skinny snake

[crystal]

ok i know how many help my ball wont eat threads there are. and ive read every one i could find and have tried every solution that everyone has listed. i put him in a smaller house with a tighter hide. i filled his enclosure with newspaper. ive offered live, stunned and f/t prey at all different times a day. ive tried mice, rats and ASF in varying sizes. i tried smothering the prey in chicken broth and tuna oil. ive fed him in his enclosure, out of his enclosure. i even wrapped his tank in a puppy clean up towel (i dunno maybe the urine smell would make him eat the rat. i dont know what i was thinking) he did have worms that are getting treated by the vet, his next visit and medicine dose are on the 13th of this month. and everyone says its ok they go off feed for a while as long as they arent losing weight its ok just wait it out. so ive been offering and waiting a week for all of those tricks and hes still not eating. now he is starting to lose weight. i can see a ridge where his spine is and i never saw that before. now im starting to worry.

he was starting to look better after he got the medicine (it was a white paste that the vet mixed up and stuck down his throat). now he looks like in the last 2 weeks hes taking a turn for the worst. do you think if i bring a f/t mouse or rat of appropriate size the vet will force feed him for me? i dont know what else to do.


sorry for writing a novel, i figured i might as well get it all out in one shot instead of answering 500 questions.

thanks in advance for any help / advice.

[frankykeno]

What I would suggest you do since he's currently under a vet's care is give the vet a call first thing Monday morning. You may need to have a repeat fecal done to make sure that whatever treatment the vet did actually got the internal parasites dealt with completely. A follow-up fecal would be my first thought.

Since the snake is refusing to eat and you see visible weight loss I'd suggest two things. One is to see that vet and have the snake reassessed. Two would be to purchase a proper digital gram scale to be able to track weight loss/gain properly. Eyeballing it unless you are very experienced isn't a good idea with a sick little snake.

Speak to your vet about assist feeding options. The vet may likely make that call based on his/her current hands on assessment and further tests on this snake. The problem with your vet doing the assist feed is you then have to take an ill snake, whose just been assist fed on a car trip back home. I'd hate to see what a regurge might do to an already ill snake so talk to your vet about that (you may have to leave the snake there for 24-48 hours to allow it to digest undisturbed rather than transport it immediately back home).

[Mochelem]

Assist feeding is not hard, but I would do the vet visit first as stated above...

[butters!]

i would try to get ahold of some f/t asf rats to rub against your feeder mice..this will wake up that lil snake of yours and make it really hungy