Help!!

So I took in a baby ball python Friday and it is really really REALLY skinny, its about 14" long and it weights 46g. The guy said it hasn't eating in 2 weeks he couldn't get it to eat, and the reason he was getting rid of it was it was a mean snake (he's the sweetest little guy, hasn't tried to bite, strike, or anything and he's not head shy but that kinda worries me) he has an eye cap that hasn't shed so I soaked him when I got home Fri. He's still kinda active but he hasn't drank anything that I've seen, I tried to feed him last night with no success. His skin is very wrinkled and sunk in, I'm worried it might be to far gone but I was wanting to know what I can do to try to help/ save this little guy. Should I try to force hydrate/feed or should I just keep soaking him and hope he eats on his own? I'll put up pics when I get home this afternoon. Any and all advice is greatly apriceated.

What are you trying to feed him?
Live or f/t?

What is your husbandry and setup like? Since its the first week that he is at your place, it's really important to let him settle in and get the husbandry spot-on.

As far as him not having eaten for 2 weeks, that sounds fishy to me, because he wouldn't lose that much weight in just 2 weeks.

Don't force hydrate him, you probably won't see him drink. I haven't seen some of my snakes drink in over a year. They're just more active at night, so that's just when they drink.

If you ask me, just keep a water dish available and maybe keep the humidity on the high side (like ~70%) to try to keep him well-hydrated and maybe even allow him to get that eyecap off. For the food, try and leave him be for another 5 days, and try something different, like try mice and rats, try F/T and live. If you can't get him on any of those prey items, give ASFs a shot. After you've exhausted all your means, or things seem to be getting worse for him, then I'd suggest force-feeding.

If he's as bad as you say, you need to try assist feeding...like now...today...

If it's a baby and it's really, really, REALLY skinny and 46 grams and won't eat now, it's never eaten...2 weeks my #$^U

Where did you get him from?

Post up a pic if possible...we'll be able to better determine if assist feeding is necessary...

If so, the basic process is like this:

1) Get a small fuzzy mouse or large pinky mouse, thawed or pre-killed, doesn’t matter.
2) Get a small pair of forceps or hemostats, or something to hold the rodent.
3) Find somewhere quiet, and put down a couple clean paper towels. Keep the snakes tub close by so when he finishes eating you can place him back in his tub and back into your rack.
4) Hold the snake behind the head with your thumb and forefinger, and try to control his body as much as possible.
5) Grasp the rodent behind its head with the hemo’s and use the rodents nose to press into the snakes mouth…using the pointy nose of the rodent, you’re basically opening the snakes mouth.
6) Push the rodent’s head into the snakes mouth to where the entire head is in its mouth and just slightly pull it back out trying to get the snakes teeth to catch on the rodent (makes it a little harder to spit out).
7) At this point, most will either coil around the rodent, just start eating it, or sit there doing nothing.
8) If it coils put it down immediately and keep very still and hope he starts eating.
9) If it just starts eating, again just put him down and let him do his thing.
10) If he just sits there doing nothing, slowly place him down and stay very still…sometimes they’ll sit there for a while (a couple minutes sometimes)…but just stay still. Hopefully he’ll start to eat…you’ll see him start to “walk” the prey item down.
11) If he spits it out, you can try again, but I haven’t had much luck when they’re determined to spit it out.

If you have no luck by now, continue on at your own discretion...

12) If he continues to spit it out, you may have to get a little more determined. This requires that you push the rodent further down the snakes throat. This is a bit more tricky and risky, so do this at your own discretion. If you have to resort to this, wet the rodent with a little warm water right before trying as this helps to get the rodent in far enough to where the snake decides it’s just easier to eat it than spit it out…

Once he takes a rodent, give him 4 or 5 days and try and see if he'll take one on his own. I would try live, but you can certainly try a f/t or pre-killed off tongs. If he takes it, great! If not, repeat the assist feeding process again. Sometimes it takes a couple assist fed meals to get them into the groove...

Check out some vids on youtube also. That may help you get a better idea on how this all plays out.

Good luck!

After dealing with the same sort of problems off and on hydration is critical soak him for 20 min 2 a day for two days then place him in a enclosure and make sure the husbandry is perfect (70% humidity however) and leave him be for at least 10 days try not to mess with him at all. I'd then try a mouse pink they are tiny and not a scary food item. Personally i'd avoid assist feed if at all possible. The stress the animal is under and the potential dehydration could lead to a re-gurge that in its current condition it may never recover from. The last re-had snake I got was 10 inch and 31gm and in seriously poor shape (stuck shed and mites) getting properly hydrated with the soaks makes an unbelievable difference.

Good Luck

I have a rack setup that holds 9 28qt containers, the "reptile" room stays about 85-87 during the day and drops down to about 75 at night. I'm not using any uth right now but I probably should on a couple, I'm sure it would hurt. Not sure of humidity right now but its probably on the low end. I got him from a kid he was like 15 tops. I feed d/t to all my snakes but I might have to try live, I have 2 that are picky eaters and I've been meaning to try the live with them anyway. I'll try to post pics at around 1pm or so I'm at work right now so its a little hard. But thanks everyone for the advice so far!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

After dealing with the same sort of problems off and on hydration is critical soak him for 20 min 2 a day for two days then place him in a enclosure and make sure the husbandry is perfect (70% humidity however) and leave him be for at least 10 days try not to mess with him at all. I'd then try a mouse pink they are tiny and not a scary food item. Personally i'd avoid assist feed if at all possible. The stress the animal is under and the potential dehydration could lead to a re-gurge that in its current condition it may never recover from. The last re-had snake I got was 10 inch and 31gm and in seriously poor shape (stuck shed and mites) getting properly hydrated with the soaks makes an unbelievable difference.

Good Luck

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I really doubt a pinky mouse is going to entice a non-feeding hatchling to eat. And 10 days is an awful long time to just wait and do nothing. We seem to have differing opinions here, but my first priority would be to get a meal in him asap...just my opinion...the OP is free to do whatever he feels best.

Your husbantry must be perfect. 78-82 cool side all the time and 88-94 hot side with an ambient air temp in the 80-85 range humidity 60%. For the little one 70% humidity.

you nee a spot that is at the very coolest 88 all the time 24/7

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...149940-Arrrrrg!!!!

I have done exactly that just recently. I work with a rescue organization and have been rehabilitating royals for quite a while. We have never had one survive that did not eat on its own. Causing extra stress is not the way I would go.