Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My husband works in pet store and a couple of days ago someone brought in a Honduran milk snake and sold it and the tank for $30. He came home that night and told me about it that it seemed to be starved or something because the snake is roughly 2-2.5 feet and is extremely thin, his spine is looks like an upside-down "V". I told my husband that I wanted it because I wanted to ensure the poor thing was taken care of (we have a wide variety of animals in our house including a white-sided bull snake, an Argentine black& white tegu, and 7 other animals) so we're pretty seasoned when it comes to animal care. He gave his boss back the $30 and now the snake is in my living room. When he was at the pet store he inhaled 4 pinkie mice, that he was barely strong enough to eat, then last night 2 more. And when we brought him home he stuck his head down inside a water bowl and drank for a solid 2 minutes, maybe even more. He is extremely lethargic, I was looking for some advice on feeding and trying to build him up to what he should be.

*Additional info:
He has had a bowel movement- about an hour after he was fed the last two pinkies it was semi-solid and he had the movement as he drank the water.

Just to show the neglect- the bottom .5-.75 inches of his tail was so hard with unshed skin it took about half an hour for me to peel it off with finger nails and it was about 6-8 layers of skin the skin underneath the shed was extremely pale and the scales are damaged.

The guy that brought it in claimed he had only had the snake for a short period of time and that "a buddy of his gave it to him" and he wasn't sure what to do with it, so he decided to sell it. It doesn't seem that it has properly been taken care of, and I'd like to ensure that the rest of his life is better than it has been.

Glad to hear he is in hands that want to take care of him. A couple things I would like to add, but sounds like you are doing everything correctly so far. When snakes are that malnourished make sure you don't over feed and have them regurgitate their meal. That is the worst thing for him. Keep feeding small meals ( preferably frozen thawed) just don't stuff 5 or 6 down. He may not be able to digest that many at once. A healthy snake yes. If at all possible feed him those small meals every other day or so until he gets weight and strength back. Also make sure he has a nice warm spot(84-86 to possibly 90 max) to start the digestion process. Make sure he has a cool spot too though 78-80.

I am sure there will be other tidbits of information given but this is the most important (to me anyway) right at this point.

Hope it all works out, Hondurans usually bounce back pretty quickly so good luck.
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Forgot one other thing always make sure he has clean water and if at all possible provide a hide box with damp moss, this will help with him conserving moisture.

When you peal dry shed of the snake, hopefully you used a damp rag or paper towel to moisten it before pulling it off. That skin can stay fused together and can tear the actual scales.
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You answered my hide question before I could ask it.

We did soak the tail in warm water before peeling it off. I think the damage may just be from how long the shed was left on the tail.
I was worried to death about hurting him, so we made sure to soak it for a while first.

Thanks-
Miranda

Sounds like you are doing everything correctly, it's just the hardest getting them to turn that corner after being so malnourished. Post pics if you can they would be helpful too...
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Thanks for the info, any & everything helps.

We are only doing frozen thawed pinkies (I don't have the heart to kill a baby mouse and I don't want to risk him getting mites.) We have the temps right and I don't have a hide for him would that be a good idea to put the cool spot? And would it be a good idea to offer him food again today?

It's really good to hear that he is a hearty breed and should bounce back.

The thermometer in the basking spot is reading 85 and he hasn't left the spot that was why I was wondering about the hide; if it was a necessity right now or not.

Thanks again-
Miranda

Are you using a lamp for heat? If so, I will strongly suggest for colubrids a Under the tank heat pad on a dimmer or thermostat. I hide would be good you can use an old tupperware container with a hole in the side. Make sure the hole is atleast 2x the size of the snake. I wouldn't feed him again today. I would wait til he passes what you fed yesterday and then put him on an every other day schedule until his weights and strengths are back to normal. You can slowly increase the size and prolong the intervals as needed. Eventually he will be able to feed on prey 1.5x his body.
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All great input/advice from Kc... but I wouldn't expect less from him.

My experience is no where near what Kc's is but (again with the "but"the only thing I'd add is once you have the hondo back on it's feet as it were keep the max temp at 84 to 86 with the lower end in the mid 70's. Keeping the temps on the high end to speed up metabolism and thus allow for weight gain etc. is important right now as Kc says. Add hides wherever you think fit... pay attention to how the snake reacts and act accordingly... don't think you could possibly do worse than what has happened to it so far.

All in all it sounds as if you're doing a great job with rehabilitating that hondo... always nice to know someone is willing to "step up to the plate" for these misunderstood animals.

Gerry

Thanks for adding lowering the temps after he is back to normal Gerry.....I was hoping she would return and give us some updates and pics....Then we can really help her fine tune those temps...LOL

don't think you could possibly do worse than what has happened to it so far.

I have to agree whole hearted 100% on that statement, thanks for the kind words too.
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