Being a worried snakemom - is he dehydrated?

[mousch]

I picked up my BP today and the breeder said "he's a little thirsty". He was pretty listless when I first held him. I got him home and he drank some and has since perked up a lot, and is exploring his cage little by little. the only worry I have is that his skin looks loose. I forgot to ask when his last shed was in my excitement but I emailed him. Is this just him growing into his new clothes, or do I really need to watch him? I've got a sweater box, two hides. 80 on the cool side, 90 on the warm side and this boy's about four months old. My humidity is at 60%.


See the wrinkle along his sides?


Closeup of one bend


This is closer to his tail


side glamour shot!

So do I need a rush vet visit? I don't think I do but I would rather bank on all of your experience!

I realise my cage looks empty in those shots. He has a water dish, warm hide, cool hide and a silk vine so that he doesn't feel too exposed.

[Chanarita]

This is just my best educated guess (I could be wrong)\


I am inexperienced with hatchlings, but he looks really underfed. Possibly dehydrated too. Have you fed him yet?

[joepythons]

One big concern i have is,has the snake ever eaten anything? It looks really skinny.Did you get it from a breeder who produced it himself or herself? The reason i ask this is i myself would never allow a snake to leave that is that thin or state its kinda thirsty.Stating something like that makes me wonder if the snake had water or not in its enclosure before you arrived.In my opinion the snake does look kinda dehydrated.

[mousch]

This is just my best educated guess (I could be wrong)\


I am inexperienced with hatchlings, but he looks really underfed. Possibly dehydrated too. Have you fed him yet?

Sorry, forgot to include the following: I picked him up today. He hatched about 4 months ago. So he won't get fed until next week, unless he looks like he's starving? He doesn't go limp when I moved him - he grips whatever he is near.
He was on live hoppers. The breeder is the one who produced him.

He is also going to be left alone for a good while now, to acclimate to his new surroundings and keep the stress down. Could I feed him earlier? Or will he be okay until next Saturday? Should I go for tuesday or something?

[Rapture]

Wow if I saw this snake at a store somewhere I would bet money on it that it was farm hatched and not captive bred. I have 4 farm hatched baby balls and none of them look as bad as that, not even the one I have had to resort to force feeding. I find it hard to believe that it has been fed more than once or twice or even at all. This late in the season he should have a way better start than that.

And sorry if that is bad news, but it is my honest opinion. I would make sure he has plenty of water available for drinking and soaking, maybe raise his humidity a bit, perhaps offer him a live crawler (my balls all regurgitated their hoppers) just to see if he will eat this soon after moving to a new home, but if he doesn't, I would totally leave him alone for a few days, don't take him out at all, then offer a crawler again.

[mousch]

Oh no, I didn't think he looked that bad! I will try and give him a crawler or hopper on Sunday or Tuesday then

[SarahMB]

Do you know what he weighs? He looks just like the little one I'm having to tube feed right now, which weighs 48g.

[mousch]

I honestly couldn't tell you what he weighs
Oh gosh now I'm so scared for this little guy, I thought he looked a little skinny but not omg emergency tubefeeding skinny
I don't have a scale or anything like that. The picture of the skin near his tail, he's sitting right where my two thighs meet. So that skin looks looser than he actually does.

poor little guy I will do whatever I can to pull him through
The breeder told me he had taken all of his meals. Is he just on mice that are too small? What should I do?

[Rapture]

I took this just now to give you a visual on the health of my captive hatched balls, who are all probably around the same age as yours. The last one on the right is the one that I have had to force feed a few times already, and has only eaten on its own once. The other three all eat crawlers every week.

[JimiSnakes]

I'd calm down and then do what all the good people here are suggesting to do. Give him/her a few/couple days to acclimate and then try feeding. Leave alone for another week and then feed again. What size enclosure is he/she in? What are the temps and humidity? What else can you give us to further help you, any info at all would help.