I hope this makes sense and, in advance, I would like to thank anyone who might be able to offer insight!!.. now to the issue.
I bought an 03 Peruvian female last year at a Repticon show from a breeder that told me the snake was from a friend he was helping out by selling and not his own snake. That she had been a pet,not a breeder( shes a virgin) and was housed alone in a Freedom Breeder type rack/drawer system. Right off the bat she had looked a little thin or "deflated" as my friend and I called her. The breeder acknowledged this and told me it was more than likely due to his friend going through a divorce and had probably missed a few feedings due to the drama in this man's life. This was the reason he needed to sell the snake in the first place. He asured me once I got her home, setup and started feeding her ,she'd plump right back up,no problem.
I took her home and put her in a 24x48 enclosure,alone. She hissed and pissed CONSTANTLY for the first 2 weeks she was here. The urine smelled terrible and was discoloured...like a minty greenish tint. I immediately called the breeder and told him I wanted a refund and didnt have the time nor paitience to heal his sick snake. He calmed me down and assured me this was due to her being from a rack system and that the ability to see more stuff now was spooking her. He told me to cover as much of her enclosure to keep out light and activity as to not spook her anymore and to change the substrate from paper to mulch, as the is what she was on. I made all of the changes.... since then , she has gotten better with the being spooked..to she starts to breath *excessively heavy* and rapid when she knows youre there..like she just sprinted a mile!!!??? the urination has ceased to smell and the color is now normal.
The problem that has existed and not gotten better tho is her physique... she looks "melted" ..like a normal snake would/should look like a rounded square , she looks like an oval on its side... like a deflated snake toy..I can send pics if requested.. I feed her a jumbo rat once every 2 weeks . She used to get one a week but she'd never be interested in the second one so I stopped wasting the money on it just going to waste. She will eat the jumbo every two weeks, but even that is difficult... she wont attack it.. you have to put it by her and leave for up to 2 hours before she will eat it, still not attacking it,just eatting slowly. None of my other snakes are like this?!?!These are prekilled rats im talking about and she has never had a live rat at my place!! She doesnt move around a lot at all and I dont think Ive actually witnessed her drinking water except for a few times. ... shes pretty lazy ..much lazier than a normal Columbian I have of the same age and size. I am worried that I am missing something here and I dont want any of my snakes to suffer from anything. I keep everything clean and feed when I should,keeping records of everything.
Another concern is that I put a male peruvian in with her for only a week and a half while I was making space for new enclosures and he has refused food ever since. He hasnt eatten in many months ...will snatch the rats,squeeze,sniff..then leave them. I have been waiting for a fecal sample from him to take to a vet but since it has been so long since he has eatten, he is not going to the bathroom... any suggestion? I know that when a male goes into breeding mode he can "shut down" but they have been in seperate enclosures for oer 7 months now and he still refuses to eat anything.He is 4 feet long and starting to get skinny and wot take a madium or small rat, live or prekilled. I wonder if he couldhave gotten something from the week and a half with the deflated girl??? I also own his sister which looks nothing like him as far as size goes, shes super healthy and pounding a large and medium rat every 2 weeks.
Sorry for the long email, just want to put as much info in here as possible so I can help you all help me and my snakes!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you and please ask for pics if you need!!!!! thank you all
