Urgent. Severely underweight baby rescue

I found a young ball python listed in a local ad and she looks really really underweight. I was just wondering how bad you think she is and how I should go about helping her. I definitely want to make sure she doesn't have health issues (mites, respiratory issues, etc) and get this girl eating. I've never dealt with a snake in this condition and here in Alaska we don't have too many keepers so I figured I need to step up. Any advice would be helpful. Feeding, housing, morph, severity of her condition, etc.https://serving.photos.photobox.com/...c33038c5fa.jpg

The picture turned out very small so here is the link to the ad. I have It arranged with the lady, this snake was handed to her and abandoned and she doesn't know how to take care of it. Its a sad situation but bashing the owner will not do any good. Thank you.https://anchorage.craigslist.org/pet...739376922.html

Check all the sticky posts in the BP Husbandry section for housing setup. Note: All heat sources need to be regulated.

The few pictures are not the best, but, yes it appears underweight to me based on the sharpness of the spine in the photos. Without experience it can be difficult to judge how close to starvation it is: it could have days or it could have weeks/months before it needs to eat.

In general I don't recommend rescues for inexperienced keepers: If you cannot assess the snakes health properly you will need to bring it to a Vet. The morph and price tag is irrelevant if you cannot keep it alive.

If I was you: My first priority would be to get it to eat (one way or another).

Can't tell if it's underweight or dehydrated ( or both ) ..

Try and get a few more decent photos up and let the more experienced people have a look ..

Try the free forum app - TapaTalk as it has a free one click photo upload option buikt in .

It's even idiot proof ~ I can use it :)


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Very thin indeed, but its large enough that you can see it must have eaten at one point in its life.
So do NOT attempt to force feed !!

Most important thing is to set her up correctly. We have lots of info on that here, but basically you need to get the temperatures correct. The heat needs to be controlled by a thermostat. A thermometer (or temp gun) is needed to make sure the temps are right. You need 2 hides, one on warm and one on cold side, they need to be tight and dark. Make sure that the entire enclosure is private and not exposed. A glass tank can have dark paper taped on the outside back and sides. Most of the top covered by a towel (leave enough open for air flow.

She needs to RELAX and de-stress. And it needs to be done at the perfect husbandry. After a week or so of being left alone in that setup, you can try to feed. Try with something just a bit smaller then what she should normally take. Go by the thickness of her (thin) body. The thickness of the rodent should match that.

If you still have trouble, you can keep coming back here for more advice. Read the stickys for perfect setups and feeding issues meanwhile..

Try to get a couple more pictures when you get it and before you let it settle. You can check her/him over then for signs of illness. After that checkup and pics , leave it alone unless you need to do maintenance.

It's tough to tell in the pics...she definitely looks skinny, but not alarmingly skinny (at least from what I can tell viewing those pics on mobile).

I'd just let her settle in as undisturbed as possible and start slow with feeding. Start on smaller size as far as prey goes and let her build herself up. She'll be packing on the grams in no time.
Make sure she has clean water and husbandry is on point.

It also can't hurt to bring her in for a vet visit since her background is relatively unknown.

Honestly if I got one like that I'd set it up in a small QT tub so it's a little more humid than normal since most neglected snakes are also dehydrated. Leave it alone for 24 hours to settle, and put a warmed, damp f/t rat fuzzy in with it the following evening.

The only rescue snake I took in that didn't eat for me within 24 hours was the burned adult ball python that ended up passing away due to sepsis.

Skinny, And probably dehydrated like what the others said, i would give her small dish with warm filtered/bottled water so she can soak. Keep her warm side temperature around 90 degrees and her cooler temperature around 80 degrees or a tiny bit lower. Make sure she has hides and like what the others said you can probably offer a fuzzy tommorow (thats a very short explanation of what to do but its whats important now) hope this helps! :) let us know how it goes

When I got my bp and brought her to ths vet tge next day she was considered anorexic bc the store never fed her and she for very thin. She was only a little over a month old. She didnt eat on her own so they began to tube feed her until she was able to learn to eat which took a month and half since my lil baby was so shy and stressed. Now shes eating amazingly but she needed that tube feeding to fet her started. Ur lil bud may need that but you should really bring them to the vet :)

Please read all the stickies in the bp husbandry forums, especially follow Deborah's instructions on how to fix problem feeders to a T, even if you have not attempt to feed yet. Its first feeding attempt with you must have its husbandry and set up gone right. That poor thing is skinny indeed.

Many things could have gone wrong which led to this baby's condition: it ate too small of a meal, not enough feedings, stopped eating due to numerous reasons, parasites, etc. In light of this, I would not tube feed or force feed unless there is absolutely no choice. The additional stress of doing so would only risk injury and possibly convincing it to not eat on its own for you.

Don't feed it the next day. Let it settle down for a week. Leave it alone for a whole week. Place its tub in the room with the least amount of foot traffic. Dark places like a closet works for now or cover the tub with a towel. The hot side temps don't need to be 90F. Babies do fine at no higher than 88F. Too hot and it won't stay on the warm side. You want to do this 100% right for its first feeding attempt.

This part is really for those reading this thread who are thinking of rescuing when they lack any and all experience working with the species:
That is why no matter how difficult it is to say no, rescues are not for the inexperienced, especially when it comes to bp's which has a tendency to be picky eaters should one or two things not go right. If you can't tell the difference in body condition only, you just took in more than you can handle, without the experience of making mistakes and knowing what works or not before getting this rescue, meaning the chances of this poor thing having to suffer for your mistakes (Not intentionally of course) is very likely, causing possibly more suffering to said baby snake.

For that reason, while you try to set everything up, try to find a local rescue or reptile center who will take it from your hands. If there are no rescues at all where you live, then do your absolute best and study those stickies like you are preparing like its life depends on it. You will also need to locate the closest exotic vets, call and confirm ahead of time which ones has experience with snakes, so that way you would know where to go for vet care.