Seriously underweight baby BP won’t eat

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Yes, by all means, don't rush it. His digestion will be slow, as will his weight gain. Be very patient.

If the pet store is holding fuzzies for you, be sure to let them know your revised schedule! ;) And double-check theirs. In general, it would be better if you got your fuzzies before the weekend, since they probably sell more on weekends & you don't want them to run out- but I'm not suggesting you feed your snake too soon, just saying.

---

I’d pick it up today if I knew what to do with a mouse for the next three days… this sounds like a dumb question but what DO you do with live prey that your snake hasn’t eaten, or won’t? You have to take care of it, right…?? My other BP has only ever eaten f/t and in realizing how glad I am that he’s a great eater [emoji28]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bellybelly

I’d pick it up today if I knew what to do with a mouse for the next three days… this sounds like a dumb question but what DO you do with live prey that your snake hasn’t eaten, or won’t? You have to take care of it, right…?? My other BP has only ever eaten f/t and in realizing how glad I am that he’s a great eater [emoji28]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Oh no, what I'm saying is that if your snake continues to eat, I'd slowly (adding or subtracting one day at a time) try to get him on a better schedule with respect to the pet store. You can't bring a fuzzy home now & keep it alive for long- they must stay with their mom to nurse. And I don't have that problem, I raise my own rodents, lol. Wish you were nearby, I'd happily supply you- I have too many mice. Anyway, with any luck, this won't be forever.

Well… it won’t be forever…Pepper died tonight. I went to check on him when I got home from work and found him sort of flopped over in the corner of the tank with his head wedge in a weird position… I took him out and he was barely moving, almost completely limp and couldn’t keep his head up. His tongue was flicking and he was trying to give me a squeeze so I called the emergency vet but by the time we got there he wasn’t even moving. Vet did an exam and said he had a very faint heartbeat but wasn’t breathing… I had him put down.

Thanks everyone for all your advice and help and support… I think he just gave up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm so very sorry. You tried very hard for this fellow.

I'm so very sorry for your loss...:tears: Poor little guy- we all had hopes, but at this point, you did the right thing, to have the vet put him down "the rest of the way"- otherwise snakes can take a long time to pass, unfortunately.

Awww. Poor little Pepper.
Sorry for your loss.

I’m also sorry for your loss. Unfortunately some animals just fail to thrive no matter what we do. RIP Pepper.

Thanks, all of you. Just a bit of an update, I did go back to the store and raise an issue with the store manager about what happened (and how they care for their reptiles in general,) and they are going to open an investigation with the particular breeder that Pepper came from, the guy was explaining how they use corporate breeders and they send the snakes to them like a week after they’re born and sometimes they don’t even feed them once before they ship them out. I took huge issue with that (I mean, I’m not all that surprised, I know it’s a big box pet store, but I went in there prepared to make a big deal about that.)

Anyway, they did issue me a full refund, and after I insisted on it, are also going to reimburse me for the vet bill, but I mean, that doesn’t fix the fact that they should never have been selling a snake in that condition… I went through all of their snake feeding records too (what they would show me) and they weighed him at 101 grams the week before I took him home, I told the manager there’s no way he was at that weight - a week after he came home with me I weighed him at 56 grams and even accounting for slight discrepancies between different scales, he did not lose almost half of his entire body weight in those two weeks. I had a time stamped pic of when I took that weight and that did get the managers attention because their feeding logs are just written records done by whoever is on staff on feeding night.

I know my little complaints aren’t going to change anything, but I did what I could [emoji2370] the manager also offered me another snake as a replacement and I had some words to say about that, as well (in his defense I think he realized as soon as it came out of his mouth that that was the wrong thing to say [emoji23])


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

:gj: I'm so glad you let them know what happened & what a sad ordeal this was for you & especially for Pepper. I wish more people would do this- it may not change things overnight, but they want to stay in business so they'd better listen. GOOD WORK! That's awesome they reimbursed you too. Not every store will do so- they'll try to blame the buyer. Who knows, I'll bet that you weren't the first such case, so maybe they'll at least get a better source, & change some policies. :please:

Good I’m glad they gave you a full refund and are paying the vet bill. They shouldn’t have ever bought or sold a snake to you in that condition. I recommend buying from experienced breeders that you look into and do your research on from now on [emoji1303]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

:gj: I'm so glad you let them know what happened & what a sad ordeal this was for you & especially for Pepper. I wish more people would do this- it may not change things overnight, but they want to stay in business so they'd better listen. GOOD WORK! That's awesome they reimbursed you too. Not every store will do so- they'll try to blame the buyer. Who knows, I'll bet that you weren't the first such case, so maybe they'll at least get a better source, & change some policies. :please:

---

“Ordeal” is the word for it - I actually stopped at the store first last night on my way home from work, and the store manager wasn’t there so I was explaining to an “assistant manager” (who told me that this was just her after-school job) and she just kept repeating that their policy if an animal dies is that it has to be under 30 days and you have to bring the animal back to get a refund, and didn’t seem to understand that getting a refund was not at all my concern in this situation. So I called the vet to check if they had cremated him yet, and then drove back up there last night to get the body so that I could bring it with me this morning and give it back to them and tell the guy exactly what I thought about THAT policy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bellybelly

“Ordeal” is the word for it - I actually stopped at the store first last night on my way home from work, and the store manager wasn’t there so I was explaining to an “assistant manager” (who told me that this was just her after-school job) and she just kept repeating that their policy if an animal dies is that it has to be under 30 days and you have to bring the animal back to get a refund, and didn’t seem to understand that getting a refund was not at all my concern in this situation. So I called the vet to check if they had cremated him yet, and then drove back up there last night to get the body so that I could bring it with me this morning and give it back to them and tell the guy exactly what I thought about THAT policy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

No wonder the mgr. got such an ear-full, lol. Maybe that worked for the best- in terms of you're speaking up- & making them THINK about the crappy way they're doing things. Again, :gj: You went to a lot of trouble, but for such a good cause. These stores need to stop treating baby snakes so shabbily. :tears::taz: And they should know by now that most of us know better than to even buy from them BECAUSE of stuff like this- maybe it's time they stop selling live animals, or do it the RIGHT way.

Just a little update that I thought you all might be happy to hear - the manager at the store did file an official complaint against the breeder they get their snakes from and they’re now doing an investigation at all the stores they supply, apparently there aren’t really rules for the corporate breeders as to how young/little the animals they ship can be, but the manager I’ve been dealing with at my local store did make a fuss to whoever’s above him about a lot of the BPs they get in being underweight and not eating.

Doesn’t really solve the underlying problem of how those big box stores care for their animals, but, well, I made something happen at least. Maybe it will save a few baby snakes from being shipped and sold way too young in the future. Even if it’s just to prevent getting harassed by people like me [emoji4]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk