Advice with really skinny rescue BP

[Annarose15]

Update.

Yesterday I left a rat pup in a bag on top of his cage all day. About 1 am this morning I dropped it in his tank which is covered by a towel. I barely had time to sit on the couch next to him before he nailed it. He killed and took it down no problem.

Hopefully I get the same thing next week.

Since he's underweight, and the prey is small, you could easily put him on a 4-5 day schedule until he's up to appropriately sized prey and gains some weight. Note: This is NOT power feeding.

And that small white "poop" you saw? Urate, not feces.

Oh, and congratulations on getting him to eat and your new addition!

[don15681]

glad to hear that he ate for you. now you know what he will feed on. if you didn't see a slight lump in him after he ate. you could up the size slightly each time until you do. good luck with him and keep us posted on his progress.

[Billy305]

Thanks. I plan to up the size but want to start out smaller to lessen stress as well as not have him regurg something too big for him in the weak condition.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Sounds great--he'll probably regain his strength pretty quickly, so be prepared to move him up to something more appropriately sized after a meal or two. He's not likely to put on much weight eating rat pups.
Hopper rats would be a better choice.

Remember, ball pythons are made for fasting, so his body will know what to do with that nourishment pretty quickly.

[Billy305]

Update: Since I've had him hes eaten a rat pup and two small rats. He refused the last two meals which was kind of discouraging. However I woke up this morning to find a full fresh shed in his tub. This is a good sign because it means hes growing and had a healthy shed. Also could be the reason he refused his last two. I will try to feed again tomorrow or Tuesday.

[Anya]

That's great! Sounds like he's on his way to being a nice plump guy!

He's adorable, good for you for taking him in.

[Billy305]

Hes now refused a meal for the third time in a row. He always seems really interested like he was at first and gets right up on it smelling the prey but never attacks. However he weighs like 450 grams empty so hes put on 50 grams since I got him and shed recently so I guess as long as he isnt losing weight hes on the right track. \

Any input?

[Pixall]

Thank you for this; very encouraging. We just got a normal from Petdumb, and she is skinny skinny. They were giving her a fuzzy mouse. one a week. If you can get yours to take food and put on weight, I have hope for our little one.

[Annarose15]

Hes now refused a meal for the third time in a row. He always seems really interested like he was at first and gets right up on it smelling the prey but never attacks. However he weighs like 450 grams empty so hes put on 50 grams since I got him and shed recently so I guess as long as he isnt losing weight hes on the right track. \

Any input?

Depending on your definition of "small rats," it's possible he's just taking a break from the larger prey. You could drop him down to weanling rats (~30-45g). If you're feeding F/T, make sure it's fully thawed and the head is good and warm. Other than that, I wouldn't be worried as long as he's not losing weight. There are lots of "tricks" that people try, but he obviously knows what food is and is capable of eating when he wants to, so I would just leave him to his own schedule.

Oh, and to Pixall - Up your feeding to every 4-5 days for the little one until she fills out better (I know you said the store was feeding weekly, but don't know how often you are). Many people (myself included) feed every five days at least until they reach ~500g anyway.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Congrats! I'm glad he took the rat pup for you. Perhaps the only thing wrong with him, then, is that no one fed him.

I would put him on a 5 day feeding schedule, and scale up the rats to the correct size in just 2 feedings. As animals adapted to fasting, it won't take his system long to recover from the near-starvation.