My anerexic snake recovery story...

My first girl was diagnosed anerexic, wasnt even sure if she would live, 7 months and only 104 grams. Very dull skin, eyes looked like they had no life. She wouldn't eat the entire first month we had her, barely moved and never went in her water dish. After many vet visits and costs, a breeder I trust near me, and my wife's huge heart and tinderness, (she would set alarms on the middle of the night to check on the snake to make sure she was alive). For 3 weeks we would have to soak her nightly, (wife did it, I was working) and force fed her fuzzy mice. Just a couple weeks ago we finally got her to eat on her own !!! We tried everything, From heating the mouse, to chicken broth, cutting it so it bleeds, rolling it in mice poop, everything and nothing happened. We finally but the bullet and dropped a live fuzzy mouse and she ATE IT !!!! me and my wife are so ecstatic, now since then we have been feeding her fuzzy rats slowly growing to size of her food based off recommendations from an amazing local breeder, and she weighs 128 gram!!!! She is still small and skinny, but her back party of starting to show roundness and she is on her way to recovery !!! I'm so happy to be able to share this with you all, we were so worried she wouldn't make it. I'm going to keep updating hey progress here !! For now here is a picture until the next update !!!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...937e0837cc.jpg

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It's nice to see there are those in the world who care as much about reptiles as some people care about furry critters. The snake probably just needed good care to take off and thrive, and you have given it that. Good job. :)

Really warms the heart to hear that you guys went through all that for your little buddy! Happy to hear that it's working out and I hope you have continued success!

Keep us all updated!!!

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

It's nice to see there are those in the world who care as much about reptiles as some people care about furry critters. The snake probably just needed good care to take off and thrive, and you have given it that. Good job. :)

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Her name is kaa like in the jungle book lol, and she's just a much a party of our family as our dog and our 2 cats :)

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Originally Posted by Spink

Really warms the heart to hear that you guys went through all that for your little buddy! Happy to hear that it's working out and I hope you have continued success!

Keep us all updated!!!

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Thank you, she is an amazing girl, very mellow and no longer head shy for me, wife or our kids !! Right now we are feeding her twice a week, we are hoping next week or the week after we can drop to once a week

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Who sold her to you and did you ask the seller what the snake was eating and how often?

Also what kind of setup do you have, what are the high and low temperatures, what is the humidity, etc? If husbandry is off then babies often don't eat.

Sorry your poor girl has had a rough go of it.

It's interesting to hear she was diagnosed as anorexic - is that something the vet told you?

Usually when they go off food it can be related directly to one of a handful of "typical" reasons:

1.) A husbandry issue. Temps and/or humidity not right, habitat feeling too open, not enough or the wrong kinds of hides.
2.) A change in diet. They can go off food if you're offering food other than what they're used to. If the breeder (or pet store) had them on live, and you've only offered frozen, they may reject for quite some time.
3.) Stress. Too much handling too soon can cause them to go off food. Soaking alone can be very stressful.
4.) Illness.

You may have all of these nailed down, but 9 times out of 10 a BP will go off food for these reasons over any other.

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Originally Posted by hilabeans

Sorry your poor girl has had a rough go of it.

It's interesting to hear she was diagnosed as anorexic - is that something the vet told you?

Usually when they go off food it can be related directly to one of a handful of "typical" reasons:

1.) A husbandry issue. Temps and/or humidity not right, habitat feeling too open, not enough or the wrong kinds of hides.
2.) A change in diet. They can go off food if you're offering food other than what they're used to. If the breeder (or pet store) had them on live, and you've only offered frozen, they may reject for quite some time.
3.) Stress. Too much handling too soon can cause them to go off food. Soaking alone can be very stressful.
4.) Illness.

You may have all of these nailed down, but 9 times out of 10 a BP will go off food for these reasons over any other.

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Yes it was the vet that diagnosed her.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Who sold her to you and did you ask the seller what the snake was eating and how often?

Also what kind of setup do you have, what are the high and low temperatures, what is the humidity, etc? If husbandry is off then babies often don't eat.

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Unfortunately I made the mistakes if buying her from Petco (never again) they had no clue about her when I went back asking questions.

Temps are 80-85 hot side, 90 basking, 75-80 cold side.

Plenty of hides in a terrarium, we didn't handle her the whole first week after getting her besides the until introduction to the kids, we have get in a quite room with 3 of the 4 sides of the tank covered to provide security. We have a red light for night to switch between day and night, the temperatures we changed to stimulate as well.

Humidity stays around 60

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Originally Posted by hilabeans

Sorry your poor girl has had a rough go of it.

It's interesting to hear she was diagnosed as anorexic - is that something the vet told you?

Usually when they go off food it can be related directly to one of a handful of "typical" reasons:

1.) A husbandry issue. Temps and/or humidity not right, habitat feeling too open, not enough or the wrong kinds of hides.
2.) A change in diet. They can go off food if you're offering food other than what they're used to. If the breeder (or pet store) had them on live, and you've only offered frozen, they may reject for quite some time.
3.) Stress. Too much handling too soon can cause them to go off food. Soaking alone can be very stressful.
4.) Illness.

You may have all of these nailed down, but 9 times out of 10 a BP will go off food for these reasons over any other.

