New rescue!!!! need advice please

[yesiwantacookie]

So, yesterday I had a friend call me out of the blue who said their cousin just left for the Navy and left his snake with his mom. They couldn't get too much information out of her but she wasn't up for keeping a snake by herself, since her son was always there to take care of it prior to him leaving. All she was able to tell me was that it hadn't eaten in almost a year (literally not once since they got it from a breeder at an expo) *HUGE GASP*, it's never really been handled and *her* name is sugar.
I had the day off so I went over to see what they had going on and it was worse than I thought. This calico bp was in a hugeeeee (think 55+ gal aquarium) with a red heat lamp, uth with no tstat, on repti carpet with a water bowl and a big log in there for climbing. No tstat, no hides, constant light, no gradient, terrible humidity for almost a whole year. I am honestly amazed that this baby is still alive. I told her I'll take Her after i run to the nearest reptile store to get necessary equipment.

Shes now set up in a quarantine tank as far away from my other ball as possible and husbandry is on point.
But after she settles for a while, how can I get her eating again? Apparently the "breeder" has been of no help and just told them to feed her rats, no indication how he was feeding or size or anything.. I was thinking of offering a small pre-killed rat and seeing if she will go for it in about a week, if she wont take that I was going to try an asf the week following. She is just so skinny and if it has been that long, there's still a good possibility she might continue to refuse, right?


BTW, I have an appointment set up to get her checked out at the vet this week, and I'm going to ask them to do some blood tests, unfortunately I doubt that I can get a fecal sample for them until after I get her eating.

Sorry for the crazy long scattered post, I just can't deal with the fact that so many people go out and get these animals that they have no idea how to care for and just end up not doing any research at all and endangering these animals lives just because they are pretty or cool. (I rescued a Chinchilla a week and a half ago from a similar situation.. extremely underweight, has ringworm and had a nasty eye infection, being treated and already improving).

Any and all advice is appreciated, I'll also post pictures I took of her yesterday a little later.

[tttaylorrr]

EDIT FIRST before first: WELCOME TO THE FORUM and thank you for helping this baby!

first: you need to get a weight before you toss food at them.

second: i'd advise against rushing to the vet. the vet is a very stressful experience for a beep and might do more harm than good right now. IMO I'd just give her a week or two to relax in good keeping and maybe see if she'll eat.

then we go from there.

looking forward to pics...

[yesiwantacookie]

EDIT FIRST before first: WELCOME TO THE FORUM and thank you for helping this baby!

first: you need to get a weight before you toss food at them.

second: i'd advise against rushing to the vet. the vet is a very stressful experience for a beep and might do more harm than good right now. IMO I'd just give her a week or two to relax is good keeping and maybe see if she'll eat.

then we go from there.

looking forward to pics...

Thanks! I am picking up a new scale tonight since mine seems to have been misplaced in our move last month. So of course I'll start tracking her weight and offering the correct size meals..
You're probably right with waiting on the vet, I kind of just fury called them yesterday as soon as I picked her up and scheduled an appointment, but I can reschedule for a couple weeks out. Aside from weight, my main concern is neurological problems from the unregulated uth... while I have no problem dealing with them (have a bumblebee with some spider wobble) but I just want to make sure her poor brain hasn't been completely fried.

[artgecko]

Does she look dehydrated? It might not hurt to soak her for a little while in tepid water about 1" deep or so if you suspect dehydration.

You can get a substance called benibac (don't know spelling). That has beneficial bacterial to help re-establish good gut flora. Using unflavored pedialyte in the water can also help rehydrate and replace electrolytes. I cannot remember the product name, but there is also a dietary supplement you can use (you can inject into feeders) to give them more calories as well.

For size, I'd go with slightly smaller than her girth...if not very small. If she has been without food, you will want to slowly get her eating again and not shock her system by offering meals that are too large. You can try PK/ FT, but if she refuses, offering a live rat pup might not hurt as the motion might get her eating better.

Good luck and thank you for trying to save her.

[Bogertophis]

Poor snake! Thank you for doing all you can for this unfortunate one. I agree about waiting for any vet visit...something tells me it's more of a
husbandry issue & few vets are very helpful with that...their thing is the medical aspect, & the visit adds stress that can make her health & appetite worse.
Just get her set up correctly, be patient & wait to see how it goes...she may surprise you...I hope so!

I agree with artgecko's post, except for injecting the high calorie veterinary supplement into feeders for a snake. I believe the reference is
to Nutri-Cal (or similar products) & it's designed for dogs/cats primarily, and contains a large amount of sugar/hfc & other stuff that is in no
way appropriate for a snake, to the best of my knowledge. A vet once urged me to try it...it was tried & not helpful, but I did learn to tube-
feed the snake with Gerber's chicken baby food, which aligns closer to a snake's natural diet & works great, but ONLY IF you really need to
help the snake eat. Please try ALL ways* to get the snake to accept natural prey first. (*other than force-aka assist feeding- please don't
shove prey into the snake either)

[yesiwantacookie]

Does she look dehydrated? It might not hurt to soak her for a little while in tepid water about 1" deep or so if you suspect dehydration.

You can get a substance called benibac (don't know spelling). That has beneficial bacterial to help re-establish good gut flora. Using unflavored pedialyte in the water can also help rehydrate and replace electrolytes. I cannot remember the product name, but there is also a dietary supplement you can use (you can inject into feeders) to give them more calories as well.

