Tips for nursing a very under weight poorly cared for BP back to health?

[melcvt00]

Awesome!!!

[voodoolamb]

Update:

This little guy has shed for me (it was in pieces but he got it all off on his own), pooped for me twice, and best of all - hasn't missed a meal yet!!! He pounds the mice away. Can't wait till I can get him on rats.

He's starting to fill in. His color is nice. He's even a bit feisty. Tagged me while changing his water dish.

I did take him to the vet, he had a pretty decent internal parasite load which has been treated. My vet was livid he was so underweight! She estimates he is less than a third of where he should be based on his length and skin looseness.

He just ate last night so I don't want to bug him but I will get more pics soon.

[Warren_Booth]

Fantastic news. With any underweight snake, the important thing to do is not overfeed it, hoping to gain weight fast. Feed as you do your other snakes (so with a ball python that size, every 10 days is fine). It will gain weight in time. Good luck.

Warren

[melcvt00]

I would send off another poop sample in another couple months before considering him clear. With a heavy load, it can take more than one deworming to get rid of all the parasites due to life cycles.

[cletus]

Awesome! Sounds like he is back on track!

[voodoolamb]

Lookin' good!

I would have gotten a weight but he tagged me right before I took this photo. Forgot that I had cleaned the rat cages earlier today. This boy hasn't missed a meal yet. He will eat anything I put in front of him!

[cchardwick]

I got a normal ball python for free on Craig's list and the guy was feeding him a fuzzy mouse once a month. The snake was over a year old and looked like he was just barely larger than a hatchling, I couldn't believe it. When I first got him he ate three adult mice in one sitting LOL. I've been feeding every 3-7 days and he has been my fastest growing snake, apparently than can grow super fast to catch up with their age. He is pounding medium rats now! It's been about nine months since I got him and he went from hatchling size to 1,520 grams! Not sure if it's a male or female, but if it's a female it's actually big enough to breed, although I don't have breeding plans at the moment. Here's a few photos, in the last photo he is in a ARS-70 series tub. It's very rewarding to take in a sickly snake and nurse it to health and have it absolutely thrive!!

[voodoolamb]

He isn't "empty" but he is currently sitting at 441g.

[Ana Maria]

Please keep updating us on his progress!

[Albert Clark]

Great job!