New BP not eating-worried- advice asap?

I know these types of questions have been posed dozens of times on this forum, but I can't find as much information as I'd like and feel I should post situation specific questions as it may be time sensitive and i want to figure out how to handle this soon.
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/...ited-1-med.jpg
First of all, my and my girlfriend just got this beautiful stripe spider BP from Special K reptiles at the last NARBC in tinley park,IL. She has since pooped, has a very slight prolapse, and its about three weeks later and she hasn't eaten anything(we've tried live, FT, pinkies to small mice, in her cage, brown bag, rubber maid, etc). I think we may be keeping her in to large of an enclosure and regret doing it(32qt rack system), and she may be feeling insecure stressed out from it as she shies away from all food offerings. She doesnt shy away from being handled at all though, so I dont know. We have hides, water, temps 84(hott side) 76 (cool side) regulated by a thermostat. Humidity is 60%.
Anyways to get down to it, we were told she was a late start feeder to begin with, perhaps the pic will explain why we still got her, and she seems to be losing some weight and while we plan on moving her to a simple ten gallon setup that will be a bit more comfortable for her, we aren't sure if she will be ok without any food for another week while she adjust to it let alone eat even after the move.
So, we are open to any advice you guys can offer.... but are considering assist feeding just to make sure she gets a good meal in her if she doesn't eat good tonight when we try again with a live hopper. I know assist feeding is very stressful, so i don't know if we would actually do it.

One thing with young hatching is keep them in tight enclosure and warm ;)

Here is what I would do

I would downsize the enclosure to a 6 quarts tub with a plastic flowerpot saucer as an hide.

I would provide 78/80 on the cool side and 88/90 on the warm side

I would switch the substrate to Aspen.

Than I would leave her alone for a week (NO handling) and offer food (live) same prey type that was previously fed.

And of course the prolapse need to be addressed

The first thing I see right off is your temps are too low. Hot side should be around 91-92F and the cool side should be bumped up to around 78-82. Also you should get that prolapse checked out by a vet. And if the white bowl is the bowl she drinks out of, it may be too tall. She would have to balance herself over the rim to drink...

It's hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like your substrate may be a little too wet as well...

That was the setup when we first put her in. It is still the same substrate, but the water bowl was changed , that was the container she came in and we were ofering her a quick drink from while we were washing out the new water dish. Thanks for the tip on the temps, I've read conflicting things on temps, and our other BP has always done well at the same, however i did find out last week that she was kept at 88-91 from birth so it may be a bit of a shock to her that I've overlooked.

I think that is exactly what we need to do though Deborah, downsize the enclousure and wait a week. We were planning to change out her enclosure last week, but we had a sudden death in her family so we weren't really thinking clearly enough to get around to it.


I am just worried about her weight at the moment and if she could wait a week to eat, she wasn't the thickest snake when we got her, and her skin seems a bit looser now. It's been about a month now since shes eaten in genal I believe, and she just shed about a week prior to us getting her.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by untitledstrings

I think that is exactly what we need to do, downsize the enclousure and wait a week. We were planning to change out her enclosure last week, but we had a sudden death in her family so we weren't really thinking clearly enough to get around to it.

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And bump those temps up a little. 90-92 on the hot side, and 78-80 on the cool side. :) She's a good looking girl. I hope she eats for you soon! Good luck :)

Same as the above have stated! You still need to raise the hot side temp up! Raise it up to 90-92! Did you find out what she ate when she was with Special K Reptiles? If so, offer her that! But you really need to get that temp up!

But, she is a very nice looking Spider! :gj:

Yes, she was eating small live mice. And she is just a gorgeous girl, we couldn't pass her up once we saw her. I'm sure any trouble will be worth it in the long run :) Will do, bumping up the temps

When my little normal was that size, he refused every pinkie. He had to have something with fur. Have you weighed her? It would be a good idea to keep an eye on her weight until she starts eating good. I really wouldn't handle her too much though until she starts eating. To cut down on stress.

Do you prescent? It might be a good idea. I did it once with my normal. I just set the box in his cage with the mouse fuzzy in it for a few min. I'll never do it again. He was so mad when i was trying to get the box out to feed him. He wouldn't stop striking at me. Lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

One thing with young hatching is keep them in tight enclosure and warm ;)

Here is what I would do

I would downsize the enclosure to a 6 quarts tub with a plastic flowerpot saucer as an hide.

