When to assist feed?

[Jolecerve]

I just purchased a very young BP from a reptile show Sunday, I was told she was being feed live fuzzy mice. After doing my research I know the smallest thing she should be
eating is a hopper mouse.

Now a little history about her she was purchased for school room purposes and the people who had her knew almost nothing about BP's
She is extremely under weight and seems to barely be able to hold her head up, at first I just figured she was stressed due to the fact that she was kept in
a small Tupperware container with no heat at the reptile show and she had been handled a lot by the classroom kids and people at the show.

I offered her a live hopper today and she was scared to death of the thing and balled up and ignored it and jerked it off when it got on her.
Because she doesn't really seem to be in control of her head and I haven't found a reptile vet in my area yet I was wondering if I should take her
to the pet shop that is about 45 minutes away that breeds ball pythons and see if they can show me how to assist feed until she gets her strength back.

what would you guys suggest?
She is not my first ball python but she is my first baby and the first I have ever seen with what seems like a very heavy head.
I have put a link to a picture of her to show how small she is it doesn't really show how loose her skin is but she does have skin folds.
Thank you in advance for any advice and help you can offer...

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1a2c6d25.jpg

[Zuma22]

How much does she weigh and what's your set up (temps, humidity, everything)? If you only just got her on Sunday, then you probably still need to give her time to adjust to being in a new environment. As much detail as you can give will help us help you

And if there's a chance you can get some better pictures to help us see her body condition, that would help to.

[Jolecerve]

I have uploaded 6 new pictures of her you should be able to look trough them if not I can ad the individual links just let me know.
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...psf58aa33e.jpg

At the moment I have her in a 7qt Sterilite container with a heating pad under 1 3rd the temp on the hot side stays around 89 and the temp on the cool side is normally just at 80
the humiddity levels have been between 55 and 65
I don't have a scale so I am not sure what she weighs or exactly how old she is. The reason I say she is underweight is the way her skin just kinda hangs off of her or when I first got her it looked like she was laying in her skin when she was balled up. I first though she was dehydrated and gave her a little soak because she didn't seem to be drinking from her water bowl she did hold her little head under the water for a few minutes I did not see her open her mouth up but her skin seemed to get a bit tighter after this so I am assuming she did drink a little and was slightly dehydrated.

I didn't want to put her in a bigger container just yet until she started feeding on her own and started to pep up if you look at the picture where she is draped over my hand you can see the
little container they were keeping her in with no substrate whatsoever and no heat she was Ice cold when we got her or should I say colder than a normal BP is to the touch

for the most part she stays on the warm side of her container and only seems to be active when she is held she moves from the cool area to the hot but she doesn't explore or flicker her tongue much unless she is being held. my main scare is that she is so small and like I said seems like she really cant hold her head up well when she try's while moving around she's all wobbly and sometimes brushes the side of her little face against the ground when she is moving it almost looks like she is drunk.

[treeboa]

If she's staying on the warm side all the time she's not warm enough. What kind of thermometer are you using? Are you sure it's accurate? I keep my Balls hot spot at around 95. You said a couple times "when I hold her". You should not hold her unless you absolutely have to until she is eating regularly and is stronger. I would not stress her out more by taking her to the pet store or assist feed her yet. Give her more time to settle in and start eating on her own. It's hard to tell her condition from pics and a description, but to be honest if she is really weak she probably would not survive the stress of a trip to the pet stop and assist feeding or especially (I know you didn't say this, I'm just saying) force feeding. Hope everything turns out OK.

[Jolecerve]

At the moment I am using an analog thermometer hygrometer so I'm not 100% sure of it's accuracy I will be getting a digital one within the next few days to better monitor
her conditions.

I have only held her a few times since bringing her home I don't take her out an play with her just when I needed to get her pictures and when I soaked her I know both are stressful.
I only soaked her because I didn't want her getting more dehydrated and she hadn't shown an interest in her water bowl in two days.

Thank you for the advice I really hope she comes out of it she is such a sweet little girl.
How long can a little one go without eating? I have searched online but never really did get a straight answer.

[treeboa]

I don't know about baby balls, but I had some newborn Childrens pythons that refused all attempts to get them feeding and died suddenly after about 2 months. your girl looks skinny, but not emaciated so you probably have some time. Good luck with her, I hope she does well too.

[Annarose15]

You need to get a temp gun or probed thermometer and KNOW your temperatures. She will not eat if she is too cold. Also, what are you using for hides and are you offering the hopper in or out of her enclosure?

[Rickys_Reptiles]

Hello,

If you put a live prey item in there with her, her natural instinct will be too ball up, hense the name "Ball" python. She needs a hide. Take a small container, cut a hole in it and let her have a bit of security. When shes in the hide, put a rat pup in there and walk away! Leave her alone with the pup for an hour or more before you even so much as peak.

[Jolecerve]

she has a small hide in there with her I took it out to take pictures. I haven't tried a rat pup yet, I would have to see if my pet shop carries them. I was considering getting two
fuzzy mice for her since she is used to eating them or so I was told anyway. I know they are not the rite size but getting her to eat anything to get some weight on her and strength in
her is my main goal at the moment. If I cant get a rat pup and she wont take the fuzzy's I will have to try FT.

I called and talked to a breeder that works at the pet shop I was talking about, she told me to try again next Wednesday and if she was not eating
to bring her in and she would look at her, also not to worry to much about her wobbly head right now that some baby snakes just have a wobbly head.
She also gave me the number to the reptile vet she uses so I can make an appointment to have her looked at if I am still concerned.

Thank you guys so much for your help so far, I will keep you posted as to how she is doing...

[Annarose15]

One additional thing that I just noticed - you said you've had her since Sunday. Leave her completely alone for the next 2-3 days before offering her another fuzzy. She has had zero chance to settle in with the move, soaking, and food offering all in only four days.