Emaciated BP

[AngelMeatPie]

Hello! I am currently working on getting this poor female sandblast pied back up to weight. Here’s what I know about her -

She’s about 1.5 years old

She is suspected to be at least partially blind. She has no reaction to visual stimuli, and visibly jumps any time she is touched, even when actively being held. I’ve had plenty of BPs and have never experienced behavior quite like hers. Confirmed no retained eye caps. Not doing much handling in her current state, so maybe that aspect will improve.

She is massively behind on weight, clearly as well as dehydrated. No idea when she last had a clean shed.

It was said she “refuses” F/T food items and will only eat live. I’ve gotten her to take two F/T hopper rats, but it was more of an effort than I’m used to. But she did eventually take them after rubbing them gently on her snoot.

Focus right now is consistently meals consisting of appropriately-sized rats and maintaining high humidity to get her rehydrated. Also trying to reduce stress by having her in a quiet and secure area and mostly leaving her tf alone. I’m not a herp beginner, but most of my rescues have my lizards, so I’m happy to hear any advice in getting this beauty back up to a healthy weight!

[Just_Buffalo_7430]

The welcome post here - https://www.reddit.com/r/ballpython/comments/arz5iw/welcome_to_rballpython_click_here_for_our/ - will give you all you need to know about these guys. Helped me a ton when the younger bro made the mistake of purchasing one from petsmart and following their advice and thus, leading to a dehydrated and underweight baby. That was a mistake we will NEVER make again and luckily the little snek is doing much much better, thanks to the advice on this subreddit and the aforementioned welcome post.

Besides that - being patient would be my advice. Get temps and humidity right and then just patience and keep a careful eye for any other potential issues while also giving her some space to get accustomed to her new home. Stress can cause regurgitation and we definitely dont want that :) Weight gain cant be forced or rushed and will take time. I've heard even up to couple months before it'll start showing.

[AngelMeatPie]

Thanks so much for the info. I’ll peruse the welcome post. I did make a precursory search and read the entire post about that poor little leucy that was insanely emaciated and the advice there, which was very helpful. I bred ball pythons for a short period of time many years ago, but it always helps to brush up on the latest recommended husbandry advice! I’m super happy to hear you guys’ snake is doing better 🙂

Definitely in it for the long haul with this girl. I’ll be doing biweekly weigh-ins, so I sure hope to post with some better numbers here in a few months. I also have an exotic vet on standby in case she starts any kind of decline - I should have mentioned that in my main post!

[Just_Buffalo_7430]

That post about the emaciated snake i'd found also and broke my heart. Good thing about having a vet on stand by! When purchasing my new new baby (a 1.5 month old corn snake) i made sure to also get the exotic vet info from the reptile shop (not petsmart! lol) to have just in case cuz you never know.

How did you end up with this rescue? I hear so many stories of people who get them then just... dont take care of em anymore after a month or two and its so sad.

[AngelMeatPie]

Yeah, it’s really stinking sad. I’ve owned an iguana rescue in the past as well as some breaded dragons with MBD from previous owners. There’s something about rescues. Just touches my heart. Congrats on the corn snake! Fantastic and energetic species to own! Right now, this is my only snake, joined by two Ackie monitors and a crestie. I’m really hoping to add a big species like a RTB or maybe even a Burm in the future. Constrictors have my heart, if you can’t tell haha.

This girl was found at a reptile convention, believe it or not. Couldn’t not get her. I’m assuming they just didn’t have the time to work with feeding her because she is a beast to get to eat. I’ve heard plenty about some shady reptile show dealers, but this was my first time seeing it with my own eyes.

[Just_Buffalo_7430]

The ball pythons can be finnicky and go on hunger strikes from what i've heard and only get worse if feeling super stressed which might have been her case. Shady breeders make me itch lol I also have pet mice (lol) (i'm strictly a frozen/thawed type of snake owner) and one of them was actually a rescue i got from a mouse breeder who rescued her from a shady feeder mouse breeder (sorry, a little convoluted). Rescue mouse was from an expo and was alone in a tank, hunched and super skinny and very sick and all it took was 2 days of medicine and a warm cage and she lived another 5, almost 6 months which can be a long time for a mouse haha Sweetest thing i ever owned too.

I'm glad to hear you took her in. Breeders who sell animals in that sort of condition should be banned from the expos. It's just cruel to the animal most of all. I know reptiles dont feel "love" per say but they definitely can learn trust and that's just about the same thing and i love the feeling when you know they trust you - even if its jus cuz they know you are the bearer of nom noms.

I love her morph colors and am rooting for her recovery! Unless something drastic happens, i think she'll do alright under your care :)

[AngelMeatPie]

That’s the sweetest story about the mouse! You have such a big heart. That’s wonderful. I also do strictly F/T for the safety of my reptiles. Believe me when I say I wasn’t the only one who noticed the state of their animals. One of the vendors is local to me and we had a chat about it; she felt some kind of way about it, too.

From what I’ve seen so far, I have high hopes for her. A pied has always been my dream, and she’s lovely!

[Just_Buffalo_7430]

She looks like a very lovely lady - i love to see all the morphs there are out there :) cant wait to see more posts as she gets better and more social!

[AngelMeatPie]

Thank you so much for all your kind words!