I would provide 78/80 on the cool side and 88/90 on the warm side

I would switch the substrate to Aspen.

Than I would leave her alone for a week (NO handling) and offer food (live) same prey type that was previously fed.

And of course the prolapse need to be addressed

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Big Gunns couldn't have said it better himself. Although Big Gunns would NEVER use a "flowerpot" as a hide.:D Try and feed it a live Fuzzie....definitely not a pinky.

Do this right away. You might not want to wait a week to try and feed it since it's such a small snake that seems to be losing weight. The small tub and Aspen trick can work in one day, although it would be best to wait at least a couple.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

One thing with young hatching is keep them in tight enclosure and warm ;)

Here is what I would do

I would downsize the enclosure to a 6 quarts tub with a plastic flowerpot saucer as an hide.

I would provide 78/80 on the cool side and 88/90 on the warm side

I would switch the substrate to Aspen.

Than I would leave her alone for a week (NO handling) and offer food (live) same prey type that was previously fed.

And of course the prolapse need to be addressed

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What is a prolapse?

lol, I have tried leaving the mice near the enclosure, as well as letting the FT thaw right above her that we feed the other snakes. We haven't tried it in a box in the cage yet though, we will give that a shot later tonight I think.

We need to get a scale pretty badly, but I notice a real difference in her bulk visually and while holding her.

Wehave been careful not to handle her much, especially not at all the first week she was with us. Maybe once every 3-5 days since, your right though, we wont handle her at all outside of feeding her, or possibly moving her to a smaller home later tonight. We also wait 3-5 days between attempts to feed her to minimize stress.

Thanks Big Gunns, we have tried live small mice, but we could only get ahold of live pinkies, or dead fuzzies to try anything smaller with. We are hoping to get ahold of some tonight.

If it will only be as much as two days i think waiting might be worth it. But its notcable weight loss, and as far as I know she may have only ever eatin 2-3 times in the two or three months shes been alive.

a prolapse is when they kinda poop out part of their internal organs or hemepenis.

Hi,

Everyone else has covered the hudbandry already but I just wanted to agree that you really want to get the prolapse looked at.

Is it permanently exposed? - if it is you might want to keep her on damp paper towels till you see the vet. Also look for old threads where people discuss solutions to keep the tissue hydrated.

But a true prolapse needs treating fairly quickly as it can get infected or dry out and lead to really serious problems. It can also be a sign of parasites so it is definately worth considering getting a fecal done just to rule this out.

If it only comes out when she is handled it could just be a stress reaction as she gets ready to pee on the predator. :)

As to getting her feeding double check with the vendor and compare his feeding routine to yours.


dr del

dr del,
The prolapse is only apperent during handling while putting slight pressure near her rear end, it barely comes out at all. There seems to be a slight bloating in general around that part of the tail, really slight. It is nothing near as bad as you see in more prolapses, but I agree, I need to take her to the vet, but won't be able to until next week. Thank you for pointing out it may be a stress reaction though, i did overlook that possibility, it very well could be.

I did contact the breeder and he told me his feeding ruetine, temps, everything and I did my best to replicate them the past two attempted feedings.

Thanks to everyone for the good advice, I'm glad I decided to register for the forum.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by untitledstrings

dr del,
The prolapse is only apperent during handling while putting slight pressure near her rear end, it barely comes out at all. There seems to be a slight bloating in general around that part of the tail, really slight. It is nothing near as bad as you see in more prolapses, but I agree, I need to take her to the vet, but won't be able to until next week. Thank you for pointing out it may be a stress reaction though, i did overlook that possibility, it very well could be.

I did contact the breeder and he told me his feeding ruetine, temps, everything and I did my best to replicate them the past two attempted feedings.

Thanks to everyone for the good advice, I'm glad I decided to register for the forum.

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No third person.

I know the look you are describing with the bloated look around the tail. If this snake doesn't eat soon you may need to visit a qualified Vet. Even if it does eat, if it was mine, I'd be keeping a close eye on it. It may seem like nothing, but in my experience that little bloated look is not a good sign with a baby snake that is not eating. I can't see the snake so it's hard for me to say for sure, but in my experience when a baby that hasn't eaten looks bloated like you're stating, they don't usually do too well without some special care.