Good morning!

How does she/he look to anyone?

And the enclosure? Does my son need a smaller water dish?

Thanks !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maybeka

2 more pics.
I think the water dish is maybe to big. there is a hide one the left and another one behind the branch that you can't really see in the pic.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ps3a7dfhct.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ps4py9iayl.jpg

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To me, the snake looks fine. She will probably eat when ready and the food is prepared and offered properly (already discussed in this thread I believe).

That's a corner water bowl and is probably a little big, but that size might help with humidity in that enclosure. Totally up to you where to put it and what size. BP's rarely soak, so if humidity is ok without that big a water bowl, ok to go smaller and give her more room.

In general, I, and many others here, do not like the log hides. Even if they are plastic (more sanitary), the grooves and indents make it hard to keep clean. Also, they are not too private and have big opening.

You want something like this: http://www.reptilebasics.com/small-hide-box and here is the page for all the hides http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes. I have JUMBO's for my BCI female for when she grows into them, but a BP will almost definitely not need that.

I would get two identical, at least (there is a lot of room in that tank). I would also order some bigger sizes for when she gets bigger. They are cheap, and shipping costs will be saved that way.

If she is really a she, she will need up to a medium or large (and maybe extra large). I would get some mediums and larges for later and if you have to order extra larges, so be it, it will be a long time from now, if at all.

Remember, you want her to feel snug in the hide, and private. The hides I linked here have offset openings and are smooth plastic, so very secure and dark and easy to clean.

Regarding more than 2 hides. When she is big, she will only need two probably, in that size tank (one hot side and one cool side). However, when little, probably better to put 3-4 in there for her.

The branch will also be hard to keep clean. If you add more hides, it might not be needed anyway. Again, BP's can climb, but burrough in nature, and are not good climbers.

Also, while you are at it, I would get some F10SC for cleaning the enclosure and hides.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/F10SC-100ml

I hope this helps and feel free to ask for clarification or any other questions.

She still has not eaten.

The feeding chart they gave us shows:

Jan 17th she ate a pinkie
Jan 24th she ate a fuzzy
Jan 31st she ate 2 pinkies
The week of Feb 4th to 10th she ate nothing
Feb 14th she ate a fuzzy
Feb 24 she ate a fuzzy

(i do not know why they went back and forth between fuzzy and pinky)

My son got her on Feb 26th and she has not eaten anything at all.

We have defrosted it correctly but when he put it in front of her she doesn't seem to care. She will turn her head completely and go the other direction. We keep trying and wiggling it in front of her but she continues to turn her head and leave.

Is it time for us to worry? Is it time for a vet visit?
Her not wanting to eat is a bit stressful (least for us anyway)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maybeka

She still has not eaten.

The feeding chart they gave us shows:

Jan 17th she ate a pinkie
Jan 24th she ate a fuzzy
Jan 31st she ate 2 pinkies
The week of Feb 4th to 10th she ate nothing
Feb 14th she ate a fuzzy
Feb 24 she ate a fuzzy

(i do not know why they went back and forth between fuzzy and pinky)

My son got her on Feb 26th and she has not eaten anything at all.

We have defrosted it correctly but when he put it in front of her she doesn't seem to care. She will turn her head completely and go the other direction. We keep trying and wiggling it in front of her but she continues to turn her head and leave.

Is it time for us to worry? Is it time for a vet visit?
Her not wanting to eat is a bit stressful (least for us anyway)

---

You probably touched on this, but you are offering fuzzy rats, not mice, correct?

If mice, they would be too small for her and she might refuse.

Assuming all the husbandry (as we have discussed) is good and you are not handling her, and just letting her settle in, I wouldn't worry yet.

Did you get the better/more hides? Did you get the temps under control and install a UTH?

If yes to all the above, and offering appropriate size food items (and defrosting and warming properly), I would just give her a little longer to settle in.

Let her be and offer no more than once a week. She will eat when ready.

If she doesn't eat the next two times, I would consider a vet visit, but not until then.

I might have asked, but do you know her weight? The heavier she is, the longer she can go without food.