For size, I'd go with slightly smaller than her girth...if not very small. If she has been without food, you will want to slowly get her eating again and not shock her system by offering meals that are too large. You can try PK/ FT, but if she refuses, offering a live rat pup might not hurt as the motion might get her eating better.

Good luck and thank you for trying to save her.

Honestly she doesn't seem dehydrated. There were plenty of urates in the enclosure when I picked her up that makes me believe shes not completely dehydrated. Although the previous owners said she never shed in one piece, which doesn't surprise me. What about injecting water or pedialite into the rat before offering? I'm not sure if she visits her water bowl enough for it to be beneficial in the water itself.

My husband is pretty good at doing the dead rat dance to get our other bp eating, so hopefully she will take PK and make my life easier lol.

[yesiwantacookie]

Poor snake! Thank you for doing all you can for this unfortunate one. I agree about waiting for any vet visit...something tells me it's more of a
husbandry issue & few vets are very helpful with that...their thing is the medical aspect, & the visit adds stress that can make her health & appetite worse.
Just get her set up correctly, be patient & wait to see how it goes...she may surprise you...I hope so!

I agree with artgecko's post, except for injecting the high calorie veterinary supplement into feeders for a snake. I believe the reference is
to Nutri-Cal (or similar products) & it's designed for dogs/cats primarily, and contains a large amount of sugar/hfc & other stuff that is in no
way appropriate for a snake, to the best of my knowledge. A vet once urged me to try it...it was tried & not helpful, but I did learn to tube-
feed the snake with Gerber's chicken baby food, which aligns closer to a snake's natural diet & works great, but ONLY IF you really need to
help the snake eat. Please try ALL ways* to get the snake to accept natural prey first. (*other than force-aka assist feeding- please don't
shove prey into the snake either)

Thank you for your input! I really do appreciate it!
I'll definitely wait on the vet for now, especially since she is still fairly active.
And trust me, I WILL try everything possible to get her started on natural prey, I honestly don't even want to have to resort to asf or gerbils... But we will have to see as things progress... accepting any prey will be a huge accomplishment in my book.

[Armiyana]

Thank you for being an awesome human being!

Everyone has already made some excellent points.
I agree, Smaller meal for the first would be best just to make sure the noodles gut can still process properly.
A good soak or a nice humid hide would be great for a dehydrated snake. Sphagnum moss in a small Rubbermaid tub works great. The Rubbermaid makes it easy to pour a little water in to keep it moist (very thin layer, just enough to cover the bottom a bit) and the snake will do the mixing while getting in to hide.



And a smidge off topic but- poor chinchilla! Ringworm is so tough on them. If you haven't already, a tiny bit of lotromin foot powder mixed in with the dust bath 2-3 times a week works wonders. Especially since you can't really bathe them well with an antifungal shampoo. Oral antifungal can take a bit to work as well. =_=;

[Bogertophis]

Honestly she doesn't seem dehydrated. There were plenty of urates in the enclosure when I picked her up that makes me believe shes not completely dehydrated. Although the previous owners said she never shed in one piece, which doesn't surprise me. What about injecting water or pedialite into the rat before offering? I'm not sure if she visits her water bowl enough for it to be beneficial in the water itself.

My husband is pretty good at doing the dead rat dance to get our other bp eating, so hopefully she will take PK and make my life easier lol.

Correct, Pedialyte or plain water injected into dead rodent would be helpful, IF hydration is an issue. Sounds like once you get the enclosure at the proper temps &
humidity, & then maybe offer a humid hide, it's only feeding you have to worry about. Though it's also possible that many of those urates in the cage were pretty old?

We're all rooting for her & you.

[yesiwantacookie]

Thank you for being an awesome human being!

Everyone has already made some excellent points.
I agree, Smaller meal for the first would be best just to make sure the noodles gut can still process properly.
A good soak or a nice humid hide would be great for a dehydrated snake. Sphagnum moss in a small Rubbermaid tub works great. The Rubbermaid makes it easy to pour a little water in to keep it moist (very thin layer, just enough to cover the bottom a bit) and the snake will do the mixing while getting in to hide.



And a smidge off topic but- poor chinchilla! Ringworm is so tough on them. If you haven't already, a tiny bit of lotromin foot powder mixed in with the dust bath 2-3 times a week works wonders. Especially since you can't really bathe them well with an antifungal shampoo. Oral antifungal can take a bit to work as well. =_=;

Thank you!
I actually had an old humid hide that I used for Hypnos when he was smaller, so I'll add that in her enclosure.
Tonight is our feeding day for my other ball and I'm honestly curious to see if she will perk up when she smells the rat in the house, if so we will still wait to offer, but it will definitely make me a little excited. (My other bp can smell them as soon as I walk in the house and immediately comes out of his hide.)
Ill update here as things progress, but I'm pretty confident we are off to a good start and but I won't hesitate to ask further questions

As for the chin, we are doing the tinactin foot powder and blu-kote on the affected areas. In my experience, any oral medication for them is kind of a no go,(im giving the chin antibiotic injections once a day for the eye infection for that very reason) their digestive tract is so short that it goes right through them and causes more problems than its worth. My plan is to try to have her healthy(or healthier) by christmas so my daughter can get her as a present! So far it looks like shes on a good track to do just that