Rescued ball pythons

[jon7]

just rescued 2 ball pythons from a guy and have a few questions.
they are a breeding pair.The male is 3.5 feet, and the female is 4.5 feet.they both apear to be healthy, but they both have this kinda haze to the skin, kinda like oil on water look. Also, i cant get them to eat. the guy had them in his garage with no heat (I am in Washington state) they were very cold. He was feeding them live rats 1 a month not jumbo's. They came out of shed about 2-3 weeks ago. Also, the female has/had a little scab on her nose its almost gone now, And her eye caps wont come off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[satomi325]

just rescued 2 ball pythons from a guy and have a few questions.
they are a breeding pair.The male is 3.5 feet, and the female is 4.5 feet.they both apear to be healthy, but they both have this kinda haze to the skin, kinda like oil on water look. Also, i cant get them to eat. the guy had them in his garage with no heat (I am in Washington state) they were very cold. He was feeding them live rats 1 a month not jumbo's. They came out of shed about 2-3 weeks ago. Also, the female has/had a little scab on her nose its almost gone now, And her eye caps wont come off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

How are they doing now? No signs of respiratory infections?
How is your set up? Change in husbandry fixes an off feed ball most of the time. And exactly how long have you had them?

I'm not sure what you mean by haze on the skin? Can you provide some pictures?
The nose scab is probably from the female rubbing her face on the enclosure. It will heal on its own. But to can apply Betadine on it, if t worries you. And for the eye caps, its better just to leave it until the next shed. It does more harm than good to mess with a snake's eyes. Just make sure their humidity is perfect during the next shed and it will come off.


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[alittleFREE]

Do you have any pictures of them and/or their current setup?

I can't really picture the oil-on-water look you mentioned, but when you say they have a hazy look, my first conclusion would be that they were going into shed.

If they've been without heat, that's not good and there could definitely be problems arising from that. I'm assuming you have them in an enclosure with a proper heat gradient now? How long have they been in your care?

The not eating isn't necessarily anything to worry about on it's own if you've just acquired them - it can take a while for them to settle in even under the best conditions and these guys have obviously had it rough. If you've had them for a significant amount of time that's a different story.

The eye caps are probably just retained from the last shed and in most cases it's best to leave them and let them come off with the next shed.

[Adam Chandler]

just rescued 2 ball pythons from a guy and have a few questions.
they are a breeding pair.The male is 3.5 feet, and the female is 4.5 feet.they both apear to be healthy, but they both have this kinda haze to the skin, kinda like oil on water look. Also, i cant get them to eat. the guy had them in his garage with no heat (I am in Washington state) they were very cold. He was feeding them live rats 1 a month not jumbo's. They came out of shed about 2-3 weeks ago. Also, the female has/had a little scab on her nose its almost gone now, And her eye caps wont come off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

First off welcome to BP.net!

- Regarding the eye caps just keep the humidity in their enclosure up above 50% and they will come off with their next shed. If they shed in one piece they are good to go.
I'm not sure what haze skin could be but it should come off with the shed skin.

-Their appetites should come back once they settle in (1-2 weeks) if they have proper temps. You can see proper temp ranges on the BP.net Caresheet.

-Are they being housed together or separately? BP's do best housed alone. Especially if they are different genders. When breeding sized males and females smell each other they tend to go off feed.

-I've never seen a BP that could handle a Jumbo rat. Medium rats are the biggest I've seen a BP eat (and only my biggest girls eat those). Small rats are more typical for adult BP's. Since they have been off feed you may want to try offering a smaller than usual meal like a weaned rat.

[Vypyrz]

Hello, and to BP.net.
I would would not offer them food until you have them set-up in separate enclosures with regulated heat sources. This will help reduce stress and help reduce the possibility of any regurgitations.

You will also need to monitor them carefully for any signs of a Respiratory Infection. Some of the signs are:

1) Wheezing, popping, or gurggling when they breathe. It will sound almost like a person with bronchitis.

2) Mucus or foamy type bubbles in and around the mouth and/or nostrils.

3) Constant face rubbing. Snakes will do this to try and clear the mucus from their mouths and nostrils.

4) Dried mucus (snot) smeared around the enclosure.

5) Stargazing. The snake will constantly keep it's head elevated to try and keep it clear.

If you notice any of these symptoms, you need to get them to a vet for treatment. Make sure that the vet does a culture on them to determine the best course of medication.

Here are a couple of tutorial vids on how to inspect a snake, in case you ever need to...






Good Luck with your new BP's...

[Vypyrz]

Here is the other video that, for some reason, decided not to show up in my post above...

Edit: I'm not sure what is up with my internet today. Here are the URL's...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0Uv...ure=plpp_video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ1C-...ure=plpp_video

[crossbonecorns]

Just a thought on the haze, do you have hard water in your area? Overly hard water can leave a bit of residue when it evaporates.

[JulieInNJ]

I think I understand what you mean by haze. We rescued a bp who was 4 years old and only 300g. She was eating one live mouse every 2 weeks, if I remember correctly. The poor thing was housed in a 50 gallon with a heat lamp and open top. She had a really really bad shed and after we got that off of her, she just looked dull and funny. After getting her into a normal feeding routine and in a tub with good heat and humidity, she eventually shed off the dull sheen that she had to her. She's nice and pretty now!

[jon7]

Thank you all for you words of advise. as far as I can tell, based on what you all said, no respitory problems. I do have hard water here, but thats not what i give them, they only get purified water, @ Julie thats about what these guys were in when I got them. I have only had them about 2 weeks, and unless my thermo & humidity gauges are lying to me, lol, i should have everything proper. The rats that I have been offering are medium and substantially smaller Then the ones that he was feeding them. so im not sure what the deal is with not eating. I will be putting them in sepperate tanks ASAP as i did not know about that.

[angllady2]

I would think that once they are separated and given a little time to de-stress and adjust, they'll begin eating again.

These guys have a lot of strikes against them in the feeding department. Sub standard care before is one, new environment is two, being housed together is three, and if all that weren't bad enough, it is the tag end of breeding season, and their hormone levels are probably still out of whack, making them less inclined to eat.

Get them in separate tubs, tweak their temps and such, let them have as much peace and quiet as possible for at least a week, ten days might even be better. Then when you offer them food, stick to smaller and more frequently for now. I'll almost bet they'll eat like wolves once you get their setups down pat.

Gale