New and seeking advice

[SarahMB]

Hi everyone.
I bought my daughter a 6 week old BP for her bday about 3 weeks ago. It looked healthy when we brought it home, but it hasn't eaten a thing yet. Despite having fresh water at all times, it has gotten dehydrated and had what I think was a prolapsed cloaca. I took it to the vet today, and he fixed that and said the snake is pretty skinny, at 48 grams. He also said he doesn't like the coloration on it's underside for some reason, and prescribed 2 weeks of antibiotics. I'm a little nervous about giving the snake shots every day, but I'm sure I'll manage that somehow.
The thing that really bothers me is that the vet gave me a tube and syringe and said I need to tube feed this snake twice a week until it will eat. I've been reading a LOT on the net since getting the snake, and most people seem to be strongly against this.
So my question is, what do you all think? Is the snake underweight enough to warrent tube feeding at this point, or should I keep trying mice? I've tried f/t fuzzies, live pinkies, live fuzzies, it doesn't want anything. It will kill the live ones but then won't eat them.
Sorry for writing a book on this, haha! If you made it this far, please, I welcome all advice.

[tigerlily]

Most often a non feeding bp's refusal for food can be traced back to insufficient heating or internal parasites. Did your vet perform a fecal float? (That would test for internal parasites) Can you describe your setup?

[SarahMB]

Yeah, he said no parasites.
I'm pretty sure that insufficient heat was the main problem. Since I've been reading this forum, I've made some changes to the setup so that the temps are now good. But I just made those changes yesterday, so I figure it will take the snake a while to get settled in again enough to eat. Plus now I'm going to have to give it a shot every day for 2 weeks, so it may take longer than that!

[SarahMB]

Oh sorry, forgot to describe the setup.
It's a 10 gallon glass tank with a screen top. Has a heating pad on bottom and a heat lamp on top. 2 hides, one on warm side, one on cool, water bowl, newspaper on bottom of tank, and a climbing tree. I know now he doesn't need the tree, but he does seem to like it. May have been to get closer to the heat lamp tho, as before we had a reptile sand as substrate, so I don't think much heat was coming up from the pad.
I also have not been misting the tank, I will start that today. I just need to go buy a misting bottle here in a bit. I really want to switch to a plastic tub, after reading all the good things about them, here. I may do that after all this business with the 2 weeks of shots. I think the poor little thing must be stressed out at this point, more changes may not be good!

[tigerlily]

What size enclosure do you have? The larger the cage the more likely you'll encounter problems. You want small tight hides, at least two of them. You don't want any 'open' area.

It sounds like the temps may have been your big problem, so hopefully you'll have a feeding bp soon.

[tigerlily]

Also make sure you are measuring your temps with a digital thermometer. Those dials and strips are notoriously inaccurate.

Sorry, I'm a bit tired and frazzled so my thoughts aren't very organzied.

[SarahMB]

Yeah, I will pick up a good thermometer today as well, all I have is a plastic strip.
His hides are small and tight, but they don't match. I'm thinking of getting 2 that do match as well.
Here is a pic of the setup when we first got him. I'm sure you can see the problems! It looks nothing like that now, I'll get some new pics when I get the new hides:


And here is a pic of the problem he had today. I think it was a prolapsed cloaca, but the vet didn't say for sure. Also, sorry it's blurry, this was done with my cell phone:

[JLC]

Ow...poor little guy! I'm glad you got that fixed. It's obvious you really care and are working hard to provide a good home for him.


I don't think I would resort to a feeding tube, although I must say I am no vet or anything. If I were in your shoes, I would finish the medicine and then give him a full week of not being messed with at all...a chance to finally settle into his new home without the trauma of vet visits and treatments. Then offer a small, live prey...something too young to risk injury so you can "leave them alone together" for awhile and not worry about it.

And I think, if I were going to make the switch to a plastic tub (SO much easier to maintain temps and humidity in!)...I would probably do it right near the end of his round of treatments...that way he doesn't associate the new tub with getting shots every day...and he will have that full week in it as his new acclimation period, which he would probably need whether he got a new home or not.

[Adam_Wysocki]

At 48 grams recovering from a probable prolapse and under going daily shots of anti-biotics for 2 weeks I would follow the vets instructions to the letter. If he/she advised you to tube feed the animal it is likely because your snake may be too weak to even eat on it's own at this time. Signs that can't be assessed over the internet such as a wobbling head, loose skin along he lower 1/3 of the body that is starting to separate from the muscle, etc. are things that a vet looks for in order to diagnose dangerously severe malnutrition which often requires tube feeding for extended periods of time.

If your snake is severely malnourished, you will likely have to tube feed until the animal is healthy enough to be able to try feeding on it's own.

Warnings on the internet to not tube feed should only be directed at animals that "should be" healthy enough to be able to eat on their own ... my fear is that your vet likely assessed that this animal is not.

Keep in constant contact with your vet and good luck, you've got a bumpy road ahead.

-adam

[JLC]

Thank you, Adam. I was hoping you would see this one and chime in. Sarah, I would listen to Adam's advice on this way before my own.