week to offer food, offer a live hopper mouse in their enclosure.

Once they eat 3 consecutive meals on their own you can start handling them.

Keep them setup this way until they are about 150 grams.

[angllady2]

Poor tiny little things!

I am guess these guys are really young and have not been taken care of. I can imagine you are going to have a really hard time getting them feeding. Follow Deborah's instructions, they need special care right now. I wish you all the best with them, I have a feeling it's going to be a long, hard road.

Gale

[NinjaKittyz]

Both girls are doing amazing! I've decided to call her Ruby, as she's as grumpy as the "Ruby" from Supernatural. Anyways, she's eating steadily, First 2 weeks, she got 1x fuzzy 2x a week, now she's on 1x hopper every 3-4 days. She's gaining weight like crazy, she's sassy, active, she's not dull anymore. She's gone from 54g to 92g. I couldn't be happier.

Pixie, her "sibling", has gone from 46g to 78g, she's getting spunkier, eating without a problem, active, shiney, all in all, I'm stoked.

The original owner/breeder finally got ahold of me. Their hatch date was Sept 24th/25th. He doesn't remember the exact day. So they're 5, Five!, months old, and not even a full 100g. They both should be at least 150-200 by now. I also found out that they are twins, same egg, which I think is amazing, I didn't know that was possible.

If anyone would like, I can post an updated picture of Ruby, she looks so so much better.

[nimblykimbly]

So glad she's doing great! Yes, I'd love to see a pic

Oh, and I LOVE your member name... We used to have a cat nicknamed NinjaKitty!

[NinjaKittyz]

Wow. I just looked at the pics I'd posted and... There's a HUGE improvement. It's amazing what a bit of food will do for a baby. Here's her updated pic, she's going into shed so she's a bit.. faded looking.