Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a huge problem!

The anaconda I was given has not eaten in a VERY long time. My husband force fed him about 2 months ago and the skin around his neck began peeling off like a baked potato. He had sores on his skin so we thought it was because he soaks all the time. Therefore, we took this bowl away and just gave him a small bowl for drinking.

Well, my husband, once again, tried force feeding him today and the same thing happened except this time it was a whole lot worse. He's skin peeled away so much that you could see the muscle...yuck.

I think something is horribly wrong with him. He's not aggressive and you can tell he is very weak because he just lays limply in your hands. I feel so bad for him. I've never seen anything like this with my other snakes.

I need advice!Here is a picture of how small he is.

FIRST you should find out why he is not eating, temps,humidity,is he sick??i would never force feed any of my snakes, unless i was instructed be a good vet first. i would take him to see a vet asap. keep us posted on his condition.

I was looking at the pic that you have posted.The substrate the you are useing looks to be very wet. I would change that and just use dry mulch, and even better yet is plain newspaper. Most of use in this forum use just a basic set-up if you scroll down a gentleman by the name of DFR has posted lots of pics of his beautyful snakes as well as his cage set-ups. Try a set up of this manner and ill be willing to bet ya that your cute little guy gets better real fast.

My vet said because he is wild-caught (we didn't know this when he was given to us) that he would lose his license for treating the snake. A kingsnake member said it was skin rot so I will take your advice and dry things up in his cage.

Is there anything we can do since the vet refuses to treat him?

SOME VETS JUST SUCK, I THINK ITS MORE FEAR OF THE REPTILE THAN ANY THING ELSE. JUST REMEMBER KEEP A WATER DISH IN THERE BIG ENOUGH FOR HIM/HER TO GET INTO IF HE CHOOSES. LET US KNOW HOW IT WORKS AND POST SOME PICS YOU GOT A GREAT LOOKIN SNAKE.

losing his license for treating a wild caught snake thats a good one. the only reason i could see a problem was if your town/city/village whatever had ordinances regarding large snake lizards. i would contact other vets in your area and find a dr. thats knowledgable about snakes

The closest vet (other than the one I mentioned) is about 3 hours away. I can't tell you how many searches on the Internet I've done and how many vet offices I have called trying to find a reptile vet in the local area....more than I can remember.

My city doesn't have an ordinance against owning large snakes. I e-mailed the "exotic animal" department to see if there is such a law that could revoke his license just for treating the snake but so far, no one has contacted me back.

I wish my husband hadn't told the vet he was wild caught....then maybe the snake would have had a small chance of surviving.....

YOU SAID , WOULD HAVE HAD A CHANCE OF SURVIVING???HE DIED???SAY IT ISNT SO!!

I'd say you could call the vet back and say that you've got this other snake that's captive bred and must have caught the same thing your first snake had, but I think the snake is better off without that joker treating it.
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"The serpent crams itself with animal life that is often warm and vibrant, to prolong an existence in which we detect no joy and no emotion. It reveals the depth to which evolution can sink when it takes the downward path and strips animals to the irreducible minimum able to perpetuate a predatory life in its naked horror."
Alexander Skutch

Anacondas in the wild will stay under water, except for just their noses, for days on end sometimes. So, if (I don't know) your snake isn't basking as needed, it's because it's obviously sick from something as of yet undiagnosed. Regardless, I would not take away its pool, it should be allowed to continue and be able to regulate as much natural behavior, ie. basking and being submerged. If its behavior is unnatural, you have to fix the cause, not take away aspects of its environment. Is it hot enough, etc., enough natural daylight, and all that? When injured, they seek even higher temps to bask in, although they can heal marvelously well from crazy injuries even without it (for example, some road "kill" we picked up healed while hanging out in an oil drum with water, while we fixed the enclosure that was vandalized). Definitely time for a trip to the vet. We even had a big female diagnosed with cancer - I hope your luck is much better than that!

Renee

Here’s a link (click here) to a recent discussion in the Burmese Forum. What you describe seems fairly common, at least with starving boid snakes.

-Joan

That's why my husband has been trying to force feed him every 3-4 months. It makes sense that if he's not getting any nutrients, then he's not healthy and complications arise because of this. I just don't know how to get the nutrients into him without the trauma of force-feeding. We hate to do this to him but we don't want him to starve to death either. My vet refuses to see him (see previous posts) so I'm at a lost as to what to do.

are trying to feed him live food or F/T food. My anaconda won't touch F/T. He only eats live rats, chicks, etc. maybe try live food and see if he will eat on his own.

Michael