New rescued BP- w/ issues thin, dehydrated..

[Montessa Python]

The rescue BP I got yesterday morning is thin, super small for his age, and dehydrated.
Nigel is 2 yrs old.. yes 2, and as small as a 6 month old. I pieced together a history from what his owner told me as she was giving him to me. He was purchased and probed in front of her. He was very small, bought from a local big box chain pet store.
He was probably a captive hatch, and may not have had a feeding under his belt before he was sold. It took them quite some time. AND they had to finally force feed him once, and then after that he ate. BUT she at first fed pinky mice, and then gradually over time moved him up to adult small mice.
She said she has never seen him drink.
He was in a 30 gallon breeder, on newspaper (previously on eco earth) And didn't shed well on that, seemed better on paper.
He had two heat lamps on top, and a UTH, unregulated.
And he was fed in a paper bag.
Meet Nigel






SO my question for you all,
How do I get him to drink?, How do I get him re-hydrated?
And what feeding schedule should I put him on to boost his weight?
Also any ideas for tub vs tank? and water dish types?
I have him in a herp ranch KK right now, I need to get holes drilled into a tub before I transfer him into it OR a 5 gallon tank.
I have thermometers in all tanks/tubs. Hydrometers, I keep the reptile room at 78-80, and have a heat light "near" the tubs/tanks" to provide a cool side of 80 but not fry my tarantulas.
My hot side is 88-92, currently right at 90 degrees.

[starmom]

Please, there are many more people on this forum who have a bajillion times more experience than I, however, the first thing I would do is to read all of the care sheets on the first page of the husbandry section of this forum. I might also take the snake to the vet to rule out internal parasites and also get an accurate weight on him, unless you have a scale...?
Since he is so little and having health issues, I would put him into a tub but they need belly heat. Maybe I misread what you were saying, but I don't think you mentioned belly heat, just ambient temps.
A water bowl large enough for him to soak in is good. You can pick up a ceramic one for cheap almost anywhere.
Also, I did not see a mention of the humidity in your room. I might try bumping humidity to a steady 60-65%.
What a terrific person you are for helping this snake!! Good luck and let us know how things go. Take care.

[GirDance]

As stated above, if he's actually 2 years old - vet trip asap. One major thing to stunt growth that much would be parasites - I have yet to hear of a two year old be that small length and weight. If you have any feeding records take them with you, and try to get a stool sample to take in as well.

It couldn't hurt to give him a warm soak to try and remove that stuck shed either, try to keep him as low stressed as possible, get stable temps and humidity and he should start drinking for you. On a side note, I've only seen my girl drink once, but I know that she does drink because she's not dehydrated, they are mostly active at night, and most people are sleeping during this time period - if he'd never drank in all that time, he'd be dead. A heavy parasite load can also explain dehydration.

As far as feeding, start that after the vet, and if the vet gives any recommendations or advice with medication follow that. If there's a parasite setting up a good feed schedule won't help as much as it should. If he's on adult mice, I would suggest keeping him on those for now, and gradually over a few months getting him down to a five day feed schedule or feeding him two at a time. After he's consistently eating on that schedule, you can try to switch him to rats.

[Entropy]

I recently picked up a ten year old female that weighed in at a tad over 500 grams (which picture evidence to prove it....incredibly shocking). You could feel every rib (odd on a ball python I tell you), she had retained shed, she's missing an eye and she was dehydrated.
A trip to the vet showed nothing except dehydration and emaciation.
I set her up in quarantine in a tub with a hide and a good heavy water dish she couldn't tip, the first two days I did soak her to remove the shed and help her hydrate after that I left her be. She is a bold snake so I opted to offer food the first feeding day after I got her (a bit under a week) and even with one eye she dropped that mouse fast. I fed her two more weeks on a one mouse a week schedule and now have her on a 5 day feeding schedule. She's put on weight, is hydrated and is getting to be a favorite of mine for her personality. When she comes out of Q I will most likely end up keeping her.
Surprisingly your boy looks to be in better weight then my girl was when I got her. But yes, a vet trip is important ASAP.

[Montessa Python]

Since it is a saturday, hard to get to a vet..
I will schedule asap.
I have undertank heaters on thermostats, so the hot side is 90.
The cool side is 80ish.
The room itself is kept between 75-78
I will soak him, and get the stuck shed off of him.

I hope that is just bad feeding and deyhydration.
His is a sweet snake.
Carol

[littleindiangirl]

I believe soaking often is a great way to get them hydrated again.
Starting on small meals and gradually move him up in size.
Keeping him in the tub set up seems the best, and everyone else's advice was top notch too.

[frankykeno]

Poor thing, he's had a rough time of it. Carol, the first thing is of course to make sure your quarantine procedures are bang on. You want to make sure you don't ever pass anything around with these rescues.

Having had a couple of adults come in here that were severely underweight this is what we do....

- set them up in our bedroom, in a very quiet corner, total quarantine, no handling, lights always low, no traffic, no one but Mike and I allowed anywhere near the snake or it's enclosure

- complete tip to tail physical check over to assess what's going on followed by a good long soak to remove as much of the messy stuck shed as possible, then they are tucked in their quiet home for a week at least with absolutely no contact other than a very quickly daily peek and to check their water or collect a fecal sample

- fecal float to the vet if needed (no need to take the snake in unless the float comes back positive for internal parasites)

- first feeding is always live, always with pre-scenting the area first, usually a rat fuzzy which is safe to leave alone with the snake, at night, in the dark with minimum fuss, we just put the fuzzy in and leave the room

- if the snake takes this first meal we don't offer a second one that week, we want to make sure this snake keeps down this first small meal successfully

- 5 days later we offer another fuzzy rat and if they take that one, a second fuzzy that same night

- 5 days later we feed again, usually bumping up slowly to pups, weans, etc. over a number of feeds

- when the adult snake is willingly taking an appropriately sized prey item and showing healthy weight gain we drop to every 7 days

We usually see decent weight gain and a few fast sheds as they start to feel better and get whatever leftover shed off them. We try hard to not have to put them through the stress of more soaking and assisting sheds if we can avoid that. Most seem to be able to get whatever was left off in subsequent healthy shed cycles.

We do no handling for these snakes other than normal cage maintenance and a weekly weight check. Once they are eating well again and coming along we start handling gently and drop them to a monthly or so weighing in. Just be very patient, some of them takes weeks to get over the shock before they start to perk up enough to eat. See your vet is anything concerns you though, a good herp vet is your best friend when you take in snakes like this.