Severe Malnution in BP Help.

Alright so a friend of mine just rescued around 40 bp's. One of the younger ones is suffering from severe malnutrition. He is very sluggish and kinda rolling over. But keeps showing signs of a fight. He force fed him some canned hollistic dog food mixed with water and we put him in a shallow dish of water. I couldnt tell if he was drinkin but thats too suttle anyway.

Is there anything that we can do or is it a loss cause?

Thanks everyone.

just dont want to give up on this guy.

I have heard of people making "Pinkie Puree," and feeding it to weak or stubborn eaters. I've never had to do it personally, so I'm no help there. Hopefully someone with experience doing that will chime in. Good Luck...

Have you given him a few days to settle in and offered him food (small) to eat on his own?

Didnt think of that but its about the same as canned chicken. Might try that tomorrow though.

thoughts on mixing reptical herptivite in with it. I dont this the calcium one will do much but if we could get some vitamins in him.

Pinkies are easy to puree into a slurry.

I used a slap chop and a frozen pinkie, or you can use a 'pinkie pump'. Be aware that at a very late stage, it may not matter what measures you take, as the poor little guy may already have organ damage that is irreversable.

If you want to make a 'pinkie' delivery syringe, you can use a large syring(no needle!!!) and a piece of tubing used to tube-feed animals. Use a fairly large tube so the pinkie slurry can go down through it.

Your first thing to try should always be whole prey, to see if he will strike and coil it. If he'll eat on his own, don't stress him by force or tube feeding him.

We have a pinky pump. He just got these guys yesterday. All range from hatchlings to 5 foot adults. The previous owner had some issues going on and was paying someone else to care for them. well he hasnt feed in over 2 months. we have gotten all to eat but this one.


There is no way he would be able to strike on his own. His movement is extremely slow. Basically all he can do is roll over.

I have seen these guys look alot worse, he still has meat on him and not bone skinny.

Ill just throw some in a magic bullet with a bit of water and some reptical. If that doesnt work im afraid he is just to far gone.

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Originally Posted by DakotaB

We have a pinky pump. He just got these guys yesterday. All range from hatchlings to 5 foot adults. The previous owner had some issues going on and was paying someone else to care for them. well he hasnt feed in over 2 months. we have gotten all to eat but this one.


There is no way he would be able to strike on his own. His movement is extremely slow. Basically all he can do is roll over.

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Depending on his age and weight, two months or so really isn't that long. If he's that uncoordinated after getting a chance to settle into proper conditions, then malnutrition may not be your problem.

If he just got them yesterday, he shouldn't be feeding them immediately. I understand with a extremely malnourished snake, you want to get nutrition in quickly, but now you also say he's still "got meat on him" so there is probably something else going on.

Moving all the snakes has been bound to have caused a lot of stress, and getting them settled in should come before feeding. For most BPs, 2 months can be a voluntary hunger strike, so feeding can wait(again, sometimes it's needed immediately).

Just curious. Is it by any chance a Spider?

He weighs in at 89 grams but with his lenght compared to some of my guys he should easily be at 150-160. Im not really sure how long he was told around 2 months. Now thats without food and water. All the snakes are underweight but just not this bad. All stuck live prey within 30 seconds but his one didnt even move.

If he makes it threw the night im gonna try the puree. ill try to get pics tomorrow to show you guys what he looks like.

Didn't you say he was fed dog food already?

Why are you so intent on feeding him again?

Bruce

Where did he "rescue" these snakes from? What happened to the previous owner?

It's only the first day. If he is younger the move is probably affecting him more than the adults. You already fed him once, why are you going to attempt to feed him again the very next day? Balls can go for several months without food, I think offering this frequently or assisting as it were this frequently is only going to make matters worse. Granted that is just my opinion... but it seems like a lot very soon to me.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Where did he "rescue" these snakes from? What happened to the previous owner?

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+1. Never heard of rescuing 40 ball pythons... can we get more of a backstory?

Update? Pics?

No updates?

Wow, this is a really old thread! Also curious about what happened to these snakes.

They got fed, and the people that saved them "vanished" ;)
Oops

I am getting 13 BPs and one Boa on Sunday. These are divorce snakes, and the owner has not been allowed to see them for almost 3 months. He is not sure if they were being fed, but they were being watered. If he gets them like he is supposed to, I will be Quarantining them in another house on my property, and following strict cleaning protocols. I plan on offering small prey items one week from getting them if all seems well. All will get betadine baths after a good 5 minute soak in homemade electrolight water. One one is a 2011 and the others are 2010 or older, one is a 2002 model. So sad for this owner :( but at least his ex has agreed to let him take them finally. Any other ideas or hints?