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Ball python rescue, looking pretty slim :(

doortech9

doortech9

Access Systems Technician
I went to a guys place to see some of his advertised snakes today and he had two ball pythons. They were sharing a tank, which was disgusting btw, a hide, and had a dezert heat pad just pugged into the wall. He said they were both yearlings. The healthier one of the pair looks alright, with little to no sagging skin, but the little sickly one could fill her own skin 3 times at least. She can barely hold her head up and is pretty lifeless, even the skin on her face is sagging. Supposedly she only eats live, which he can't get, so he's basically been starving her for 8 months. He wanted nothing to do with them anymore and was pretty much giving them away with setup. I couldn't leave them there with her dying like that so I took them. I have both setup seperately with proper substrate, heat, hides, water etc. And am looking for the best first step in rehabilitating her if possible. I'm accessing cornsnakes.com on my cell so searching this out is difficult and would like a professional/experienced piece of advice... Anything constructive is gratefully appreciated.

Josh
 
First if all there is a great ball python site you can go check out jsut google it as im.not sure im alliwed to say it here but its the name of the snake species you are talking about and and .net to it and second leave it b for a few days and feed smaller thannnormal meals for awhile can we get a pic
 
Wow, poor thing :( Jess was pretty flabby when I got her but not nearly as bad as the sounds of the one you just got! Even Jericho sounds much healthier then this one you speak of, and Jericho is just now starting to put on weight.

Hopefully you can bring her back to good health.
 
Make sure you quarantine, quarantine, quarantine!! I killed my first snake by bringing in a rescue and not following quarantine.
 
Agree with Ceduke. Assume that they are contaminated with everything. Mites, crypt the whole 9 yards.

I'd get them both some humid hides and a ton of regular hides for security. Keep them on paper towels for a while to make sure they do not have mites. You may need to offer very small, non-threatening juvenile mice or even rat pinks, which are fatty and could be helpful in getting her weight up. Offer them live to the smallest one for quite some time. It may take months before she is strong enough to try switching to f/t. In our experience, sooner or later they do switch.
 
I would re hydrate the snake using isotonic power-aide sports drinks...
Dilute it by adding 25% by volume water and let the snake soak in it for 20mins...
 
Well upon a further inspection this morning i found what seems to be 5 or so eggs, with one right at the vent.... :( Damn people with their cohabbing drives me crazy! I will try and rehydrate her with powerade as you mentioned mike and provide her with a laying box but i doubt she has the strength to push them out seeing as she can hardly lift her head. A little more info on her, she is roughly 12" long and the size of a quarter at her widest. Is there anything i can do to assist the passing of eggs or is that the least of the concern at the moment?
 
Well based on what I've read I've decided I'm going to tube feed her, seeing as I can't find live mice and she seems to be deteriorating rapidly. I'm nervous as I've never done it before but I'm willing to do anything to get her healthy again. I've read up on tubefeeding and stuck eggs but I'll take any advice on those subjects that I can as some faq's on the subject can be vague. How do you know when its too late for her to lay the eggs? I know I'm asking a lot but I'm just trying so hard to help her and its frustrating watching her suffer.
 
I highly doubt you're feeling eggs in a snake that small and young.. More likely backed up fecal matter, which frequent, lukewarm soaks will help with...

Other than that, I have no advice for you (except agreeing, big time, with the QUARANTINE!!! comments). Good luck!!!
 
At first I thought the same but they seem to all be too uniformly sized, shaped and smooth to be feces. I have limited access to a computer but I'll upload a few shots of her now and as we progress with her recovery. Thank you for the advice, I've been soaking her in water and powerade in attempt to rehydrate her and will continue to do so. She has been seperated and will not share any snake items with anyone else, the only one she has had contact with is her previous cagemate, who I can happily say ate his first meal with me today *Relief!* I'm going to give her some rest now and hope for the best.

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk164/doortech9/bp.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk164/doortech9/bp2.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk164/doortech9/bp3.jpg
 
Wow. I cant believe people would treat their snakes like that.
Keep her soaked and warm temps. As for the eggs, it is possible since they were cohabbed. If it is backed up fecal matter do soaks in warm water a few times a day and that will help it loosen up.
 
I am sad to say I found my girl dead this morning. She will join the rest of my families past animals in the burial ground out at my folks' farm. Thank you to everyone who posted advice and good luck.
 
Ball Pythons at pet store:

I just want to say that none of the cage stuff is right... they have no heating pad, one hide, and only use the heat lights. I have read that if the husbandry stuff is not right... it could have a lot to do with the eating issues. I feel bad for all the reptiles as they don't use any under tank heating pads and only small red and white heat lights. They only have one hide too.

We have to go with what the store says and what their vets recommend. I know this is wrong and it's making me angry. How can I sell stuff when we don't even do what is recommended in the first place? They have two corns housed together also. I may not be an expert, but I know the most out of everyone who works at the store. This is sad....

For corns, they recommend overhead heat lamps with a heat pad, but they don't even using an under tank heating pad. From what everyone on here has said this is wrong, corns don't need heat lamps. I don't use them at home. I have gotten so much info on this site and it makes me mad that these so called vets say that this is the proper way to house a corn. There is a difference between housing a corn and a bp as different snakes have different housing requirements. I have to go with what their policy says at work, but this is making me really upset as I know that the snakes and reptiles aren't getting the proper housing that they require.

If it were me, I would take them all home, but I can't. I do want to get a bp, but I am having trouble with what this snake is doing.... The little one is fine and eats well, but the bigger one isn't. If I took her home, I would be afraid of having a snake with awful eating issues for her whole life. I just don't want to deal with that.... I don't know enough about bp to even attempt it. If I got one of the two, it would be the smaller one as I know she eats, but I have such a soft spot in my heart for this bigger one for some reason. I really like her, but it worries me about her not eating for that long and regurging a mouse that was so long in her stomach. Could it be that she couldn't digest it as she has not underbelly heat?
 
Depending on how big the bigger bp is, it might not be a big deal. Larger bp's do have at tendency to go on food strikes this time of year. We have a large female that went on one and shed then finally ate again. We are stillw aiting on our medium sized male. If you have any questions feel free to send me a message and I will do the best i can to answer.
 
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