Ummm..... I think he's buying fuzzy mice because when he went to purchase them, they said rats were not for her size that she should eat fuzzy mice. (I will have him change that)

He is not handling her at all, he is letting her do her own thing and not even touching her.

No UTH as the enclosure is still on the floor. The stand he is building is not done yet but will be done in a matter of days.

He did get more (and better) hides.

The temps all seem to be under control and staying where they should be and are being controlled by a thermostat.

I heard a hiding ball python is a happy ball python. Is this true? Last night she was hanging out (all balled up) on the branch that's in there, not hiding. Then she went about doing her own thing all around the enclosure.

We have seen her drink though, so i guess that's a good thing.

I think maybe we are stressing more than we should. I do have a very good reptile vet and don't have a problem in taking her in if need be.

They could not tell us how old she was but she is about 18 inches long. Can you tell age by length?
I will see about weighing her tonight.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maybeka

Ummm..... I think he's buying fuzzy mice because when he went to purchase them, they said rats were not for her size that she should eat fuzzy mice. (I will have him change that)

He is not handling her at all, he is letting her do her own thing and not even touching her.

No UTH as the enclosure is still on the floor. The stand he is building is not done yet but will be done in a matter of days.

He did get more (and better) hides.

The temps all seem to be under control and staying where they should be and are being controlled by a thermostat.

I heard a hiding ball python is a happy ball python. Is this true? Last night she was hanging out (all balled up) on the branch that's in there, not hiding. Then she went about doing her own thing all around the enclosure.

We have seen her drink though, so i guess that's a good thing.

I think maybe we are stressing more than we should. I do have a very good reptile vet and don't have a problem in taking her in if need be.

They could not tell us how old she was but she is about 18 inches long. Can you tell age by length?
I will see about weighing her tonight.

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No, hard to tell age by length, or weight for that matter.

They all vary greatly.

I agree that you are more stressed than she is. If she's cruising and doing her thing, that's good. Yes, many BP's hide a lot, but she's still getting her bearings.

I think I sent you this, but if not, here's the BP feeding chart. Once you get a weight, you will know for sure, but fuzzy or pinky mice are definitely too small.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...ding_chart.jpg

I guess the constant on / off of the thermostat popped the red heat bulb. It just won't come on. It's brand new also.
Going to stop on my way home and get a ceramic heat emitter this time. From what i've heard and read those are supposed to be better anyway.

Can i just screw it into the existing dome i have or do i need a special one?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maybeka

I guess the constant on / off of the thermostat popped the red heat bulb. It just won't come on. It's brand new also.
Going to stop on my way home and get a ceramic heat emitter this time. From what i've heard and read those are supposed to be better anyway.

Can i just screw it into the existing dome i have or do i need a special one?

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Yeah, go CHE all the way. They do better with on/off and the BP will be happier without the light from even the red bulb. Red bulbs still give off light, and it can seem bright to a BP, who likes dark.

They screw in the same as the red bulb. Just make sure you get the same wattage or close and that the light fixture can handle that wattage (if it's more). You may also need to check temps again and possibly adjust your thermostat (especially if it's a different wattage). Also, most CHE's send off heat in a different way/pattern than a red bulb. The CHE is usually flat at the end and not round like a bulb. So, definitely check both air temps at the probe(s) for the thermostat and also ground temps with your heat gun.

We just weighed her. She is 104 grams on a postal scale.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maybeka

We just weighed her. She is 104 grams on a postal scale.

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Ok, sounds good. The tank should be dialed in.

Totally leave her alone now - zero handling, moving tank, movement around tank (as much as possible), and stable light cycles, until she eats at least 2X for you. After she eats, you can take her out briefly to clean, change water, etc.

You should be feeding one rat fuzzy (10-15G or so) or one small mouse (about the same weight) every 7 days, depending on what she was eating before. If she ate mice before, stick with that for a few meals at least until you try to switch her to rats. If she ate rats, then feed a rat fuzzy.

At that weight, you should get her eating sooner than later. However, do not offer too soon - let her settle for another 3-5 days. Also, if she refuses, continue leaving her alone and do not offer again for at least 5 days, maybe even wait 7.

