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New and seeking advice
Hi everyone.
I bought my daughter a 6 week old BP for her bday about 3 weeks ago. It looked healthy when we brought it home, but it hasn't eaten a thing yet. Despite having fresh water at all times, it has gotten dehydrated and had what I think was a prolapsed cloaca. I took it to the vet today, and he fixed that and said the snake is pretty skinny, at 48 grams. He also said he doesn't like the coloration on it's underside for some reason, and prescribed 2 weeks of antibiotics. I'm a little nervous about giving the snake shots every day, but I'm sure I'll manage that somehow.
The thing that really bothers me is that the vet gave me a tube and syringe and said I need to tube feed this snake twice a week until it will eat. I've been reading a LOT on the net since getting the snake, and most people seem to be strongly against this.
So my question is, what do you all think? Is the snake underweight enough to warrent tube feeding at this point, or should I keep trying mice? I've tried f/t fuzzies, live pinkies, live fuzzies, it doesn't want anything. It will kill the live ones but then won't eat them.
Sorry for writing a book on this, haha! If you made it this far, please, I welcome all advice.
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Re: New and seeking advice
Most often a non feeding bp's refusal for food can be traced back to insufficient heating or internal parasites. Did your vet perform a fecal float? (That would test for internal parasites) Can you describe your setup?
Christie
Reptile Geek
Cause when push comes to shove you taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up decide you've had enough
You get mad you get strong wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand
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Re: New and seeking advice
Yeah, he said no parasites.
I'm pretty sure that insufficient heat was the main problem. Since I've been reading this forum, I've made some changes to the setup so that the temps are now good. But I just made those changes yesterday, so I figure it will take the snake a while to get settled in again enough to eat. Plus now I'm going to have to give it a shot every day for 2 weeks, so it may take longer than that!
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Re: New and seeking advice
Oh sorry, forgot to describe the setup.
It's a 10 gallon glass tank with a screen top. Has a heating pad on bottom and a heat lamp on top. 2 hides, one on warm side, one on cool, water bowl, newspaper on bottom of tank, and a climbing tree. I know now he doesn't need the tree, but he does seem to like it. May have been to get closer to the heat lamp tho, as before we had a reptile sand as substrate, so I don't think much heat was coming up from the pad.
I also have not been misting the tank, I will start that today. I just need to go buy a misting bottle here in a bit. I really want to switch to a plastic tub, after reading all the good things about them, here. I may do that after all this business with the 2 weeks of shots. I think the poor little thing must be stressed out at this point, more changes may not be good!
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Re: New and seeking advice
What size enclosure do you have? The larger the cage the more likely you'll encounter problems. You want small tight hides, at least two of them. You don't want any 'open' area.
It sounds like the temps may have been your big problem, so hopefully you'll have a feeding bp soon.
Christie
Reptile Geek
Cause when push comes to shove you taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up decide you've had enough
You get mad you get strong wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand
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Re: New and seeking advice
Yeah, I will pick up a good thermometer today as well, all I have is a plastic strip.
His hides are small and tight, but they don't match. I'm thinking of getting 2 that do match as well.
Here is a pic of the setup when we first got him. I'm sure you can see the problems! It looks nothing like that now, I'll get some new pics when I get the new hides:

And here is a pic of the problem he had today. I think it was a prolapsed cloaca, but the vet didn't say for sure. Also, sorry it's blurry, this was done with my cell phone:
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Re: New and seeking advice
Ow...poor little guy! I'm glad you got that fixed. It's obvious you really care and are working hard to provide a good home for him.
I don't think I would resort to a feeding tube, although I must say I am no vet or anything. If I were in your shoes, I would finish the medicine and then give him a full week of not being messed with at all...a chance to finally settle into his new home without the trauma of vet visits and treatments. Then offer a small, live prey...something too young to risk injury so you can "leave them alone together" for awhile and not worry about it.
And I think, if I were going to make the switch to a plastic tub (SO much easier to maintain temps and humidity in!)...I would probably do it right near the end of his round of treatments...that way he doesn't associate the new tub with getting shots every day...and he will have that full week in it as his new acclimation period, which he would probably need whether he got a new home or not.
