Hi everyone-- I work as a reptile handler at a museum and I was recently promoted to the animal caretaker. We have several ball pythons and extensive weight records for them for each month.
I recently weighed one of our balls and started reviewing their records and discovered that all three of them have been losing weight steadily for the last year or two.
We have one ball named Monte who was born in 1991 who weighed 2.81 kg in September of 2012, was 2.61 kg in May of 2013 and was down to 2.02 kg just this last month. We also have extensive records of when she eats and what she eats and for the past year and a half she has not refused any of her mice. We feed her one large mouse (frozen and thawed) a week. We have access to an exotic animal vet through the museum and she stops by regularly, but I'm a bit wary of her. Another employee noted that one of our corn snakes had also been losing weight at the same pace as the ball pythons and the vet recommended exploratory surgery (which she did in front of a class, so my suspicion is that she pushed the surgery so her class could see it). Unsurprisingly, the corn snake died after the surgery and I'm worried she might push for similar, uneeded surgeries for the balls. My supervisor mentioned that she thinks Monte might just be getting close to the end of her lifespan. Her color seems to be about what it normally is. Her scales in general do seem a little rougher and less smooth and she's about as lethargic and calm as she's been for the last two years that I've worked with her. Does this match the description of a snake that's just aging?
The other two balls have lost weight as well. Cuddles has gone from 1.93 kg a year ago to 1.61 this past month (no change in appetite and same feeding schedule as the other balls) and Bruce has gone from 1.65 to 1.34 kg. Their lengths have not changed and they are adults, although we do not know their specific ages (ballpark range puts Cuddles at about 10-15 years old and Bruce at 5-8-- both are male). Are we just not feeding them enough? Should I get the vet in here to check for parasites? We quarantine all of our new animals and get several neg fecal samples before we move them into our reptile room so I'd be surprised to find out that they had parasites and I would have no idea where they got them from.
The animals are show animals and get handled very often and treated very well, so I don't think it's a stress issue as they've had periods where their weight has been the same and they were used in the same amount and types of shows. Any ideas?
Further info: We have extensive behavioral, temperature and humidity data for them as well. They have a mat, a hide and a water bowl big enough to soak in as well as a warm spot and a cool spot in each of their habitats and they've been in those same habitats for years in proper temp and humidity ranges. There basically haven't been any major changes in anything for the past several years so I'm at a loss as to what is causing the weight loss as full grown adults with no dietary changes.
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