If she doesn't eat in the next 2 weeks, weigh again and see how much weight she has lost. Then evaluate whether or not you want to take her to a vet. I doubt you will need to, but cannot know for sure.

This is just my two cents, and please, other users, feel free to chime in.

My thought is that the last couple of weeks there have been many adjustments to the enclosure, etc. She needs to settle and start eating. That's the #1 priority and the more comfortable and left alone to settle she feels, I believe the more likely that is to happen.

HELLO !!!!
Not that I don't trust ya'all, but I called our reptile vet.

He says that now that her tank is all set up right, that we should let her sit for a while. No touching, little stress and little noise.
He said we should try feeding her tonight or tomorrow and if she doesn't eat wait another 5 days. If she still hasn't eaten by then he would like to see her. That will be a month since she last ate. He said that's about as long as he would like to see her go. UNLESS she looks ill or is losing weight, then bring her in earlier.

Again, not that i don't trust all the WONDERFUL information i got on here, but we were stressing about her eating.

You guys / gals should all know now that you are all spot on with all the information you gave us!

Again a HUGE thank you to all of you, especially to dalski for being so patient with all the millions of questions i asked.

Just changing her light to a ceramic one has changed her attitude. She was all over her tank and didn't seem to want to just chill, but now she's in her hidey during the day and at night she's out on top of it just hanging out. She was doing that telescoping again last night. Laying on top of her hidey just stretching her neck looking like she was looking for a meal or checking things out from her throne! She seems a bit more mellow now that there is no light on at night (i really like this ceramic heat)

My next post will hopefully says she's eaten !!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Maybeka

HELLO !!!!
Not that I don't trust ya'all, but I called our reptile vet.

He says that now that her tank is all set up right, that we should let her sit for a while. No touching, little stress and little noise.
He said we should try feeding her tonight or tomorrow and if she doesn't eat wait another 5 days. If she still hasn't eaten by then he would like to see her. That will be a month since she last ate. He said that's about as long as he would like to see her go. UNLESS she looks ill or is losing weight, then bring her in earlier.

Again, not that i don't trust all the WONDERFUL information i got on here, but we were stressing about her eating.

You guys / gals should all know now that you are all spot on with all the information you gave us!

Again a HUGE thank you to all of you, especially to dalski for being so patient with all the millions of questions i asked.

Just changing her light to a ceramic one has changed her attitude. She was all over her tank and didn't seem to want to just chill, but now she's in her hidey during the day and at night she's out on top of it just hanging out. She was doing that telescoping again last night. Laying on top of her hidey just stretching her neck looking like she was looking for a meal or checking things out from her throne! She seems a bit more mellow now that there is no light on at night (i really like this ceramic heat)

My next post will hopefully says she's eaten !!!!

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Haven't been following this thread but it you're gonna be feeding thawed frozen then feed in the evenings, dim light and read up on the hairdryer trick beforehand ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Yes i have heard of the hair dryer trick. Definitely going to try that.

And if i haven't mentioned it before, her name is Mia. (IF it turns out to be really a girl) :D

Good morning to u too!

:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maybeka

HELLO !!!!
Not that I don't trust ya'all, but I called our reptile vet.

He says that now that her tank is all set up right, that we should let her sit for a while. No touching, little stress and little noise.
He said we should try feeding her tonight or tomorrow and if she doesn't eat wait another 5 days. If she still hasn't eaten by then he would like to see her. That will be a month since she last ate. He said that's about as long as he would like to see her go. UNLESS she looks ill or is losing weight, then bring her in earlier.

Again, not that i don't trust all the WONDERFUL information i got on here, but we were stressing about her eating.

You guys / gals should all know now that you are all spot on with all the information you gave us!

Again a HUGE thank you to all of you, especially to dalski for being so patient with all the millions of questions i asked.

Just changing her light to a ceramic one has changed her attitude. She was all over her tank and didn't seem to want to just chill, but now she's in her hidey during the day and at night she's out on top of it just hanging out. She was doing that telescoping again last night. Laying on top of her hidey just stretching her neck looking like she was looking for a meal or checking things out from her throne! She seems a bit more mellow now that there is no light on at night (i really like this ceramic heat)

My next post will hopefully says she's eaten !!!!

