Please Please Please Help Me

[stitch18jr]

I have 2 bp's. one female, one male, both from the same breeder but different hatchlings, so they are not siblings. The female has been great since day 1. She eats, sheds, soaks, does it all. The male however is starting to wear on my nerves. He has never eaten on his own since he has been with me (altho the breeder said both were eating hoppers at time of purchase) I purchased them in June 08. He did not eat, did not shed but maintained his weight. Then in October he started losing weight, and getting folds like he has too much skin for his body. A local pet store owner/breeder taught me how to force feed him and said a few times should get him eating on his own. It is now February and I still have to force feed him. Since June he has shed only once at the end of november and not completely, he still has not shed his head. I was getting excited because I thought we were finally getting on the right track, but he is losing weight again and now has some kind of rash/burn/scale rot? From the pictures I've seen of scale rot, i really don't think it is that, but I have no idea. Unfortunately I have been out of work for 4 months and can not afford the vet by me, because it is $70 just to walk in the door, not counting treatment, medicine or any other expenses and I just don't have that money at the moment. I have some pictures but I don't know how to include them in the post. Sorry for the long post. but please any ideas, advice, please help.

[rabernet]

Quick question - are they housed individually, or together?

[mooingtricycle]

Tell us about your husbandry.

What are they kept in?
are they housed together?
What are their temperatures?
Do they have a thermal gradient?
How many Hides do they have?
Whats the humidity in their environment usually at?


Next.

What have you tried feeding?
Have you tried other methods/prey items than the previous?
have you had a fecal exam done to rule out parasites?

[roosterman2173]

Are there any members near you? Where are you located? What are your temps,humidity,and ect.

[stitch18jr]

Ok to answer all questions.

They are both housed together in a 40 gal Tank. They have a black small hidebox as well a big cave. They have a tree to climb and a large waterdish. Right now they have a paper towel lining, because after bringing him to the pet store to get force fed I had a problem with mites. They have a flouresant light, suramic heat lamp, and one of those heat pads on the side (which is only plugged in if it gets very cold) Their tank stays at about 78-82 degrees with the seramic lamp. I change their water ever 2 days and clean their tank once a week to try to keep the mites away. The humidity stays between 25-45 depending on the heat. I unplug the heat when the female sheds to help her have a higher humidity. I have tried pinkies, hoppers and put the male is a paper bag to try to get him to eat but he shows absolutely no interest. I do seperate them to feed, they both have their own 10 gal feeding tank. No to the fecal exam, but after force feeding he does poop and I have not seen anything wrong with it.

I live in the Cherry Hill area of New Jersey.


i just put pics up on myspace:

this is how big they were when I first purchased them:
[img] http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=53910788 [/img]

this is their size now:
[img] http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=53910798 [/img]

[JeffJ]

Ok to answer all questions.

They are both housed together in a 40 gal Tank. They have a black small hidebox as well a big cave. They have a tree to climb and a large waterdish. Right now they have a paper towel lining, because after bringing him to the pet store to get force fed I had a problem with mites. They have a flouresant light, suramic heat lamp, and one of those heat pads on the side (which is only plugged in if it gets very cold) Their tank stays at about 78-82 degrees with the seramic lamp. I change their water ever 2 days and clean their tank once a week to try to keep the mites away. The humidity stays between 25-45 depending on the heat. I unplug the heat when the female sheds to help her have a higher humidity. I have tried pinkies, hoppers and put the male is a paper bag to try to get him to eat but he shows absolutely no interest. I do seperate them to feed, they both have their own 10 gal feeding tank. No to the fecal exam, but after force feeding he does poop and I have not seen anything wrong with it.


I live in the Cherry Hill area of New Jersey.


i just put pics up on myspace:

this is how big they were when I first purchased them:
[img] http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=53910788 [/img]

this is their size now:
[img] http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=53910798 [/img]

house them separately and see if the male starts to eat, some times they are so stressed from cohabitation that one or both will stop eating. no eating situations are caused by bad temps/humidity or stress. if your temps are good i would say the male is stressed.

surface temperatures should be 90-94*F on the hot side and no lower then 80*F on the cold side. ambiant air temp should be around 80 as well. how are you measuring your temps and the heat pad should stay plugged in and regulated to the corresponding temps if its the hot or cold side. it sounds like temperature could be a factor as well. living in jersey it gets cold in the winter does it not. im further north then you and i would surly have a stubborn feeding BP if i unplugged my UTH.

[stitch18jr]

more pics:

this is the males tail, where the rash is, it doesnt look like filled scales, it looks like they are coming off:

[img] http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=53910804 [/img]

[img] http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=53910776 [/img]

[JeffJ]

more pics:

this is the males tail, where the rash is, it doesnt look like filled scales, it looks like they are coming off:

[img] http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=53910804 [/img]

[img] http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=53910776 [/img]

try posting pictures on tinypic.com, as i dont have my space. but the tail rash could be from a retained tail tip shed.

id have to see to say for sure though bu i have seen it 100 times in the large corporate pet stores. every time i visit them i tend to look at there snakes and complain about the poor up keeping they practice. and how over priced they are for such poorly maintained animals.

[stitch18jr]

ok hope this will work with pictures:


i did not purchase the snakes from a pet shop, but i did from a breeder at a reptile show:

this is the male's tail:: in the 2nd pic please notice the weird spot of discoloration, looks like scales were almost peeled off





this is the size when purchased:


and their size comparison now::

[JeffJ]

the male is stressed, for sure. i would be with a tail like that. that kind of looks liek a burn. is that some form of antiseptic cream on it or is that skin? looks liek its rather irritated could be part of a retained shed as well. i would boost humidity to 70-80% and treat it with some polyspourn. if it does not start to look better in 3-5 days i would get to a vet asap. 3 common options are, a burn, scale rot or retained shed that is causing irritation.

does it look like some shed has stayed behind? if thats not some form of cream treatment you have applied id say most deafinitly yes. its usually not an issue unless the retained shed is all the way around and not just on the back. and tails can be problematic for retaining them and forming irritations due to the fact.