Rescued Snake: Need some advice

[satomi325]

Hello everyone! Just joined the forum. I've always wanted a BP, and have helped take care of a few while volunteering at the zoo and for my own school's education program, and I just got one, though rather unexpectedly.

Hi! Welcome to the forum.
You came to the right place

History: It's estimated that she's ~3 years old. Her first owner was an idiot had her for a year and told the senior when she bought the snake that...I sincerely hope you're sitting down for this...snakes absorbed water through their scales and didn't need to be given water. WTF! It's a miracle she survived him.

Healthy ball pythons technically don't need water if they are fed regularly. They get most of their moisture from their prey and the environmental humidity. Water in a dish is a luxury of captive ball pythons. In the wild, they'll be holed up in burrows for the majority of the time and don't make trips down to the watering hole, if you get what I mean.

SO. I've got a poor little girl who is probably 1.5 feet max (I'm measuring and weighing her tomorrow), and according to my zoo's Asst. Education Director, is half the size she should be (she's not starving, but I think she is on the skinny size). She's got a gigantic patch of old shed stuck to her head and running 5 inches down her neck.
Now, I'm used to taking care of nice, healthy BPs. I'm not really sure how to rehab a scraggly one. Peaches is just big enough to take adult mice. Should I give her two per feeding to help her put on some weight and try and help her get to a more normal size? What do I do about this old shed? I know I'm supposed to soak her, but how do I go about doing that? How hot should that water be?

Any advice would be helpful. She's got such a sweet temperament despite all these stressful situations she's had (hence her name) and I would hate for that to change.

You can put her in a warm damp pillow case for an hour and let her slither through it. The movement should remove the left over shed. It's a lot less stressful than soaking her in water since ball pythons typically hate water. If you do soak her in water though, the water should be around 85 degrees. Not too hot, not too cold. If you can't get the shed off, it's ok. No big deal. As long as your humidity is up, she will shed it off during the next shed cycle.

Adult mice might be too small. I would put her on weaned rats or small rats once a week.

Can you post a picture of her? We can gauge her body condition if you'd like.