need your opinions/help

This is to my thread earlier today. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-disappointing

i have been watching the girl in her tub and she seems to have trouble holding her own head up, its like she turns her head and drags it or rubs it across the floor. I want to see if she will eat something because she is malnourished and it seems like she has not been fed for a while, but from the look of her body (which you cant tell in the pictures but is very thin and you can totally see her backbone) i would say a small rat. I have one rat in the freezer but that is a med rat. The reptile store is closed by me. should i wait to feed her till tomorrow when they open at 10 AM? and when i do feed her, should i have it pre killed? though the previous owner said she ate live.

I feel bad for her. she seem so sweet. Seems like she is so slow to the point of slowly death-ish.

i am worried about her, and i have not even known her for 24 hours. i wish there was more i can do for her right now.

In my opinion it would be safer to feed an appropriately sized meal tomorrow then trying to feed the medium rat.
Do you have any idea or guesses on why she is dragging her head, she seems to be in bad shape

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DZ Reptiles

In my opinion it would be safer to feed an appropriately sized meal tomorrow then trying to feed the medium rat.
Do you have any idea or guesses on why she is dragging her head, she seems to be in bad shape

---

that is what i was thinking, but at the same time i really wish to see her with a lump and know she can at least eat. Since i got her she has been exploring her cage and not even using her hide which made me think she might be super hungry.

i honestly have no idea. I was thinking because she has no energy. or maybe it could be some type of parasite in her? but the people i got her from said they had that snake and only that snake for 5 years. i do not even think they had a uth. she kept trying to give me the snakes hot rock.
doubt she even had a hide because she does not use any that i have given her. She lays on top of them. its not even hot in the tub.

do you think it could be that?

i am trying to look up symptoms but come up short. She is not flopping her head back and fourth like crazy but it does seem lazy and kinda rubbing it on stuff. i flipped her over to see if she can up right herself and she had no problem doing that, she fought with me to even put her on her back. though i have not seen her coil at all. she flicks her tongue for a long period of time. i see no RI and no mites. She did had a really bad shed. i do not know about her appetite since i have not fed her.


anything else that i should look for?

I have heard that snakes will rub their heads on the ground if they have mites. Its good that you have her now. She looks like she is 6 months old not 5 years.
Hope all goes well with her.
Good luck,
Aaron

She's so pretty!

I would let her settle in and try feeding her tomorrow. With her weight small rats (60-ish grams) should be good once a week. If you try feeding her a big meal right away it could stress her system. You'll soon be able to bump up the size though and get her up to a healthy body condition.

As far as her rubbing, could she still have a small piece of stuck shed on her face? Maybe around a heat pit?


Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jsmorphs2

She's so pretty!

I would let her settle in and try feeding her tomorrow. With her weight small rats (60-ish grams) should be good once a week. If you try feeding her a big meal right away it could stress her system. You'll soon be able to bump up the size though and get her up to a healthy body condition.

As far as her rubbing, could she still have a small piece of stuck shed on her face? Maybe around a heat pit?


Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

---

i looked at her face but mostly only to check in and around her mouth for any signs of mucus to see if she had a RI. i can look around her pits with a small light, but when i got her, her head was already shed off.

i will keep an update once she eats in like 1 hour. another reptile store, a little farther is open early. whoo yay.
I just want to get something in her right now. It seemed like her "rubbing" was due to the fact that she is weak. kinda like dragging it along her body.