Tips for nursing a very under weight poorly cared for BP back to health?

I did something bad. Something I said I wouldn't do. I bought a snake that was not in good health. *sigh*

The heart strings. They were tugged.

Anywho. This boy is in yucky shape. He has mites. Stuck shed. Wrinkley skin. Dull color. Is very underweight. Almost emaciated. Prominent spine. Poor muscle strength. He's eaten once I'm the last 9 or 10 months and regurged.

I soaked him and let him slither through a wash cloth and got the stuck shed off. I set him up in a pre treated with PAM tub with 4 hides: humid hot, humid cold, cold and hot. With a water bowl big enough to soak. Fake plants to provide coverage as he goes from hide to hide. Its small and cramped. Using an UTH w/ thermostat (A cheap one, but it works well). I set him up in the second bathroom... I figure it had better humidity in there and I can shower after tending to him as I am pretty sure he is a cesspool. Ugh.

But... I already love him. Are there "heart snakes" the way people have "heart dogs?" 'cause he would be it for me.

I am considering a vet visit for him, as his body condition really is that poor - but im not really sure the vet is going to be able to tell me much more than I already know... I worry that a vet trip would just be more stress and that I should just get him to acclimate and eat without messing with him.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Pictures would help, but a vet could at the very least get some IV fluids into the poor critter.

Showering and changing clothes after caring for him is a very good idea, don't let anything he has spread. those mites can go far!

With the emaciation + regurge, your vet can tube feed some Carnivore Care + probiotic to give the poor thing some nourishment. Hopefully that will help with getting him to eat and keep his meals down.

Well I'm definitely going to take him in then. :) thank you.

Of course with it being the holiday - that won't happen until early next week. Unless you guys think it might warrant a trip to the emergency vet....

The regurged happened a month a go and the snake has refused ever offered meal since.

I'll get pics later of him. He's got potential to be a handsome boy. I hope he makes it.

If it's not an emergency situation does the humid hides and larger water bowl sound like the right thing?

It pisses me off when people neglect/mistreat animals. Any animal. Sounds like he is good hands now. Crossing my fingers for you Voodoo. Hope you can get him headed in the right direction.

In the principles of the emaciation /starvation protocol it's always best to start with fluids first. I would continue with the soaks every two days or so. Make sure the water is slightly above room temperature and shallow. Do this for about 1 week. After 1 week mix in some pedialite on the final soak but make the final soak a prolonged soak for about 45 minutes. Use enough pedialite to color the water. Here is a link to a great resource..... Anapsid.org>starvation
Anapsid.org>mainhealth

I peeked in on him a few minutes ago. He is coiled up in his water dish. Probably trying to drown those mites! Didn't want to bug him just now while he is doing his thing and trying to feel better.

I'll snag some pics tomorrow.

He's a special guy to me. He's actually the reason I got into ball pythons... he was being sold in my area almost a year ago. And I thought holy heck that is one gorgeous snake. I couldn't get him out of my mind, I literally had dreams about that snake. By the time I decided to pull the trigger he was off the market. So then I got my big girl. Then 3 more... So when that same snake showed up for sale again even considering his condition, I had to try. Feel like I owe him for being my gateway into this awesome hobby.

I know it was a silly thing to do.... but sometimes I am a silly person.

Good luck with him! Hopefully you can get him back into good shape. Keep us posted!

His soaking is a good thing, since it will help both the mites and dehydration. Make sure to change that water daily, if not twice daily.

Any clue how old he is? What he wasn't eating before?

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Originally Posted by melcvt00

His soaking is a good thing, since it will help both the mites and dehydration. Make sure to change that water daily, if not twice daily.

Any clue how old he is? What he wasn't eating before?

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No clue on the age, I asked and they couldn't tell me.... but he has to be at least a year old considering he was offered for sale twice about a year apart. Probably older than that, I vaguely remember the first ad a year ago saying he was either an adult or sub adult.

He is longer than my 18 month old male. Almost as long as my 2012 boy., but rail thin. For whatever that's worth.

The story is that he is a "live feeder" only. The person I bought him from didn't have a 'source' for live. (Funnily enough I live in the same city and seem to be able to keep my live feeder a chunky monkey :rolleyes:).

The meal he took and regurged was a frozen thawed mouse fuzzy. Yes. Fuzzy.

I snapped a quick pic when I changed his water this morning... I'll post in a sec...

If he took frozen then he's not a live only! People, I swear....

Here's a few pics of the little guy:

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...-1494x2656.jpg

He was being EXTRA squirmy today. Desperate to get back to his tub. I guess that's a good sign? Him being more active now than he was yesterday. His color has drastically improved too. He must have been real cold or something. I think his soaking did him some good too. His skin isn't as crape paper-y as it was yesterday. I don't think this picture does justice as to just how pronounced his spine is. I can count and feel the details of each vertebrae

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...-1494x2656.jpg

Every time he coils he has these deep folds of loose skin, kinda has loose skin all over. Like he is wearing a snake suit 2 sizes too big.

