What do I do with this poor baby?

[Kcl]

"active and alert" along with "better" are not words i'd use together to describe a ball python. an active beep is usually stressed.

I read active and alert as "more responsive" in this context vs responding to stimuli sluggishly, displaying lethargy, so it may well be better. Depends on which way the poster means it.

OP- if you can provide a picture of the snake, it would greatly assist people in knowing the best course of action. A good picture will allow people to assess the body condition of the snake. I

f the body condition isn't too bad, you should back way off on the intervention, make sure everything is up to par, and just let him de-stress. If it's critical, more drastic intervention can be discussed then. You can also use the same simple skin tenting test as is used for humans to check if there is critical levels of dehydration present - it's useful for most animals. Dented eyecaps can also be seen when snakes are dehydrated - looks like the picture below - although this can be seen with relatively mild dehydration. If there's no signs of anything worse than mild dehydration, good humidity and a water bowl are sufficient for rehydration.




Most snake species, including this one, are very good with low resource conditions. This means that in cases of underfeeding and dehydration, unless the issue is severe, they're usually better off just being provided what they need and left to their own devices to fix the issues.