---

Wish you all the luck on the next feeding attempt. Once she gets one down it's all a breeze from there. But it sure is stressful waiting for that first feed. :)

I was having the same issue with my first ball. Where did you get your ball from ? I got mine from petco (HUGE MISTAKE) and they told me F/T pinkies, for over a month i couldnt get her to eat. She became super skinny and I was getting worried, I kept her i a 55 gallon tank with plenty of hides, foliage and the humidity and temp was easily kept up. So finally i spoke to a breeder and they told me to try live, ever since i moved to live she grabs it within seconds and chows down. Now she is a regular eater. my suggestion would be to try live, from what I found out balls are picky eater but once you find out what gets them going your golden. For mine it had to be live. So try live and see how your ball does.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bmwood

I was having the same issue with my first ball. Where did you get your ball from ? I got mine from petco (HUGE MISTAKE) and they told me F/T pinkies, for over a month i couldnt get her to eat. She became super skinny and I was getting worried, I kept her i a 55 gallon tank with plenty of hides, foliage and the humidity and temp was easily kept up. So finally i spoke to a breeder and they told me to try live, ever since i moved to live she grabs it within seconds and chows down. Now she is a regular eater. my suggestion would be to try live, from what I found out balls are picky eater but once you find out what gets them going your golden. For mine it had to be live. So try live and see how your ball does.

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I do not recommend live unless you want to feed live for the life of the snake, or she still won’t eat after vet visit and everything else has been exhausted. Then she needs to eat and you might have to worry about switching her to F/T later.

Once BP’s are used to live it can be hard to switch them back to F/T.

There other variables that have been addressed that probably explain why she hasn’t eaten.

Namely, food size, how it was defrosted, constant changes to environment, temps, etc.


if it were me, I would stick with F/T if that is what you want to feed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dakski

I do not recommend live unless you want to feed live for the life of the snake, or she still won’t eat after vet visit and everything else has been exhausted. Then she needs to eat and you might have to worry about switching her to F/T later.

Once BP’s are used to live it can be hard to switch them back to F/T.

There other variables that have been addressed that probably explain why she hasn’t eaten.

Namely, food size, how it was defrosted, constant changes to environment, temps, etc.


if it were me, I would stick with F/T if that is what you want to feed.

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yeah i wanted to stick to F?T but we exhausted EVERY option we could from online research, to breeders, to the vet, she was borderline on her deathbed it looked like how skinny she was. After I told the breeder that she was eating live he said the breeder the pet store got her from was probably feeding her live.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bmwood

yeah i wanted to stick to F?T but we exhausted EVERY option we could from online research, to breeders, to the vet, she was borderline on her deathbed it looked like how skinny she was. After I told the breeder that she was eating live he said the breeder the pet store got her from was probably feeding her live.

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Understood. Sometimes you have to feed live. I just don’t think the OP is there yet.

Hi all.

She's still not eating. The last time she ate was on 02/24. We purchased her on 02/26. Tomorrow is a month since she's eaten and Monday is a month since we've had her.

Enclosure is warm side is 88 the cool side is 77 and humidity is 57. We have 2 hides, aspen earth a climbing branch and a water bowl.

She hides majority of the day but sometimes we will find her on top of her hide and sometimes balled up on the branch. Later on in the afternoon she will come out and start cruising the whole enclosure.

We have seen her drink water on several occasions so I don't think she's getting dehydrated.

But her not wanting to eat is starting to get a bit frustrating (and yes, we even tried the hairdryer trick).

We have never once seen her tongue flick out. Don't they do that when they know food is around? Starting to wonder if there's even a tongue in there!

We will put it in front of her and wiggle it and sometimes she will act like shes knows it's there and stare at it, then she will turn her head and leave. We will do this for a good while as to not give up on her and eventually she goes back in a hide.

Is a vet visit in order?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maybeka

Hi all.

