Extremely malnourished ball

[rabernet]

Resist the temptation to feed too much too soon. Slow and steady is the way to go with ball pythons that have been starved. Feeding too frequently can do more harm than good. Five days is the most frequent I would go until she is no longer emaciated.

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[SlitherinSisters]

Resist the temptation to feed too much too soon. Slow and steady is the way to go with ball pythons that have been starved. Feeding too frequently can do more harm than good. Five days is the most frequent I would go until she is no longer emaciated.

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Yeah Robin is probably right about only feeding every 5. How weak is she? Does she move around or just lay there half dead?

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[jaded]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your advice and concern.

She is still somewhat active, moving around occasionally. She doesn't have very much strenght, obviously, but she still has some spark in her. She has kept down the last night's meal, which gives me hope. I am breeding my own mice, so I have good chance to try and stimulate her feeding response. Last night she showed absolutely no interest in feeder when I offered it. But I really hope she will start to eat

Dehydration/electrolyte-thing is something I have to take under consideration. We do have many electrolyte-products here available and I am a nurse so even subcutaneus injections can be an option, if it seems the best way to go.

[RoyalCityPythons]

If all else fails, you can attempt to force feed it protein enriched baby food. Buy a feeder syringe and attach a piece of aquarium tubing on the syringe tip and make sure it's lubricated with cooking oil. Afterwards insert the tubing about 3" into the snake's mouth and SLOWLY inject the syringe. I did this over a period of a month to nurse one of my pythons back into health after going off feed for a year. Now he's one of my best sires!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Resist the temptation to feed too much too soon. Slow and steady is the way to go with ball pythons that have been starved. Feeding too frequently can do more harm than good. Five days is the most frequent I would go until she is no longer emaciated.

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This, nice and slow as Robin mentioned

If all else fails, you can attempt to force feed it protein enriched baby food. Buy a feeder syringe and attach a piece of aquarium tubing on the syringe tip and make sure it's lubricated with cooking oil. Afterwards insert the tubing about 3" into the snake's mouth and SLOWLY inject the syringe. I did this over a period of a month to nurse one of my pythons back into health after going off feed for a year. Now he's one of my best sires!

I do not recommend this, if this animal is eating (and it has take it's first meal), this will only create unnecessary stress.

Again feeding smaller preys every 5 to 7 days until the animal gets back into a better shape is what is needed here and of course in the meantime, small living area, minimum handling, I would not even worry about the stuck shed at this point either not until you can get several meals in her.

[NYHC4LIFE8899]

Glad u got her,best of luck and get her back to help..keep us updated on her progress?.

I recently got a little ball python girl, who is extremely malnourished. She is about 18 months old and weights only 112 grams. Her previous owner got her when she was about a year old, and even then she was only about 300 grams. The previous owner was new to the ball pythons and didn't realise that something was wrong. She didn't managed to get the snake to eat at all, not once in whole time she had her. Finally she realised she can't keep the snake anymore. So when the poor baby came to me, it hasn't been eating at least for 6 months, maybe never. She is very emaciated, although still active. I have a picture for you, taken last night when she arrived:



So I talked to few friends of mine who have more experience in ball pythons. In conclusion, I assist fed her last night. The food item was under-sized and she took it well, strangling and swallowing it by herself. Seems that she is able to keep it down (it's been now over 12 hours). The plan is to continue feedeng her small mice in every five days or so.

This is the most skinniest snake I have ever seen, ever. Do you guys have any experience in this kind of situation, do we still have hope of recovery? Any advice how to proceed?

Sorry for my bad english, I'm from Finland and I have not been writing in english for a long time.

[Badgemash]

First of all THANK YOU for taking this girl in and looking out for her (and your English is just fine by the way ), I teared up when I saw that picture.

I agree with Robin and Deborah, this is much like when you have people recovering from starvation situations, if you suddenly flood the system with nutrients it can be enough of a shock to finish them off. Just take it slowly and gently.

Since she's drinking on her own, you probably do not need to worry about pedialyte and I would definitely stay away from injections (just more stress). I have had success with it in the past, but it's usually reserved for severe dehyrdation, which she doesn't have if you've seen her drinking. Just let her do her thing.

It sounds like she's a fighter, I'm amazed she's survived in that condition, let alone is still moving around her cage. I hope she keeps fighting for you, and we would love continued updates on her progress. Best wishes for you both.

[ROACH]

That's not power feeding in my opinion. A snake won't eat it if doesn't want to. Just like how it will eat as much as it will eat when it wants.
If the snake is hungry they will eat on their own. Some snakes will not eat if a feeder is too large or too small.

I personally find power feeding to be force feeding. An example would be daisy chaining feeders together to trick the snake into thinking it is eating 1 feeder rather than multiple. Same thing goes for sticking a feeder down the snakes throat as its swallowing another. Or even unnecessarily force feeding.

If the snake is willing to eat on its own, I personally don't find that "power feeding". And I mean in the content of ball pythons. They go off feed constantly, so I want my snakes to eat a lot when they are willing so they have the fat reserves to endure those fasts.

Anyway. I agree that the OP shouldn't put his snake on a short feeding schedule. It will just upset the snake's digestive system. Start will smaller prey than normal once a week or every other week for a while. Try live hopper mice to entice her to eat and jump start the feeding response.

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Now I got hammered for saying this exact thing! "If the snake is hungry they will eat on their own"....How odd! Actually I said "they will eat if they are hungry", which I think is the same thing. Am I right Neal?

[satomi325]

Now I got hammered for saying this exact thing! "If the snake is hungry they will eat on their own"....How odd! Actually I said "they will eat if they are hungry", which I think is the same thing. Am I right Neal?

In what content did you say your statement?

I also said, " A snake(BP) won't eat it if doesn't want to."
That goes for being picky with prey items. Some will for sure starve themselves before switching to a certain prey, if that is their preference.

[ROACH]

In what content did you say your statement?

I also said, " A snake(BP) won't eat it if doesn't want to."
That goes for being picky with prey items. Some will for sure starve themselves before switching to a certain prey, if that is their preference.

This is the Thread...From live mice to f/t rats
This is the Question....
Hi,

First post in this forum, although I've been browsing it for a while.

I have one question to add to the thousands of questions that must have been asked on how to switch a snake's feeding habit.
But hopefully this is going to be a slightly different question :p

So, I recently got a female that has been eating live mice with her previous owner. With time, I'd like to switch her to f/t rats. I have switched from f/t mice to f/t rats successfully on other animals, but this is a "double switch", and I wonder if someone has any advice on the best strategy.

The options I have in mind are:
A) Switch from live to frozen mice first. Then switch from frozen mice to frozen rats

B) switch from live mice to live rats first, and then go from there to f/t rats.

C) Try to do it in one go, and get her to switch directly from live mice to f/t rats.

Anyone has had success with that kind of switch? Which strategy do you think would work best?

Thanks!
This was my reply....
I'd say choice "C". She will eat it if shes hungry. May take her awhile, but im sure it will work. Good luck which ever choice you choose.
Oh and welcome to the forum!