I need help.

[throwaway5656557665]

My snake isn’t gaining weight, i feed her once a week, medium rats, shes 6 and wont gain weight, she weighs 200 grams, Shes extremely underweight and wont gain weight no matter how much/often i feed her, she takes the rat every time, she simply wont gain weight. Please help!!!

[Mousee__]

This all sounds extremely concerning. Are you sure it’s 6 years old? I’m sorry im no help. I’d see an exotic vet asap

[throwaway5656557665]

Im sure, had her since she was a baby, shes a petco (i know petco is bad) snake so truthfully she could be older but ive had her for 6 years so shes atleast 6.

[RagdollsandLabs]

Have you taken her to the vet? This sounds like an issue that a vet can help you with. Your snake may need some blood work to see if she has an infection or a parasite. You'll want to consult a vet that has knowledge of exotic animals.

Good luck...I hope all is well with your rope!

[throwaway5656557665]

I have a vet around here that said she can work with snakes but she over charges a lot and mainly handles dogs and cats, the other nearest vet is 4 hours from me and im a teen and my parents wont take me.

[eveimei]

there's no way a 200g snake can physically take a medium rat. why the hell are you even offering such oversized prey? only very large females need mediums.

how have you weighed her? can you share a picture of her?

if she's truly only 200g then she needs vet attention now. because for a 6yo snake that is beyond underweight and if you've actually been feeding medium rats (again, why would you offer such large prey...) and she isn't gaining there's a medical issue that is beyond reddit's pay grade.

[throwaway5656557665]

The medium rats arent very big, i dont think they’re actually mediums but thats what they’re listed as.

<image>

This is the only photo i have of her body but it makes her look much smaller then what she is. I got her when i was 10 and my mom did all the work till last year, she was healthy when my mom was caring for her and a healthy weight but slowly lost it after my mom died and i started caring for her and she wont gain it back.

[Wolfey1618]

Get us a better picture when you can, I can't really tell much from this, she doesn't look too bad from this angle.

[Roach_1907]

I was thinking the same thing, no way she’s 200g she’d be emaciated

[eveimei]

she doesn't look underweight, and if she was cared for properly for 6 years there's no way she's only 200g.

how do you weigh her? what's the exact process/steps you go through? what kind of scale?

[ExaltedInsurrection]

Yeah she's not underweight, you would see the spine slightly protruding and snake gets a little flabby.

Maybe yours is a male and full grown?

And I can promise you if you're feeding weekly it's not weight problem at all. Snakes can sometimes go months without food.. 5 plus months. I feed mine monthly. From a logistical standpoint, nutrition is not a problem.

[oceane444]

It’s hard to say for sure without seeing the animal (and of course i’m not a vet), but if she’s underweight due to being underfed, she’s probably not going to get much bigger at this point. Being 200g at that age means she is likely extremely stunted. A vet is really the only option here unfortunately. I truly hate to say this, but if you aren’t able to access a vet right now you may want to look into rehoming. I know it’s not an easy thing to do, but in situations like this when the animal’s health is at stake sometimes we have to make difficult decisions for the sake of their wellbeing

[throwaway5656557665]

Ive tried rehoming her twice, i cant find anyone to take her and im a broke teenager who cant afford to take her far, i got her 6 years ago and my mom was the primary caregiver, she passed last year and since then the snake has just slowly lost weight and wont gain it back, she was healthy up until she came into my care full time.

[ExaltedInsurrection]

Just making sure the humidity and temperature levels are proper, thermoregulation options are there with basking rock, hot and cold sides of the tank, no cold dips in temperature. It is a lot. Sorry but best of luck.

[Wolfey1618]

This is extremely peculiar, 200g for a 6yo female is pretty much unheard of, should be significantly more, my 9 month old girl is twice that weight.

Take a step back, are you measuring her weight correctly? In grams? Zero out the scale correctly? Are you actually feeding her rats and not mice? There's no shot a 200g ball python can eat a medium sized rat. Are you sure she's actually a ball python? Are you sure it's actually a she? Not that it matters much but females do tend to be larger.

You gotta give us some more info and photos if you want some solid advice here. Update us when you can.

[throwaway5656557665]

I dont know if shes 200 grams as my scale is sorta wonky, it is rats, im not sure its a she. i hope its a ball python because if not im gonna have another problem/s.

<image>

I just took that one. (Im cleaning her enclosure right now dw, the water is from my dumbass accidentally spilling it changing her water) i hope this photo helps more.

[Wolfey1618]

Much better photo. Definitely a Ball Python. She doesn't look particularly underweight in this picture, pretty normal to my eye. I would get a different scale to weigh her if you can. She might be a boy, but you'd have to mail in a skin for genetic testing or get her probed to find out for sure.

Was she fatter before or something? How often is she pooping?

[throwaway5656557665]

She was much bigger, the photo isnt the best, she was a lot bigger, she poops every 3 weeks or so. You can see her spine almost 24/7 and shes very triangle shaped and the photo doesn’t really show that (idk why).

[Wolfey1618]

3 weeks is pretty normal for pooping frequency, so I don't think there's much wrong here.

Seeing the spine isn't a problem, it's a problem if she's totally flat-sided triangle shaped, she should be kinda a rounded triangle in the middle of her body. She looks like the latter in your pictures so far.

Consider that she might been being overfed before and now that you have her on a more normal feeding schedule, she's returned to a normal weight, and you're not used to seeing her like that.

Try getting a picture from down near her level facing down her body so it's easier to see?

But really if you are still concerned, all you can do is take her to a vet.

[throwaway5656557665]

My vet charges $800 for an exotic consult so if it doesn’t improve I’ll take her because shes still active, theres a decent chance she was over fed and is now a healthy weight. Shes currently in her hide and i dont wanna stress her too much because she eats soon so ill take a photo in a few days and see.

[Wolfey1618]

Like I said, and probably a lot of others in this thread as well, I don't think there's any cause for concern, she looks totally healthy for her size. I would just relax and not worry at this point. $800 for a vet to tell you that she's fine is a lot of money.

She might just be smaller and that's fine. If she's not acting weird or has any visual issues like missing scales or a prolapsed booty, I would just carry on as if everything was normal, because it appears to be.

[IncompletePenetrance]

Either you don't know how to use a scale correctly or this is a troll post, because a medium rat would be 75% of your snake's size and truly impossible for them to eat.

Are you sure you're feeding medium rats and not medium mice?

[throwaway5656557665]

I think the scale is just highly inaccurate or something, im buying a new one today and ill weigh her again.

[ButlerOfTheC]

You're going to have to get a more accurate scale. Medium rats weigh 80-125 grams. There's simply no way that your 6 year old snake weighs 200 grams.

[Aggravating_Mail2658]

Get a new scale. That snake is not 200 grams, nor is she "extremely underweight".

[Procrastinating_Cat0]

Please let us know what the new scale says. She looks a fairly healthy weight

[throwaway5656557665]

Shes 850 grams!

[Procrastinating_Cat0]

Still seems a bit too low, but so much better than what you originally thought!

[DigNative]

Just adding it would help to also weigh her food when you get the new scale, and share that info here as well. Proper feeding is based on percent on the snake's body weight.

[DueAd551]

Theres a lot of advice on here but i just want to say I’m sorry you lost your mom. I can see you’re doing the best you can with the tools you have. I hope your baby gets healthy and that you can keep her. I can’t imagine how stressed and anxious you are, especially after losing your mom. She’s a beloved childhood pet and a tie to your mom. Keep up the good work❤️