She's still not eating. The last time she ate was on 02/24. We purchased her on 02/26. Tomorrow is a month since she's eaten and Monday is a month since we've had her.

Enclosure is warm side is 88 the cool side is 77 and humidity is 57. We have 2 hides, aspen earth a climbing branch and a water bowl.

She hides majority of the day but sometimes we will find her on top of her hide and sometimes balled up on the branch. Later on in the afternoon she will come out and start cruising the whole enclosure.

We have seen her drink water on several occasions so I don't think she's getting dehydrated.

But her not wanting to eat is starting to get a bit frustrating (and yes, we even tried the hairdryer trick).

We have never once seen her tongue flick out. Don't they do that when they know food is around? Starting to wonder if there's even a tongue in there!

We will put it in front of her and wiggle it and sometimes she will act like shes knows it's there and stare at it, then she will turn her head and leave. We will do this for a good while as to not give up on her and eventually she goes back in a hide.

Is a vet visit in order?

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I haven't been following along with this thread, but you should look into downsizing your enclosure. There's a thread on this here.

Have you offered live prey or only frozen?

ever warm it up real good and just leave it? Lights off make it nice and dark?

when are you feeding anyways ? What time of day?

So far only tried to feed f/t. (that's what she was on when we got her and she had supposedly eaten 4 times prior to us getting her.
Lights are off so it's dark in the room. We have even left it outside the hide for a bit after heating it up.
We have tried feeding between 8 and 9 pm after she's out and cruising around.

It may we worth it to try live and see if she takes it or how that works. At this point it’s trial and error.

Do you habe a scale. Any idea what she weighed if she’s loosing weight etc?

a month isn’t a long time for a snake but a young snake should be eating pretty well.

A week ago she was 104g.
Hate to disturb her as we haven't messed with her at all, but we are going to weigh her again tonight.

This was her 2 days ago, just hanging out.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...psjfc33yxr.jpg


https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...psfiv9oo9y.jpg

She is 102g tonight.
We have a vet appt for her this coming Tuesday.

May be a dumb question... But how do we transport her to the vet with the least amount of stress?
We have a tiny carrier that in enclosed...meaning no screens just a few holes for air. Should we use that with a towel in it?

Good morning again !

A little background on me..... i will strike up a conversation with anyone in any store or anywhere. That being said:

My husband and i struck up a conversation with a very nice young man in a store last weekend. I am not even sure how the conversation turned to snakes between them but it did. Turns out this young man has several ball pythons and has successfully raised quite a few clutches.

We were telling him the issue we have with my sons Ball python Mia not eating and he offered to come over and take a look at her.

He came last night with a little live mouse (bigger than a fuzzy). She totally refused to eat it and acted as if she didn't know it was even there turning her head and ignoring it. Again, we have never seen this snakes tongue in the month we have had her (yesterday was one month since he purchase her).

He said my sons setup was good, temps are good, humidity was good everything looked fine.

He looked in her mouth and said it smelled funny. Didn't see any mouth rot but has a funny smell.

Guess what else he found? She has NO TONGUE ! Not even a teeny tiny one. He said he has seen them born with misshapen tongues before, but she has no tongue at all !

Now i know he got her at Petsmart, but how on earth can Petsmart say that she ate 4 times prior to him getting her if we cannot get her to eat at all?

I know we are new at this, but isn't the tongue part of the heat seeking mechanism that helps them find their warm food?

My son is not a happy camper.

First Petsmart sold him a snake for double the amount of the other snake that was there because they called her a "Fancy" ball. He said she is a normal (can't tell if she may have something else in their but he called her a very pretty colored normal and that was all she is).
Second if she has no tongue shouldn't the breeder have seen this and not sent her to the store?

We are taking her to the vet later this afternoon to confirm the no tongue (even though he showed us there was none) and see what the vet says about the smell in her mouth.

My son defrosted a frozen mouse and this young man baaaaarely opened her mouth just a little and put the nose of the mouse in her mouth and as soon as she felt it on her tongue there was no force feeding, she went for it! Success on at least getting a meal in her last night. He said it was the easiest assist feed he has ever done.

