I am hoping for some feedback from the more educated and experienced herp people, please! Sorry for the length of this post, but I wanted to give as much info as possible.
I acquired 2 ball pythons about 6 years ago (one was almost 3 ft, and the other one was/and is about 3 ½ - 4 ft). The previous owner had a big collection of reptiles and he was just “giving up” and decided not to do it anymore. So, I wound up with his ball pythons. All that I knew about them was that the smaller of the two was wild caught and the other one was captive bred (sex and ages unknown). Last year, the smaller one lost weight drastically (even though eating well) and suddenly died. The other one continued to eat, looked nice and fat, and I never had a problem with him until recently. I have always fed 2 large mice once a month and he has always been a good eater. I noticed about 4 months ago that he started to look a little thinner, so I tried a young rat about 3 week after his last feeding. He took it well, and then regurgitated it about 3 ½ days afterwards (partially digested). There was no stress factors involved that I am aware of and can’t figure it out. So then he ate 2 mice again after a month of rest. Everything seems fine in his aquarium (temp, hide box, water, shed rock, etc.) except that the humidity is a little lower than recommended so I mist the cage every now and then. He is on newspaper substrate and the cage is cleaned and rinsed thoroughly about once every 6 months.
It was feeding time again yesterday, and I put the mouse in with him (unfortunately, I always have fed live mice (under strict observation) without a problem because I couldn’t get him to eat otherwise… tried everything). He struck fast, but was in an awkward position and didn’t get a good coil on the mouse. The mouse then fought back and scratched him up a bit. Then they both just sat there for about a half an hour resting, with his mouth still attached. He seemed weak and tired and let go, so I immediately removed the mouse. After checking him out more thoroughly, he had a couple of scratches where he was missing a scale or two. He is still pretty thin and seems weak. So, of course, I hurried up and checked out what vets in the area treat reptiles.
I just got back from taking him into a vet’s office (an hour away). I feel it was a serious mistake to take him now. When consulting with the vet, she seemed very uneducated about snakes (ball pythons, at least). She was shocked and almost demeaning when I mentioned that I don’t have a UV light source for him and even asked if I take him outside in the summer when it’s nice out (I don’t). She seemed also surprised that he only has a bowel movement about one a month (geez). She wanted to do a radiogram (x-ray), check for parasites, and then treat his small wounds. I felt like I knew more about snakes than this licensed vet and my wallet is going to pay for it (estimated cost of care so far is $195). She wanted to keep him at least a day and “try some treatments” on him. I made sure to tell her that I got most of my information from Kingsnake.com and she wrote it down to visit the site herself.
If you could give me any further input about my situation and my snake (Romulus) it would be greatly appreciated. After 6 healthy years with me and at least 5 with previous owner, I can only suspect internal parasites, but dunno. I don’t even know if the vet knows what the heck she is looking for. And pardon the language, but I feel like such an ass now! You can contact me privately at sschimke@chartermi.net.
Thanks!
~Wolfen
Sara Schimke
Manistee, MI USA
