Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a ball python 2 months ago (my pastel hatchling) and he hasn't eaten since. I've taken him to the vet, he got dewormed just as a precaution but he couldn't do a fecal seeing as there was nothing in him. I've been in touch with the vet, he keeps saying to hold off on force feeding. Now it seems as though the skin in that fold on his lower jaw has broken open (I'm thinking due to malnourishment since I've heard of that before) and he weighs only 38g. I've also seen some strange looking orange drops in his cage that I'm not sure what they are.

The cage is ideal - a rubbermaid container (put in a quiet closet) with temps at 90 on the hot spot and around 75 ish ambient. I moved him to a 10 gallon tank today because it has better ventalation since his skin is broken and I don't want mold to grow and invite an infection. I've been offering many f/t rat pups, mice fuzzies, live fuzzies, scented with rats or gerbils, in cage overnight, you name it.

Should I follow the vet's advice and wait 2 more weeks before force feeding or get on that now? He is an exotics vet, but of course you all know that that can mean anything.
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Danne
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1.0 BRB "Monroe"
1.0 Pastel BP "Sebastian"
1.1 Leos "Bowser & Peach"
0.3 cats "Beast, Smokey & Thelma"
0.2 Dumbo (non-feeder) rats "Josie & Holly"
0.4.2 fish

Theres also a post on this below, but if he only weighs 38g, then it's time to start considering assisted feeding. Actually, its well past that time. Have you tried gently putting a rat pup into his mouth and see if he takes the rest on his own?

This assumes your housing is ideal.

Where did you get him? You may want to contact the seller to see if there are any underlying issues you weren't made aware of at sell.
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1.0 Pastel Ball
1.1 Het VPI Axanthic Balls
1.1 Het Albino Balls
0.0.2 Red Tail Boas
1.0 Albino Nelsoni Milksnake
1.1 Room mates
2.2 Dogs
0.1 Cat

Ok, I was in the EXACT same situation. Well, kinda. My albino ball arrived very tiny even though he was two months old, and I have started to assist feed him. I would start assist feeding your snake. I don't know what could change between now and a couple weeks other than the snake becoming continually weaker. I doubt he'll just come around. 38 grams is extremely small.

First, I have no idea what is going on with the wound under the mouth. Is it actually a wound? Could it be from a mouse bite? I also have no idea what the orange stuff is all about. That is also quite strange.

Second, I'd keep him in the rubbermaid. Good humidity is important, and screened cages are notoriously poor for keeping in enough humidity.

Good luck.

Thanks you guys. I thought he was ridiculously thin too, but the vet kept telling me to wait 2 more weeks. I've tried putting f/t fuzzies in his mouth once before to no avail. I'll try again though. And as for the humidity, it should still be okay. I have the top mostly covered in this insulation called Reflectix that I use for my BRB. I don't mess around when it comes to humidity, but 1/3 of open tank sure beats the 5 small holes in the rubbermaid. Thanks for the advice I'll try helping him eat again. Would you guys recommend chicken baby food and reptical or anything similar if that doesn't work? I've heard of such methods before but I'm unsure about them.
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Danne
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1.0 BRB "Monroe"
1.0 Pastel BP "Sebastian"
1.1 Leos "Bowser & Peach"
0.3 cats "Beast, Smokey & Thelma"
0.2 Dumbo (non-feeder) rats "Josie & Holly"
0.4.2 fish

I really don't know how liquid chicken or something like that would work. If you really want to go for tube feeding you should get something like a pinky pump, but most people I've spoken with think that tube feeding usually does more harm than good. At any rate, tube feeding should be the last resort, and you probably want to find someone experienced with it.

Assist feeding is fairly simple, but you gotta do it right. It's more than just sticking the mouse into its mouth. You want to stick the mouse's nose as far into the snakes mouth as you can, into it's throat practically. Then you have to shut the snakes mouth tightly over the mouse, and pull on the mouse's tail. The goal is to get the snake's teeth firmly stuck into the mouse so he can't spit it out, and his only recourse is to swallow it.