So my questions for everyone here and the vet are:

Can she live with no tongue?
Can she live a normal long life?
Will she learn to get her food with no tongue or will she have to be assist fed her whole entire life?

If the vet determines that she cannot eat on her own how on earth do we assist feed a 4 foot long adult Ball
forever?

Oh and he checked her out and said that Mia is in fact a girl. :)

Sorry for such a long post but this is frustrating and not what we expected.

Petsmart corporate office is going to get a "nice" e-mail from me.

Sorry, I should have said as soon as she felt it (the mouse) in her mouth, not felt it on her tongue since there is no tongue. :mad:

I have no idea what it means for the snake to not have a tongue!

Probably not ideal.

Are you still taking her to the vet?

I am sorry you are having this experience and you obviously want what's best for the snake.

Please keep us in the loop.

I had no idea they could have no tongue either. He said that it can happen and it's a birth defect that can come from something happening in the egg as in just that, a birth defect where something just doesn't form correctly. Can come from something happening with the incubation and the incubator not being kept at the temps it should.

Much like anything else, just a plain old birth defect as can happen in any living creature.

This young man was one of the nicest people i've met in a long time. He did say that if the vet says she has to be force fed for her whole life, he will take her from us, keep her and assist feed her until he can re-home her. He says he has a network of people who do just that, they take in snakes with issues and deformities and give them the best possible life they can.

That would be ideal for us really. Not that we wouldn't want to keep her but my son has admitted, even though he is a big tough guy, he doesn't think he has it in him to force feed a snake. Not that he couldn't he just thinks it's beyond his capabilities to do for the next 20 yrs. He is very upset about this as he (we, even me who WAS scared of snakes) has become very attached to her and really doesn't want to have to let her go.

Yes we are taking her to the vet after my son gets off work. Mia's future will depend on what the vet says this afternoon.

If the vet says it's not going to be a good outcome, she may have to be euthanized. If he says that she has to be force fed her whole life, this young man said that he would gladly help my son out and get him another snake. He said he would "GIVE" him one of his youngest ones that's about the same age as Mia but he knows is healthy. My son said he would purchase one from him and he said no, he could just have one. He has to many snakes right now and is working and going to school full time and really needs to downsize.

This young man is amazing. So sweet and he does this all the time. He hears of someone needing help with a snake and will go to a complete strangers house to help them. I asked him what his girlfriend thought of him doing this and he said she's used to it.

He showed us some pics of his snakes and he does have some beautiful colored snakes.

What do you think if a snake has no tongue, can they still seek the heat of their prey? If so, we may be able to get her on a feeding schedule and she may be ok?

He is going to come over in a few days (i think he said 3 or 4) and see if she will eat again because he said she really has missed one to many meals for a snake her size and age since it's been a month. He thinks she should have another meal prior to one week from now.

I will post tomorrow or later this evening with the results of the vet visit.

Also wondering how to word my nice e-mail to Petsmart corporate.

I am not going to ask for my money back, it isn't an issue of the money.

There is the issue of them advertising her as "fancy" to make it sound like she was special (which she is :P) so they can charge more.

Then there is the more important issue of the fact that the breeder or whoever they get them from, actually didn't inspect and certify health on an animal he shipped out for sale.

And the issue of them giving us a sheet of paper that said she had eaten 4 times in the 5 weeks she was at the store. Now....did she really eat? Could she really eat on her own? Did they force feed her and not tell us?

Had my son not purchased her, she may have starved to death at someone else's house.

My son didn't purchase her because she was "fancy" or cost more..... he purchased her because after holding her and the other one they had, he said he just felt a connection with her and knew she was the one.

