Being a worried snakemom - is he dehydrated?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mousch

I honestly couldn't tell you what he weighs
Oh gosh now I'm so scared for this little guy, I thought he looked a little skinny but not omg emergency tubefeeding skinny :(
I don't have a scale or anything like that. The picture of the skin near his tail, he's sitting right where my two thighs meet. So that skin looks looser than he actually does.

:( poor little guy I will do whatever I can to pull him through
The breeder told me he had taken all of his meals. Is he just on mice that are too small? What should I do?

---

Do me a favor and pm me the name of the breeder.I dont want to start trouble or anything,i just want to see if it a reputable person who breeds his own or a importer.

I've very upset with this breeder who in good conscience sold you this animal. He does look very thin to me, since I've not dealt with dehydration, I can't speak to if he is.


I'd like to see what the more experienced keepers say, but what "I" would do, is get it settled into a nice small tub enclosure (like a 15 quart) and leave him alone for a full week, and then offer a live hopper mouse and see if he'll eat.

If he starts eating well for you, and there are no other problems - then I would think he would start to bounce back.

If he doesn't eat - I would think a vet visit is in order to asess his overall health and make sure he doesn't have internal parasites.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9.../Batsignal.jpg

If I were you, I would just take him to a vet. There's no reason to panic, but I would think that if he has been eating regularly, there must be something else causing him to lose weight.
Since you just got him, you probably don't have a fecal sample for the vet to test. I would just talk to the vet and tell him/her you'd like to bring in a fecal sample when you get one. That way you shouldn't have to pay for another office visit (but you will have to pay for the tests).

Bear in mind, I'm no expert. I only have 2 baby ball pythons. One is very thin like yours, hasn't eaten in the 2 months I've had him. The other is a fat, healthy girl that has eaten every week with no problems. But I have had a lot of dealings with vets, and most of them are very willing to work with you on getting your pet healthy with as little cost as possible.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jim020cricket

I'd calm down and then do what all the good people here are suggesting to do. Give him/her a few/couple days to acclimate and then try feeding. Leave alone for another week and then feed again. What size enclosure is he/she in? What are the temps and humidity? What else can you give us to further help you, any info at all would help.

---

I put this in the beginning of my post, but it's 90 on the warm side, 80 on the cool, a humidity of 65%. He's in a sweaterbox size rubbermaid with a warm and cool hide and a water dish big enough to soak in with newspaper substrate.

Okay. I did a little water displacement test and even thought I don't know the density of an underfed ball python, he displaced 50ml of water which makes him around 50g. Sounds too skinny. I will leave him alone (which is hard now that I'm so worried!). Should I try to feed Sunday or Tuesday?

Ok i was pmed the supposed breeders name and i visited his site.He states that the majority of his snakes are produced by him,but he does sell wild caughts and captive hatched.He also says he will tell you when you buy from him whether or not he produced it or imported it.I nearly hit the floor when i looked at his prices:eek: .He gets between $85 to $125 for ball pythons,or $100 for snow corns.That is ridicules for a normal very skinny snake.I recomended to take the snake back and get her/his money and go elsewhere.

I'm no snake expert but that snake doesn't look good at all! It is VERY skinny. I know if I were you, I'd take it and ask for my money back.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lillyorchid

I'm no snake expert but that snake doesn't look good at all! It is VERY skinny. I know if I were you, I'd take it and ask for my money back.

---

See, now I'm really scared about this. I know if I take it back and accuse him of selling me an underfed snake, I will be shut out of the local reptile community. Plus he works at the only place in town to buy feeders. I want to keep him alive and safe, and I don't think taking him back will do much good for either of us.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mousch

See, now I'm really scared about this. I know if I take it back and accuse him of selling me an underfed snake, I will be shut out of the local reptile community. Plus he works at the only place in town to buy feeders. I want to keep him alive and safe, and I don't think taking him back will do much good for either of us.

---

Folks mousch is from Canada.Like he/she says the person is well known and could cause her/him problems.I thought we had jerks passing off sick snakes this guy takes the cake :mad: .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by joepythons

Folks mousch is from Canada.Like he/she says the person is well known and could cause her/him problems.I thought we had jerks passing off sick snakes this guy takes the cake :mad: .

---

Yeah, I found another thread on a different forum. Turns out he's had illegal reptiles before and been found guilty. But the thread is full of people defending him. He's also up there in the community. ARGH!

I will leave him be. This will be really hard, I'm going to spend every waking moment thinking about this guy. I will channel my worry into reading about bringing a hatchling back up to strength. Come on Our Intrepid Hero, you can do it little buddy!

Oh and joe... his prices are pretty normal for Canada. Don't move up here or you'll have some kind of heart attack! His prices were on par with everyone else at the recent reptile show.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mousch

Yeah, I found another thread on a different forum. Turns out he's had illegal reptiles before and been found guilty. But the thread is full of people defending him. He's also up there in the community. ARGH!

I will leave him be. This will be really hard, I'm going to spend every waking moment thinking about this guy. I will channel my worry into reading about bringing a hatchling back up to strength. Come on Our Intrepid Hero, you can do it little buddy!

Oh and joe... his prices are pretty normal for Canada. Don't move up here or you'll have some kind of heart attack! His prices were on par with everyone else at the recent reptile show.

---

Well like i said in a pm to you,your heart is in the right place:gj: .Myself and the members here have numerous tricks to help you get this little one to eat.With a lot of patiance and luck hopefully we can get it healthy.On a side note those people are smoking something :eek: ,i relize Canadas money is worth less then US money but geeeee.