He was 238g when I brought him home yesterday. And 259g this afternoon. So I'm pretty sure he put on 21 grams of water weight in 24 hours unless my scale is off. Which was nearly 10% of his weight and that makes me feel bad for the little dude.

Warm water soaking is going to be as good if not better than a stressful round of fluids under his skin at the vet.

BP's don't eat if they're dehydrated, and considering his prior conditions he may not have been kept warm enough, which would also cause a regurge. If he took in that much water and is looking better, you can try offering a live mouse or rat pup. He might just take it now that his husbandry has improved.

He looks pretty good to me! His hydration status also seems improved. Good job! :gj: Pedialite is a great fluid to mix into his drinking bowl also.

I never realized you could use Pedialite. That website you posted is pretty good Albert. I went to check it out and ended up spending a couple hours reading. Lots of good stuff there. Thanks for the info!

Update: he is still among the living! Been doing pedialyte soaks and still letting him have a water bowl big enough for him to soak himself in his tub. He's put on another 9 grams in water weight the past 2 day. He's like a little sponge.

This afternoon is the first time I've seen him out of his bowl and in his hide. He's chilling on the cool end. But I've got the ambient in the room at 80 ish during the day and down to around 70ish at night.

Another Update for anyone who cares:

The bathroom I have him quarantined in is the same one that I use to soak and disinfect the rat's stuff. I brought in a bunch of dirty rat hides and dropped them in the tub. Within minutes he was wind shield wiping the front of his tub and sticking his snooty right up against the air holes.

I figured that was a good sign he wanted to feed.

So I offered a pre killed tiny little soft fur weanling. Didn't even need to do a puppet show for him he struck it before I even had it all the way in the tub.

So much for him being only a live feeder :rolleyes:

He's also put on another 8 grams of water weight.

He was still cruising looking for more food while I finished cleaning the rat stuff. Hopefully he won't have an issue with this little fuzzy and I can offer him a more satisfying portion next go around.

Right on! Glad to hear he is doing so much better!

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Originally Posted by voodoolamb

Another Update for anyone who cares:

The bathroom I have him quarantined in is the same one that I use to soak and disinfect the rat's stuff. I brought in a bunch of dirty rat hides and dropped them in the tub. Within minutes he was wind shield wiping the front of his tub and sticking his snooty right up against the air holes.

I figured that was a good sign he wanted to feed.

So I offered a pre killed tiny little soft fur weanling. Didn't even need to do a puppet show for him he struck it before I even had it all the way in the tub.

So much for him being only a live feeder :rolleyes:

He's also put on another 8 grams of water weight.

He was still cruising looking for more food while I finished cleaning the rat stuff. Hopefully he won't have an issue with this little fuzzy and I can offer him a more satisfying portion next go around.

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This makes me happy. You are doing a great job of giving this guy a better home. :)

Awesome!!!

Update:

This little guy has shed for me (it was in pieces but he got it all off on his own), pooped for me twice, and best of all - hasn't missed a meal yet!!! He pounds the mice away. Can't wait till I can get him on rats.

He's starting to fill in. His color is nice. He's even a bit feisty. Tagged me while changing his water dish.

I did take him to the vet, he had a pretty decent internal parasite load which has been treated. My vet was livid he was so underweight! She estimates he is less than a third of where he should be based on his length and skin looseness.

He just ate last night so I don't want to bug him but I will get more pics soon.

Fantastic news. With any underweight snake, the important thing to do is not overfeed it, hoping to gain weight fast. Feed as you do your other snakes (so with a ball python that size, every 10 days is fine). It will gain weight in time. Good luck.

Warren

I would send off another poop sample in another couple months before considering him clear. With a heavy load, it can take more than one deworming to get rid of all the parasites due to life cycles.

Awesome! Sounds like he is back on track!

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...-2241x3984.jpg

Lookin' good!

I would have gotten a weight but he tagged me right before I took this photo. Forgot that I had cleaned the rat cages earlier today. This boy hasn't missed a meal yet. He will eat anything I put in front of him!

I got a normal ball python for free on Craig's list and the guy was feeding him a fuzzy mouse once a month. The snake was over a year old and looked like he was just barely larger than a hatchling, I couldn't believe it. When I first got him he ate three adult mice in one sitting LOL. I've been feeding every 3-7 days and he has been my fastest growing snake, apparently than can grow super fast to catch up with their age. He is pounding medium rats now! It's been about nine months since I got him and he went from hatchling size to 1,520 grams! Not sure if it's a male or female, but if it's a female it's actually big enough to breed, although I don't have breeding plans at the moment. Here's a few photos, in the last photo he is in a ARS-70 series tub. It's very rewarding to take in a sickly snake and nurse it to health and have it absolutely thrive!!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2Fnormal-1.JPG

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2Fnormal-2.JPG

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2Fnormal-3.JPG

He isn't "empty" but he is currently sitting at 441g. :party:

Please keep updating us on his progress!

Great job! :gj:

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Originally Posted by Ana Maria

Please keep updating us on his progress!

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Will do!