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Re: New and seeking advice
At 48 grams recovering from a probable prolapse and under going daily shots of anti-biotics for 2 weeks I would follow the vets instructions to the letter. If he/she advised you to tube feed the animal it is likely because your snake may be too weak to even eat on it's own at this time. Signs that can't be assessed over the internet such as a wobbling head, loose skin along he lower 1/3 of the body that is starting to separate from the muscle, etc. are things that a vet looks for in order to diagnose dangerously severe malnutrition which often requires tube feeding for extended periods of time.
If your snake is severely malnourished, you will likely have to tube feed until the animal is healthy enough to be able to try feeding on it's own.
Warnings on the internet to not tube feed should only be directed at animals that "should be" healthy enough to be able to eat on their own ... my fear is that your vet likely assessed that this animal is not.
Keep in constant contact with your vet and good luck, you've got a bumpy road ahead.
-adam
Click Below to Fight The National Python & Boa Ban


"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
- Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty
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Re: New and seeking advice
Thank you, Adam. I was hoping you would see this one and chime in. Sarah, I would listen to Adam's advice on this way before my own.
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Re: New and seeking advice
Thanks, guys! That is exactly what I was wanting to know. The vet did spend a lot of time checking out the snake's skin, so I'm glad to know that I found a good vet.
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Re: New and seeking advice
awww...that poor lil guy! .....here's to a speedy recovery and weight gain, and evntually eating on his own...best of luck to you and your lil guy.
ALL THAT SLITHERS - Ball Python aficionado/keeper
breeder of African soft fur Rats. Keeper of other small exotic mammals.
10 sugar gliders
2 tenrecs
5 jumping spiders
paludarium with fish
Brisingr the albino
Snowy the BEL
Piglet the albino conda hognose
FINALLY got my BEL,no longer breeding snakes. married to mechnut450..
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Re: New and seeking advice
Thanks for the well wishes 
I definitely plan on taking good care of this little critter. I've always thought snakes are cute, but was never really interested in having one. Then the minute we got this one home, I just fell in love. I can't believe we've never had one before, now. Seems crazy not to!
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BPnet Veteran
Re: New and seeking advice
I hope he comes around, good luck.
Neil
Bunch of BP's
0.1 3 Toed Box Turtles (Thunderball)
2.1 Labradoodles (Duke, Vinnie, Sophie)
0.1 Awsome Wife - 1.2 Awesome Kids
www.sunsetpythons.com
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Re: New and seeking advice
Good luck hang in there , I'd listen to Adam the vet know's what he's doing.I also had a small girl that was real skinny then she started eating and went from 34grams to 75 in one month.Her skin was also a little loose , I got her on mouse fuzzy's and now she's on rat pink's.
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Re: New and seeking advice
That gives me a lot of hope!
I did tube feed him today, and that actually went really well. Giving the antibiotic shot was traumatic for us both, though.
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Re: New and seeking advice
Congrats on the forward progress. Keep up the good work, and I'm sure your liitle buddy will turn around.
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Re: New and seeking advice
I hope you're right, Tim!
I feel like I caught some kind of fever or something. Can't get enough of reading the forums and looking at snakes now.
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Re: New and seeking advice
Congrats on the successful tube feeding; glad to see that went well
I have a few suggestions on your setup, though you may just want to wait until treatment has stopped to change things too drastically. I would go with a substrate such as newspaper or blank paper towels, just so that you can be sure your snake doesn't have mites or ticks. I had one snake who seemed mite-free, then in a few months.. mites. These substrates will give the potential buggers no place to hide, so you acn't miss them. Also, sand can possibly get caught in the snake's heat pits in the face which is not a good thing; and I would dare to say it may contribute to his dehydration, as it is a drying agent.
I am glad you're here to get knowledge Wecome to the forum, by the way; this is the most helpful place (in my humble opinion) on the Net.
-Jen. Back in the hobby after a hiatus!
Ball pythons:
0.1 normal; 1.1 albino. 1.0 pied; 0.1 het pied; 1.0 banana.
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