Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

A friend of a friend recently purchased a baby burmese python as her first snake. Not the...wisest thing to do, I know, but as she's already got it and doesn't want to part with it (yet), I'm doing what I can to help her out and properly care for it. I'm not that well versed in burmese pythons though, since I prefer ball pythons, and I'm not sure what's normal for a burmese compared to those.
This burmese really is a baby, being about a foot and a half long, and it's a male according to the shop she purchased it from. I'm not sure if it's being kept at the proper temperature, since she hasn't gotten temperature strips for the cage yet, but it does have a heat lamp over one end of the cage and a large bowl of water in the other. It's been spending A LOT of time soaking in the water, and very little time near the light, although I know the temperature in the cage not near the light is the same cool 70 degrees of the rest of the house. It also is rather wrinkly near the neck area, and seems thin, although the owner swears she's feeding it regularly. In a ball, I'd think it was dehydrated, the way the wrinkles are, but it's spending most of its time in the water.
Any ideas on what's going on? Any help at all would be appreciated.
Thanks,
~Jenny

Jenny
Burms- even hatchlings like the one you describe- are pretty good at regulating their own temps, provided a proper gradient is available. They do tend to soak alot, that's normal. The only thing you describe that is a bit of a concern is the "wrinkly skin". Typically this means they're underweight, which is, of course, a bad thing, especially in a hatchling.
A newly hatched Burm can easily eat hopppers (young mice) and should be eating 2-4 at a time, say twice each week or so...they're little piglets. I've had many Burms that would only eat live food, which I prefer to feed anyway...but your friend can try a thawed hopper if she likes- just thaw it in warm water and present it with tongs or large forceps.
If all else fails, you can forcefeed the snake- but not a mouse, please. This is generally a lousy idea, as the stress burns more energy than the snake gets from the mouse. Instead, mix up some Hills A/D canned food for dogs and cats with some pedialyte and inject about 1 cc into the snake's mouth with a syringe. Just mix it thin enough to flow through the syringe ok.
You can't give a snake life support- you'll lose that battle. The idea with forcefeeding isn't to keep the snake alive, but rather to stimulate his hunger response. So..after you forcefeed a CC or so of the mix, drop a hopper in with him and leave him alone awhile. The majority of the time he'll eat it.
I doubt that the Burm is refusing to eat, however...I've raised/bred/rescued Burms for 30 years or so, and I've never seen a finicky one...but I suppose it's possible. More likely, though, he's just not being fed enough.
I would suggest an undertank heater or a ceramic heat emitter, to get the gradient up to around 95 at one end, to 75-80 at the other- preferably with a basking area that reaches 110-ish directly under the light. No need to provide UVa or B. Remember, you control, to a great degree, his metabolic rate...temperature!

Good luck~! Burms are fantastic critters- just be sure you're ready to be the owner of a 20' snake one day- sooner than you think. (Although males USUALLY top out at 12-14', there are no guarantees!)

James

He's definately not getting fed more than every other week or so, so the underfeeding is probably it. I'll pass it on, and hopefully he'll bulk up some.

Thank you much for the info!

Anytime- yep, hatchlings are bottomless pits...once they reach adulthood, they don't- shouldn't- eat nearly as often. But the youngsters need lots of food to grow.
Best of luck!

JJ