Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterday afternoon I was given a SEVERELY underweight yellowtail cribo from a local petstore. They said it had fed on two small rats when they first got it a couple of months ago but hadn't eaten since. My guess is that stress had caused the snake to quit eating and frankly by the looks of it, it hasn't eaten for several months or came to them very thin. It didn't have a hide box and was in a cage at waist level so lots of activity walking by.

I've worked extensively with Indigos, but thought I'd ask the group for some help on getting this thing re-started. I will get a fecal run as soon as I can collect anything from the animal.

I've got it on newspaper with hide box and the temps in the mid-80's. I've wet down the newspaper to get the humidity way up and placed a shallow water dish just outside the entrance to the hide box.

In cases like this I've been most successful by administering fluids (pedialyte, gatorade) through a very narrow syringe tube twice a day in small amounts for about a week to get the animal re-hydrated and then force fed very small food amounts at 3-day intervals until the strength and activity levels pick up.

Usually, when left alone, I find cases like this pick up in a week or two and will eventually take fresh killed small mice left at the entrance to the hide box and ultimately return to a "normal" healthy existence.

While extremely thin and somewhat listless, the snake is nevertheless alert with tongue flicking and I'm hoping salvageable.

As for the fecal, I'd really also appreciate some thoughts on when to administer the standard protocols to treat what I'm sure will be a nightmare of parasites.

I'm glad the shop was at least caring enough to part with it in hopes it could be saved, now I'd really appreciate some input from those of you who have acclimated these animals.

It it of course a stunning yellow with a light banded forebody and at over 5 feet in length, an adult with room yet to grow.

Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

Matt

I am not a frequent visitor to this site but, my recommendation would be to be sure to offer the animal different food types. Also, live foods may be necessary as the movement may trigger a reaction. Think of what that animal may have been eating up to the time of capture and transportation into captivity. Not very likely it has ever been offered what it is used to eating. For example, I have had a wild caught Texas Indigo relish eating dead atrox immediately after capture but turn its nose up to a dead grahams water snake. The indigo was from an area that would not normally have grahams watersnakes available to it. (by the way this account was 25 years ago) I have had wild tropical types really like live chicks which can be easily converted to dead then eventually to rat pups then dead. I have also found that very few will turn down frogs or other reptiles. I realize this may not be acceptable to some as food sources but, the bottom line may be - how much you want to save this animal? I have also as a last resort tube fed baby food meat just to get something into the animal to jump start it. This may be a last resort after trying putting a dead rat pup into its mouth and hoping it swallows on its own.

At any rate, I hope some of this may help. Good luck

Your temps are TOO HIGH!!! Lower the cage temp to mid 70s. It's o.k for him to have a hot spot of about 85 or 90, but the cage temp should be mid 70s. And if you can give him a nice dark hide box, with some moist sphagnum moss, in the low 70s, that would be great.

Put him in a quiet, secluded area of the house, where nothing will bother him.

Make sure he has a nice big water bowl.

Get all that done first, and let him settle for a couple days. Then try him with a week old quail chick.