{sigh}

Vet visit was today for little baby Mia. The vet said she really did look pretty healthy. Nothing wrong with her mouth, no mouth infection or anything but she does have a deformed tongue. Her tongue is there but it is very short and does not come to the end of her mouth and it does not have forks at the end. Birth defect, accident…. Who knows why it happened. He could not give us a definitive answer on if she will learn to eat on her own or not. (I wanted a yes/no but understand that he can’t predict the future) He said right now its ok to keep assist feeding her but only for the next couple of meals. Then he wants to see if she can feed herself. He did say that if she can never feed herself due to her tongue, that assist feeding an adult python would be a bit harder than assist feeding her now and may be better done by someone with more experience. So we are going to give her at least a month. If she does not eat on her own in a month Dr. says we have 3 choices: 1. Assist feed for Mia’s whole life. 2. Give her to a rescue or someone who is willing to take on a snake with physical deformity and can feed her by hand forever. 3. Euthanasia. My son is beside himself. He feels that by giving her to someone else that he is just dumping her off. I keep telling him not to feel that way. I told him to think of it as she needs more care than he is able to give and he would be giving her to someone who can give her the best life possible without euthanasia. Am I right? He is so attached to her it’s unreal. She was in his pocket all the way to the vet and on his neck while waiting in the vets office. I may be wrong, but I swear she already knows him more than anyone in the house. When I hold her she is all over nonstop moving (and I haven’t gotten used to that yet) but when my son holds her she just completely relaxes and just hangs out with him on his hand, neck, wherever.

This is not what he expected from his first snake.

It is truly going to be a hard decision that my son is going to have to make on his own.

Who did you purchase the snake from. The breeder is wrong selling a special needs snake to someone who doesn't know how to deal with it. It is cruel to both your family and the snake.

Unfortunately (as we know now) he got her at Petsmart. :(

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Originally Posted by Maybeka

Unfortunately (as we know now) he got her at Petsmart. :(

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Grrrrrrrrrr..... They have no business selling any pet.

I feel so bad for her and my son. She may be a Petsmart baby, but we have her now and it is up to us to do what is best for the snake.

As to what that is yet, I don't know. I don't know what her future will be. :sigh2:

Wow. I just got a knot in my stomach reading all of what you've been thru. I am so sorry your first experience has gone so poorly. I lost my first snake after only having him a couple of months due to an unknown infection and it totally traumatized me. I know how disappointing it is when you're so attached, and feel like you're doing everything you can, only to have the outcome turn out poorly.

In your letter to Petsmart - which I think is a must - I would focus on the heartbreak this has caused, instead of the anger. Sometimes our words can be easily dismissed if they are delivered harshly.

I wouldn't know how to advise you on what a possible future would look like with a disability like this. Perhaps she gets the hang of eating pretty soon and it all works out. That would be wonderful! If not, I think you and your son are wise to consider if assist feeding for the rest of her life is really something you (and her) are up to. I don't think I could do it.

Either way, she is lucky to have you as her family. Fighting to do what's best for her. Poor, sweet noodle.

Maybeka, you may want to start a new thread for this issue to get more views. Title it something like "disabled snake - help!". I don't want our more experienced members to skip this thread thinking it's a continuation of an intro, and you miss out on valuable feedback.

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Originally Posted by hilabeans

Wow. I just got a knot in my stomach reading all of what you've been thru. I am so sorry your first experience has gone so poorly. I lost my first snake after only having him a couple of months due to an unknown infection and it totally traumatized me. I know how disappointing it is when you're so attached, and feel like you're doing everything you can, only to have the outcome turn out poorly.

In your letter to Petsmart - which I think is a must - I would focus on the heartbreak this has caused, instead of the anger. Sometimes our words can be easily dismissed if they are delivered harshly.

I wouldn't know how to advise you on what a possible future would look like with a disability like this. Perhaps she gets the hang of eating pretty soon and it all works out. That would be wonderful! If not, I think you and your son are wise to consider if assist feeding for the rest of her life is really something you (and her) are up to. I don't think I could do it.

Either way, she is lucky to have you as her family. Fighting to do what's best for her. Poor, sweet noodle.

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If I breed next year, I will send you from my first clutch for free one of the babies. Sorry you are going through all of this. Just remind me when you see me posting eggs.

Awww, that is so nice of you really. I am sure my son will get another one if doesn't turn out well for Mia.
Better believe it will come from a breeder and not Petsmart !!!

Lesson learned. In a way i'm glad he got her, she may have starved to death if someone didn't know what to look for and figured she'd eat when she was hungry. At least we will not let her suffer.