Failure to thrive? Help please. :(

Ok friends, I need some advice on my champagne ball python. I currently keep 12 snakes in AP racks. All on the same feeding schudule and same environment etc. Ambient temps are high 70s to 80 and hot spots are 90-92 degrees. Thermostats on both racks. Here are a few stats on this snake and you will see my concern.

Hatch Date- Dec. 17 2013 (not sure of hatch weight)
Date I aquired the snake: Feb 15, 2014 at the NARBC Arlington. The breeder that I got her from was not one I was familiar with, but the snakes were very nice and picked one of the two champagne babies he had available. I initially weigh any new snakes but I can't seem to find the information on her weight upon purchase. She was probably approx 80g. Small, but I got my smallest hatchling at 53g, so I didn't think anything of it.

After settling in and not eating at the first offering (which I am usually not concerned about with new snakes) she ate a live mouse hopper and then began to take f/t rat pinkies with gusto. Now, I will be honest I have not kept to a rigid 5-7 day feeding schedule. Sometimes she ate every 4 days, sometimes 8 etc. However, keeping a pretty normal feeding schedule, there is no way that a snake that is eating should not be gaining weight.

Today is May 20 1015 and this snake weighs approx 200g. Something is wrong. At first I thought she was just a slow grower, but after a while with very little weight gain, I took her to a veterinarian. Our first plan of attack was to check her for internal parasites. She had a clean fecal float and we did 2 rounds of wormer just to be safe. Still no change. She is eating every week. She sheds some, but not often. Weighs less than my babies from last year and she is a 2013. She is not handled on account that I do not want to stress her.

Please, please let me know what could be wrong. The vet thinks that she could have an enzyme deficiency that isn't allowing her to absorb nutrients. Could this be a case of failure to thrive? Has anyone seen this before? All of my other snakes are eating and gaining as expected. I promise I am not starving her! :( I don't know what else to do. Please don't think I am a bad snake Mommy.[emoji22]

I'm sorry that you are experiencing this. She has continued to eat normally this whole time? What are you currently feeding her? I have had my fair share of slow growers, but that is remarkably little growth. Reminds me of a problem BCI I have. Again, a 2013 boa constrictor, but she weighs 200 grams and has bowel movement problems. She eats every 10-14 days, but can't pass bowel movements on her own and her back end becomes backed up and it is painful. I would just keep doing what you are doing with your girl. Maybe increase frequency of feedings or feeder size.

Are you still feeding rat pinkies?

She's on large rat fuzzies.

Have you kept a log of actual feeding dates and what size feeder she ate? I have one BP that will be two this summer and currently weighs about 600 grams. Her body shape is fine, but she only takes a feeder every 3-4 weeks.

Have you tried supplementing her with NutriBAC to give her gut flora a boost?

Also... this is pretty gross... but have you noticed any undigested matter such as hair or bits of bone in her stool?

Her stool appears pretty normal, no bones or hair. Where can I get the Nutribac?

I keep a log on iherp but haven't been logging feedings in the last couple of months.

Nutribac: http://beanfarm.com/product_info.php...oducts_id=5933 - the directions state to add it to the water but since BP's don't drink often I just dust the feeder with a pinch of it. It's also good to keep some on hand to help a snake recover after an RI or regurgitation syndrome.

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Originally Posted by elbee

I keep a log on iherp but haven't been logging feedings in the last couple of months.

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I would keep a log just on her for a while. Weigh her feeders, and try to get an empty weight on her every month. She may just be a slow grower.

Ok I will try this. Thank you so much for your help.

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Originally Posted by elbee

She's on large rat fuzzies.

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Well that would explain the slow growth right there in combination with other factors as well as individual animal's metabolism.

Small inadequate food means slow weight gain especially if at 200 grams she is still eating pinky rats which means before the animal was eating even smaller prey items.

At this size your BP can take down a rat pup or a large adult mouse.

Slow growth is one thing, but even at fuzzy rats she should still be gaining. I have more recent acquisitions feeding on large fuzzies as well that are gaining. As they grow I increase prey size but I'm afraid to give her anything too large because she's so little.

