I am re-posting this under a new heading per the advice from another member (thank you)

Back story is Mia, a snake we purchased at Petsmart (i know i know) having issues eating. Has not eaten one time in the month we've had her and losing a little weight. She is 102g.

We contacted a breeder (not the one who bred and sent to Petsmart, totally outside breeder) and he came to our house and gave her a good checkup. He informed us that she was having issues with her tongue.

We took Mia to the vet yesterday.

The vet said she really did look pretty healthy. Nothing wrong with her mouth, no mouth infection or anything but she does have a deformed tongue. Her tongue is there but it is very short and does not come to the end of her mouth and it does not have forks at the end.

Birth defect, accident…. Who knows why it happened.

He could not give us a definitive answer on if she will learn to eat on her own or not. (I wanted a yes/no but understand that he can’t predict the future)

He said right now its ok to keep assist feeding her but only for the next couple of meals. Then he wants to see if she can feed herself.

He did say that if she can never feed herself due to her tongue, that assist feeding an adult python would be a bit harder than assist feeding her now and may be better done by someone with more experience.

So we are going to give her at least a month. If she does not eat on her own in a month Dr. says we have 3 choices:

1. Assist feed for Mia’s whole life.
2. Give her to a rescue or someone who is willing to take on a snake with physical deformity and can feed her by hand forever.
3. Euthanasia.

My son is beside himself. He feels that by giving her to someone else that he is just dumping her off. I keep telling him not to feel that way. I told him to think of it as she needs more care than he is able to give and he would be giving her to someone who can give her the best life possible without euthanasia.
Am I right?

He is so attached to her it’s unreal. She was in his pocket all the way to the vet and on his neck while waiting in the vets office.

I may be wrong, but I swear she already knows him more than anyone in the house. When I hold her she is all over nonstop moving (and I haven’t gotten used to that yet) but when my son holds her she just completely relaxes and just hangs out with him on his hand, neck, wherever.

This is not what he expected from his first snake.

It is going to be a hard decision my son has to make on his own.