Ball python losing weight

[Archimedes]

Mice hoppers and rat fuzzies don't put up much of a fight, but be ready with a pencil or a pair of feeding tongs to stick in the feeder's mouth if it tries to bite. You can feed in the enclosure, if you're uncomfortable with substrate ingestion put down a paper towel or paper plate.

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[jaded]

If you haven't even tried f/t, I don't see the point in starting with live prey. If I understood correctly, you don't know much about his history, so you don't know the actual reason for his conditition either.

Believe it or not, it is possible to feed most of the ball pythons with just f/t. Even the ones that have always eaten just live, even the ones that are in very poor condition for some reason. I believe that the live prey is hardly ever a necessity. Of course it is "the easy way out" of the bad situation, but in my opinion, not the best.

Just saying

[h20hunter]

To heck with any debate about f/t vs. live. I'd get whatever you can that he will eat. Snake is crazy thin and I would assume in danger of dying. Feeding in his enclosure may help with stress levels. Just feed him.

[kylearmbar]

Oh my, yes get him a smaller than normal live mouse to get him eating. Start off the first couple weeks with once a week, then try going on a five day schedule of 20% of the animals body weight. Just go slow at first, just like a starving human, to much food to quickly can do more harm than good.

[200xth]

If you haven't even tried f/t, I don't see the point in starting with live prey. If I understood correctly, you don't know much about his history, so you don't know the actual reason for his conditition either.

Believe it or not, it is possible to feed most of the ball pythons with just f/t. Even the ones that have always eaten just live, even the ones that are in very poor condition for some reason. I believe that the live prey is hardly ever a necessity. Of course it is "the easy way out" of the bad situation, but in my opinion, not the best.

Just saying

The "easy way out" is to feed an animal what it's programmed by millions of years of evolution to eat?

Odd.

That seems bizarre.

Just saying

[FireStorm]

If he has deteriorated that much in 7 days, there is something else going on other than needing to eat. A BP shouldn't lose much, if any, weight in that time period. I would suspect that he is dehydrated at a minimum.

[FireStorm]

Also, it looks like LLL Reptiles has replied to your other thread and is trying to get in touch with you. I'm sure if you call them they will be able to give you lots of help getting this guy settled in.

[satomi325]

Good luck with your snake.
I also agree with trying a live hopper mouse. If he hasn't eaten with you and he's that skinny, you want the best chances in him actually eating. So that's why we suggest feeding live and in the enclosure. Live always gives you the best chance at jump starting a feed response. Then once he's gets to a better body condition and a more consistent eater, you can try to convert to F/T.

[patientz3ro]

Forget F/T right now. Get him on LIVE hopper mice or rat fuzzies right now. You can try to make the switch later, but right now he needs to eat.

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I don't think I've ever seen a snake that malnourished. I STRONGLY suggest a vet visit in the VERY near future! No, scratch that... I'm BEGGING you. PLEASE take that little one to the vet!

No he didn't look this bad when he arrived. He was a little thin but nothing this noticeable :/

I'm not going to lie, I'm REALLY shocked by this coming from LLL Reptile and getting this bad in a week and change. I've seen one other LLL animal that was in bad shape, and that one was TOTALLY due to the kid that owned it. I'm NOT saying this is YOUR fault, so please don't take offense. In fact, I have quite a bit of respect for the way you're approaching this. LLL is my local shop, and I honestly go there for EVERYTHING. I've seen nothing but quality from them. I'd reach out to them here on the boards and see what Jenn suggests.

I'm getting the feeling that this snake was pretty sick when you got it, but I could be WAY off. If it was sick, I'm 100% sure LLL didn't have any idea.


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[jaded]

There is a big difference between animals in the nature and our pet snakes. I hope everybody understands that.

There is no reason to feed live. No reason to put snake at risk. You wouldn't strangle your snake to death, no reason to do it to the prey either.
But maybe this is not the place for this discussion.

Maybe OP's snake has been on f/t all his life. Maybe the previous owner just neclegted his care. Nobody knows. It's plain stupid to start with live when it may very well take f/t. If it simply wont accept f/t, then by all means give it a live one.

To give you a little perspective, here is Hope's story: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...nourished-ball
I got tons of good advice with Hope, maybe there is something useful for you too