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We have come to the conclusion that she was fed live since being hatched and that's why nothing we did with the F/T worked, soon as we put in love, she snagged it within seconds. So I'm believing it is the #2 thing you listed, change in diet, I'm glad I figured it out before it was too late

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Also find out later that she hasn't eaten for 2 months while at the Petco, the one who sold her to us said she is just eating frozen, he had no clue, we reported him to the manager. So that's 3 months she went without food.

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Looks like too much light and exposure in the set up and over handling and stress from the excessive soaks. Why were you soaking it nightly? Humidity issues should be resolved with the housing and not require any baths. Im glad its on the path to eating regularly but I would never take my snake back to a vet that "diagnosed as anorexia".

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Originally Posted by Hannahshissyfix

Looks like too much light and exposure in the set up and over handling and stress from the excessive soaks. Why were you soaking it nightly? Humidity issues should be resolved with the housing and not require any baths. Im glad its on the path to eating regularly but I would never take my snake back to a vet that "diagnosed as anorexia".

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They told me to soak it to loosen them scales up or something. Thats why im glad i went to a breeder and he steered me in the right direction.

humidity was never an issue, it was to help her relax and possibly eat.

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Originally Posted by bmwood

We have come to the conclusion that she was fed live since being hatched and that's why nothing we did with the F/T worked, soon as we put in love, she snagged it within seconds. So I'm believing it is the #2 thing you listed, change in diet, I'm glad I figured it out before it was too late

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Petco will never feed live unless it is a last resort and if they do eat live they go right back to F/t. I work for Petco.

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Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

Petco will never feed live unless it is a last resort and if they do eat live they go right back to F/t. I work for Petco.

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good to know

I'm still confused by this "anorexic" diagnosis.

How did the vet determine the animal to be anorexic?

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Originally Posted by bmwood

They told me to soak it to loosen them scales up or something. Thats why im glad i went to a breeder and he steered me in the right direction.

humidity was never an issue, it was to help her relax and possibly eat.

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That just confirms id never go back to that vet. Bathing them isn't relaxing like it is for a day at the spa for us and only does the opposite of stressing them and leading to a longer hunger strike. A few loose scales are nothing to worry about and will come off with the next shed or while moving around. I dont know what the obsession with people thinking their snakes need baths is all about (not meaning you, just in general). If temps and humidity are correct there shouldnt be any need to besides an occassional wipe down if they have poop or something you want off of them.

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Sadly another vet that has limited knowledge and hands on experience.

Non feeding BP is the number 1# problem on the forum and 99.9% of the time when new owners experience feeding issue with a young animal it's husbandry related.

The things some vets will say is just amazing.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

I'm still confused by this "anorexic" diagnosis.

How did the vet determine the animal to be anorexic?

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she weighed barely 100g and was almost a foot and a half long. I think the vet was a idiot after talking with breeders.

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Originally Posted by Hannahshissyfix

That just confirms id never go back to that vet. Bathing them isn't relaxing like it is for a day at the spa for us and only does the opposite of stressing them and leading to a longer hunger strike. A few loose scales are nothing to worry about and will come off with the next shed or while moving around. I dont know what the obsession with people thinking their snakes need baths is all about (not meaning you, just in general). If temps and humidity are correct there shouldnt be any need to besides an occassional wipe down if they have poop or something you want off of them.

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Yeah we dont give her baths, only wipe her down if theres poop on her. her shed was healthy, all came off in one piece minus a small part on the head, but it came off with gently rubbing with a cutip.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Sadly another vet that has limited knowledge and hands on experience.

Non feeding BP is the number 1# problem on the forum and 99.9% of the time when new owners experience feeding issue with a young animal it's husbandry related.

The things some vets will say is just amazing.

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Yeah the vet was an idiot, even had us doing forced tube feedings until a breeder told me it could kill her so I stopped going to that vet. Husbandry was good, temp and humidity was good, now that we are using live she is a very good eater :)

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

I'm still confused by this "anorexic" diagnosis.

How did the vet determine the animal to be anorexic?

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she weighed barely 100g and was almost a foot and a half long. I think the vet was a idiot after talking with breeders.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hannahshissyfix

That just confirms id never go back to that vet. Bathing them isn't relaxing like it is for a day at the spa for us and only does the opposite of stressing them and leading to a longer hunger strike. A few loose scales are nothing to worry about and will come off with the next shed or while moving around. I dont know what the obsession with people thinking their snakes need baths is all about (not meaning you, just in general). If temps and humidity are correct there shouldnt be any need to besides an occassional wipe down if they have poop or something you want off of them.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

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Yeah we dont give her baths, only wipe her down if theres poop on her. her shed was healthy, all came off in one piece minus a small part on the head, but it came off with gently rubbing with a cutip.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Sadly another vet that has limited knowledge and hands on experience.

Non feeding BP is the number 1# problem on the forum and 99.9% of the time when new owners experience feeding issue with a young animal it's husbandry related.

The things some vets will say is just amazing.

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Yeah the vet was an idiot, even had us doing forced tube feedings until a breeder told me it could kill her so I stopped going to that vet. Husbandry was good, temp and humidity was good, now that we are using live she is a very good eater :)