Seriously underweight baby BP won’t eat

[Bogertophis]

And personally, I'd have tube-fed it by now (pm sent). Either way, this snake probably needs help, especially if he doesn't take this fuzzy overnight.

BTW, if this fuzzy mouse isn't eaten (gone) by morning, under NO circumstances feed it to ANY OTHER snake besides the one it has just been offered to.

You can spread diseases that way, if this new snake is actually sick. This is part of the quarantine rules, btw- even with apparently healthy snakes, there is always some risk with re-offering prey to other snakes, but it's commonly done. Just never do it with a new snake, & certainly never with a snake that appears unhealthy, because you don't know for sure what they might "share" with your healthy snake(s).

[Bellybelly]

No, I absolutely wouldn’t give it to my other guy! It’d be much too small for him for one thing, and I don’t want to turn him on to live prey when he eats so good on f/ts

Next question I suppose is… how do you recommend properly, safely, and humanely euthanizing a mouse…? If he doesn’t take it alive my next step to try is going to be tube feeding so I… yknow… won’t need it anymore…


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[Bellybelly]

BTW, if this fuzzy mouse isn't eaten (gone) by morning, under NO circumstances feed it to ANY OTHER snake besides the one it has just been offered to.

Honestly, doing that had never even crossed my mind, although I guess I’m not surprised people do, but… that just seems like it should be common sense that that’s not a good or healthy idea???


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[Bogertophis]

Honestly, doing that had never even crossed my mind, although I guess I’m not surprised people do, but… that just seems like it should be common sense that that’s not a good or healthy idea???


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You'd be surprised how many would do that without a second thought...that's why I posted as I did.

[Bellybelly]

Well, I took a very quick and sneaky peek this morning, and the mouse is still in the bowl. It looks like it died during the night, hard to tell for sure (as I was looking through a screen in a dark room with the light from my phone screen on the lowest brightness so as not to disturb him) but it had that curled up with feet in the air dead rodent look I suppose there’s a chance that Pepper went for it and killed it but just didn’t eat, which would at least be a tiny step, but I won’t know until I can get a good look at it and unfortunately I was running late for work this morning and forgot to g get it out of his tank, so I’ll have to run home over lunch to do that.

I’m gonna try the tube feeding, and I ordered supplies for that that’s should be here tomorrow (thank God for Amazon prime sometimes &#129394 but I’m also going to hit the local pet stores to see if I can get something tonight.


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[Armiyana]

Maybe it's a matter of preference, but I feel like assist feeding is far less stressful and risky than tube feeding. I have never had to tube feed a BP before. But it is handy when you need to feed and medicate an animal from what I've seen.
For assist feeding all you need is the slightly smaller than normal sized prey item.

Regardless, I hope you can get something in that little one's tummy.

[Bogertophis]

Maybe it's a matter of preference, but I feel like assist feeding is far less stressful and risky than tube feeding. I have never had to tube feed a BP before. But it is handy when you need to feed and medicate an animal from what I've seen.
For assist feeding all you need is the slightly smaller than normal sized prey item.

Regardless, I hope you can get something in that little one's tummy.

FYI, I pm'd the OP my detailed instructions for tube-feeding, & as someone that has saved a number of snakes this way, I heartily disagree with you that it's more stressful, as long as you know how to do it the right way. I'll be happy to pm you the same instructions if you like. For a snake like this one, even if it manages to get a mouse down, it may be unable to digest it. Regurgitation is not in the best interest of the snake, that's for sure.

Tube feeding offers both hydration & readily digested nutrition, at the pace a starved or very ill snake can absorb easily. I've seen many snakes make a turn-around after a tube-feeding, or after several if they started in very bad condition. It's a lot like what an I.V. does for a human hospital patient- it gives enough energy so their appetite returns & they can function, but without which they never feel like eating & end up in a "downward spiral". Since you have no experience in tube-feeding, I hope you'll keep an open mind- I generally agree with & appreciate your posts & I know you are a skilled keeper too. Maybe it's time you learned "this one".

By the way, another problem with "assist feeding" is that the snake may get the idea that rodents attack them- surely that's how it must seem if a rodent forces it's way into the snake's mouth? And the last thing I want is a snake that's afraid of their natural diet. Even when you feed f/t rodents using tongs you have to be careful not to make it seem like the rodents are coming AT the snake, to elicit the best response from the snake- otherwise, many snakes retreat, especially the shyer ones like BPs.

[Bogertophis]

Well, I took a very quick and sneaky peek this morning, and the mouse is still in the bowl. It looks like it died during the night, hard to tell for sure (as I was looking through a screen in a dark room with the light from my phone screen on the lowest brightness so as not to disturb him) but it had that curled up with feet in the air dead rodent look I suppose there’s a chance that Pepper went for it and killed it but just didn’t eat, which would at least be a tiny step, but I won’t know until I can get a good look at it and unfortunately I was running late for work this morning and forgot to g get it out of his tank, so I’ll have to run home over lunch to do that.

I’m gonna try the tube feeding, and I ordered supplies for that that’s should be here tomorrow (thank God for Amazon prime sometimes &#129394 but I’m also going to hit the local pet stores to see if I can get something tonight.


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It might have died- from the photo posted, it didn't look very healthy to start with- something about the way it's fur was, & the body shape. (I've raised mice for decades, literally.) It might not have even given off enough of a heat signature or activity level to really interest your snake...not that I think your BP is likely to eat anyway without help. I seriously doubt that Pepper killed it.

[Bellybelly]

It might have died- from the photo posted, it didn't look very healthy to start with- something about the way it's fur was, & the body shape. (I've raised mice for decades, literally.) It might not have even given off enough of a heat signature or activity level to really interest your snake...not that I think your BP is likely to eat anyway without help. I seriously doubt that Pepper killed it.

I doubt it too, but I’ll still take a good look at the mouse and the tank when i get home to see if there’s ANY sign that he showed any amount of interest in it… that was the only baby they had at the pet store bigger than a pinkie so unfortunately didn’t give me any options


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[Armiyana]

FYI, I pm'd the OP my detailed instructions for tube-feeding, & as someone that has saved a number of snakes this way, I heartily disagree with you that it's more stressful, as long as you know how to do it the right way.

I suppose it's because the only time I've actually seen a royal tube fed, it did very poorly. The vet was the only vet within 100 miles who would see the little guy. I didn't tube it myself, but the person who was had a hard time with it. Snake ended up worse off in the end, regurge and sloughed skin.
I only saw the tail end of it as I was just coming off a medical leave. I guess that's probably where the aversion comes from.


I've heard that it can work wonders with colubrids instead of assist feeding. I've just had some really good luck getting my BPs going with assist feeds I suppose? Just pop the food in the mouth and leave...

I would love to know your process! Just in case I ever end up with one of these crazy rescues. The only recent one I got is an easy one, a pet only noodle with a small neck kink.