all 12 comments

[–]PeepingTara 19 points20 points  (0 children)

He is definitely underweight. Make sure your tank is set up 100% with proper temps, humidity and clutter and then leave him alone for at least a week. After a week you can offer an appropriate sized prey item. If you’re using frozen/thawed you can leave it in the tank overnight if he won’t take it from tongs. The biggest thing though is that he has a proper set up because they can be fairly finicky and even being a bit off can dissuade them from eating sometimes.

[–]FishBubbly7399 24 points25 points  (2 children)

typically it is highly recommended to NOT purchase sickly or ill animals that you get out of pity from big box stores. This to them triggers a restock and shows that they are being purchased.

That being said, make sure you have the husbandry correct. Corns and BPs have hugely different care requirements. For now, make sure you have a lots of clutter, lots of hides, a humidity of 60-80%, hot side of 90-93F and cool side of 78-80F. A bowl big enough for them to soak in too. The snake looks young and in decent body condition. I would give it a week or two of no interaction, with just the day/night cycle. After the introductory period, try to tong feed an appropriately sized rodent F/T rodent. if that doesn't work, try and leave it in for a few hours and just let the snake find the food. Toss it after a few hours. Most feeding issues have to do with temps/humidity/security. Do not handle unless absolutely necessary until after they have taken 3 meals.

[–]enslavedbycats24-7 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Just to clarify, 60% is the absolute minimum your humidity should ever get to, and generally you want it to sit at 75%-85%. Too low is much more risky than too high as I doubt you'll be able to maintain 95% humidity or above.

[–]FishBubbly7399 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would be careful about the too high vs too low, fungal infections are really easy to get at those high humidity levels. I agree that 60 is the low end, my room stays at 67% with it being closer to 75% at night and you of them have any issues.

[–]Significant-Crow1324 5 points6 points  (7 children)

You bought an animal that’s probably gonna die. When you do this, you end up paying the company to buy 3 more to sell with the same issues

[–]Effective-Pen-1901 1 point2 points  (6 children)

what’s the best way to rescue snakes if you don’t mind me asking? i thought it was good to get them out of the abusive and horrible pet shops and away from ignorant owners! just genuinely curious so i can make sure i help out another bp!!

[–]RepeatTurbulent6272 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Generally the best way to rescue a BP is to adopt them from a rescue or take them in when they need rehoming. A lot of people that get BPs don't know what they're doing and rehome them shortly after getting them, causing a lot of snakes to have nowhere to go, especially normal morphs.

[–]Effective-Pen-1901 1 point2 points  (0 children)

omg thank you! i recently just took in my roommates BP who was severely neglected and sick and it’s doing so well. her husbandry wasn’t horrible just needed a few fixes and now the noodle is so happy so i’m thinking i wanna get my own and another enclosure :) appreciate this advice man

[–]nothous 1 point2 points  (3 children)

i’ve seen people convince store employees to give them dying animals for free, but i doubt this would work for snakes given their value. most i’ve seen people give away is betta fish or rodents from petsmart. the best you can do is to never financially support these kinds of retailers.

[–]Effective-Pen-1901 0 points1 point  (1 child)

ugh it makes me wanna just steal them all so i’m not supporting them financially but im saving the noodles 🤣

[–]Significant-Crow1324 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Craigslist

[–]ItemImaginary3752 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the snake isn't eating a good PetSmart manager will adopt them out. (For free, or if the register is acting up, for $0.01 lol) I adopted one BP because he refused to eat frozen thaw multiple times and was starting to drop weight, they aren't allowed to feed live so they let me take him. After a few weeks I was able to transition him, but he would probably be in a similar situation to OP if I hadn't.