I just ordered the NutriBAC.

Thank you all for your help and advice, it is greatly appreciated.

Should be on pups by now if she is 200g.
Up her feeder size

I'm actually feeding tonight so I will try something larger and see how she does. She's just not very thick around and I've been worried to try much larger. I guess I've never seen a BP with matabolism like this? All my babies have always grown very well. Thanks again.

I accidentally gave one of my hatchlings a rat pup - it was supposed to go into the tub just above it. The hatchling took it and while he looked like a little stuffed sausage, I crossed my fingers, kept him warm, and he digested it just fine.

I am going to echo you should be feeding rat pups. I have had ones smaller already taking rat pups easily. I think people are sometimes too afraid to up a meal size.

I do have a slow grower so I do have sympathy for ya.

Feeders can be be 20% of body weight safely. Weigh the feeders and weigh the snake. Do the math and feed accordingly. I would bet she had intestinal worms and now that she has been dewormed will gain weight if fed 20% feed.

Will do, thank you :).

For those of you who don't mind, would you say a little prayer for this girl that she gets back on her feet. Well, not feet but you know what I mean. All of my snakes are very important to me. Her name is Daisy.

I don't pray, but I'm crossing my fingers/hoping for your Daisy! :grouphug: Please keep us updated.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I accidentally gave one of my hatchlings a rat pup - it was supposed to go into the tub just above it. The hatchling took it and while he looked like a little stuffed sausage, I crossed my fingers, kept him warm, and he digested it just fine.

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I gave a 69g hatchling a 20g mouse one time. I also gave a 92g BRB a 28g rat pup.

Similar to your's, they looked stuffed (the BRB is named Jabba now because of it), but they both did fine digesting it. Hatchlings process food quickly, just gotta keep 'em warm and give 'em a little time.

I feed my 155 gram 1.0 killer spinner rat pups and he has no problems with them.

You know, I'm running into a similar problem with a corn snake that I'm watching for a friend. The snake is currently 7 months old, and is less than half the size of my own corn at that same age; so I understand what you are going through. I really don't have any advice to add beyond what everyone else has said, other than to say I will be keeping you and your little one in my thoughts.

In my own situation, I only received the corn snake last week, and found out the owner still had the snake eating mouse pinks, 2 a week. I upped it to three in hopes he will gain weight.

Please keep everyone posted on your progress, and know that people are pulling for your snake to start gaining like a champ!

I hope your snake starts gaining soon! I understand how frustrating and upsetting that can be. :(

Thank you everyone. I had gone to feeding her every 4 to 5 days before and I may do that again.

Thought I'd post an update on this girl. I have her on the largest pups I've got, about to move to small weaned and every few meals she gets supplement dusted on her rat. She is gaining, but very slowly. I still think there is something wrong, perhaps genetically but she's not losing so I call it a win.

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Good luck.

Once she gets more set on the larger meals, she may finally begin gaining weight at a more usual rate. Some snakes are late bloomers and it's possible that your girl is just not thriving but she can make up the progress in the future.

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Originally Posted by elbee

Thought I'd post an update on this girl. I have her on the largest pups I've got, about to move to small weaned and every few meals she gets supplement dusted on her rat. She is gaining, but very slowly. I still think there is something wrong, perhaps genetically but she's not losing so I call it a win.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

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elbee, congrats that she is at least gaining and not losing. That is a improvement. What is the name of the supplement? Has she been back to the vet? Does he still think she has the enzyme deficiency?

She has not been back to the vet. The supplement that I have been using is NutriBac df. She's going into another shed right now, so atleast that is on the right track. I just wanted to post an update since I have been AWOL on this site for a while, lol.

How are you determining prey item size? I do the 10-15% rule for my snakes so a feeding for me would be:

Snake Food item ratio Prey Item
200g X .15 = 30g
200g X .10 = 20g

I usually lean toward the higher gram prey item. I also follow this chart:

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...d8&oe=56ED171B

So that would be a Large mouse or a rat pup.


Sorry just realized this was started months ago.

It's okay, I just updated it the other day, even though it is an older thread.