Help with 2 year old ball python

Hey guys, long time lurker. first time poster, basically without going into a huge story, about 6 months ago I was in a car accident that almost killed me, well technically it did for a few seconds, but thats beside the point. regardless I was in recovery unable to care for myself for the last 5 and a half months, and unfortunately the care of my ball python "Kaa" fell upon my mother. She tried her best but knows very very little about snakes, so she was feeding him extremely small meals and not maintaining his temperatures. So, Now that I've been able to look at him, he seems considerably weaker than before and I can easily move his skin around while also being squishy and today when I walked in the room and turned the light on suddenly, he started bobbing his head back and forth for a second so I got him out and monitored him but didn't see it again... I've gotten him some small rats and gave him one 3 days ago but I'm not sure how often I should feed him after having little food for so long. Can anyone please help me out with a general rehabilitation plan to get him back on track, if I even can?

I feel terrible and it makes me upset every time I see him like this :(

When I got Malfoy, he was 4 1/2 years old and hadn't eaten for 6 months. It took 2 months of working to correct things lile clean bedding, hides, heat, and humidity before he finally ate for me, and 1 mouse was all he wanted, and it was a week before he acted like he wanted anything else. The next time, it was 6 days, then 5 days, then 3. I then started increasing his meal size slowly, and he went back to showing me he was hungry every 5-6 days.

Use your snake as your guide - get the temps and humidity corrected, and let him tell you when he is hungry again, even if it is in 3 days. As he returns to better body condition, you can back off to what you were doing before.

At any rate, glad you are doing well enough to be able to take care of him again!

Yeah what he said lol. Seriously melcvt00 has a good idea i agree

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That's a huge relief melcv, I was fearing the worst. I'll keep a close watch on him then and feed him when hes hungry, and I assume muscle mass will come back from eating properly? or will I need to try to exercise him somehow? At any rate, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Maybe when Kaa feels better Ill take some pictures and post em so you guys can see him :gj:

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Originally Posted by ZargZ

or will I need to try to exercise him somehow? At any rate, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Maybe when Kaa feels better Ill take some pictures and post em so you guys can see him :gj:

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Hahahaha! Exercise? Balls spend most of their life hiding - they don't exercise much. :-)

You should take a picture now, even if you don't share it with us. It is easy to miss improvements when you are hovering over them every day because you are worried.

I had a male ball go off feed voluntarily during his "1000 gram wall" stage for 13 months. One day, he was just hungry again and started eating like he had never stopped. Unless it is a hatchling he is not, he will be okay I think. I think the temp regulation is a more important focus as too cold could weaken the immune system and make the animal more prone to disease. How big is he?

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Originally Posted by melcvt00

Hahahaha! Exercise? Balls spend most of their life hiding - they don't exercise much. :-)

You should take a picture now, even if you don't share it with us. It is easy to miss improvements when you are hovering over them every day because you are worried.

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I know they don't exercise in a normal situation, I just wasn't sure if it was something that would help his rehabilitation in this case. Good idea on the pictures though, ill defiantly do that. :)