Feeding question

[akaangela]

Here is the background. I have a beautiful ball. She got up to about 1000g and stopped eating. I didn't start worrying till she started loosing weight. She seemed to drop weight fast and got down to 800g. I took her to a friend and they said she was ok as she didn't look thin (she was a bit pudgy to start with). When she got down to 700g I asked another friend to look at her. They said she had scale rot (even to me her belly looked ok but I am no expert by a long shot) and he got her cleared up and eating again. My question is now that she is back should I feed her 2 mice at a time (she can hold 4 at a time) and let her get a bit hungry between feeding or should I feed her as much as she will eat at each feeding? I don't want her to stop eating again.

Also they said she had a bad case of scale rot. Can someone explain this to me? How does a snake get it and what did I miss as far as symptoms? She wasn't wheezing, no odd color scales. I use F10 for cleaning cages and clean them at least once a week (unless they spill their water then if it get humid in the cages I clean them). I usually wait for at least 30 seconds for the F10 to clean before I wipe the cages down. I am trying to wrack my brain to figure out what I might be doing wrong.

It has been 2 years since I lost my albino girl and to this day it haunts me. I often wonder what I did wrong and when one of my snakes stop eating I freek a bit. I thought scale rot showed in a red belly. To me this girls belly was white. What did I miss? Any help is appreciated. Should I clean the cages differently or should I just throw them all out and get new cages?

[Physician&Snakes]

Here is the background. I have a beautiful ball. She got up to about 1000g and stopped eating. I didn't start worrying till she started loosing weight. She seemed to drop weight fast and got down to 800g. I took her to a friend and they said she was ok as she didn't look thin (she was a bit pudgy to start with). When she got down to 700g I asked another friend to look at her. They said she had scale rot (even to me her belly looked ok but I am no expert by a long shot) and he got her cleared up and eating again. My question is now that she is back should I feed her 2 mice at a time (she can hold 4 at a time) and let her get a bit hungry between feeding or should I feed her as much as she will eat at each feeding? I don't want her to stop eating again.

Also they said she had a bad case of scale rot. Can someone explain this to me? How does a snake get it and what did I miss as far as symptoms? She wasn't wheezing, no odd color scales. I use F10 for cleaning cages and clean them at least once a week (unless they spill their water then if it get humid in the cages I clean them). I usually wait for at least 30 seconds for the F10 to clean before I wipe the cages down. I am trying to wrack my brain to figure out what I might be doing wrong.

It has been 2 years since I lost my albino girl and to this day it haunts me. I often wonder what I did wrong and when one of my snakes stop eating I freek a bit. I thought scale rot showed in a red belly. To me this girls belly was white. What did I miss? Any help is appreciated. Should I clean the cages differently or should I just throw them all out and get new cages?

Scale rot or "blister disease" as it is called as well, is usually caused by too much moisture in the environment. These condition cause thinly walled fluid packed vesicles to expand. This excess fluid is a breeding ground for bacteria and if untreated everything goes down hill from there. One thing you can do to prevent this is by keeping humidity in the correct levels and using a substrate like cypress that has a natural pH to it and will help keep the bad bacteria out. Mader has a very detailed discussion on reptilian dermatology in his book Reptile Medicine & Surgery, I actually flipped through my copy before posting just to be safe.

[Physician&Snakes]

Also, most ball pythons are satisfied with one appropriately sized prey instead of multiple smaller ones. If she is currently eating two adult mice then she is ready for a small/medium rat every 7-14 days. Ball pythons are very likely to go off feeding for a few months during the seasonal breeding cycle, there is no need for concern if you experience this.

[satomi325]

Scale rot is rather noticeable. Do you have pictures? Too much moisture can cause it.

And it's rather common for a ball python to go off feed at 1000 grams. It's called 'hitting the wall'. And if it isn't husbandry related, this is most likely the cause. Not to mention its currently the start of the breeding season, where many adults will go off feed.
All you can do is offer food as normal and wait it out. It could take weeks or even months for her to want to eat again.

[akaangela]

Thank you all. I unfortunately don't have any photos. She regurgitated one of her mice . I also found a few mites on her. I have some PAM on hand (hopefully it is good it is kinda old). I have a cage being treated right now and will put her in it in a few hours when it is dry. I am worried about her but right now I figure there is nothing I can do but take it slow and wait. Thank you for the info about them hitting a wall. I think what I will do is wait a week then offer her one mouse then when she keeps that down offer her another. Maybe try and feed her every 4 or 5 days. I guess all I can do is wait and hope cross my fingers. Say a quick prayer for her for me. Thanks.

[Naom9Anne]

Just a little bit of personal experience. My little pastel had mites (hoping they've gone as I had a thorough examination of her and I've treated the enclosure twice) and this made her go off food as they can cause stress. I know that this isn't why she stopped eating for you in the beginning but just so you know (if you didn't already) that they can become agitated and go off food during the time they have them

I think the wait after regurgitation is 2 weeks to allow the stomach acid to calm back down so as not to risk another regurg(?) Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong anyone.

[Physician&Snakes]

Make sure you have Reptile Spray by Natural Chemistry to spray the snake directly. If you have other specimens then go ahead and spray them as well for the sake of prevention.

[NYHC4LIFE8899]

Why does an adult BP go off feed for breeding.?

[NYHC4LIFE8899]

I've got my first snakes and one of the first things I bought was a bottle of provent a mite and a bottle of reptile spray by NC, just to have on hand incase...

Make sure you have Reptile Spray by Natural Chemistry to spray the snake directly. If you have other specimens then go ahead and spray them as well for the sake of prevention.

[Bugmom]

I think the wait after regurgitation is 2 weeks to allow the stomach acid to calm back down so as not to risk another regurg(?) Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong anyone.

I believe it's wait two weeks then offer a feeder smaller than you'd normally provide; about 30% the size. If that's kept down, increase the feeder size each week over several weeks until back up to the usual size.

Snakes lose a lot of stomach acid when they regurgitate so small meals with plenty of time to digest is very important. Unlike mammals, their stomach acid doesn't build back up quickly. Feeding too much too soon will result in another regurg, and even more stomach acid loss.

Sent from the land of autocorrect