Hi there,

Perhaps against my better judgement (remains to be seen), I decided to rescue a ball python that has been underfed for months. It's acclimated to this enclosure I have it in (fresh aspen bedding, bowl of water, screen top).

The snake has gone through at least 2 sheds I THINK before I received it yesterday.

In any event, while pretty sluggish because it hasn't been fed, the positive news is that it aggressively went after and ate 3 young adult mice.

However, after the first mouse I noticed an area of raw pink tissue under the scales. I thought perhaps because it had dry skin on it perhaps it had excessively rubbed its body against a particulary piece of wood. SO I have removed all the grapevine.

Alternatively, I wondered if because the snake was so malnourished if the scales just broke away, that is maybe the skin is losing it's structural integrity? I really don't know, I have never cared for a snake in this shape before.

I have not seen any other areas on the snakes body that have exposed pink tissue.

I would appreciate any suggestions with this guy only because I am a bit optimistic that it had a healthy feeding response, exactly like my own healthy ball! So I hope it lives.

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