My ball python is about 1 year old. He has recently lost weight. His neck is pretty thin and he has a lot of loose skin. His aquarium is the right humidity, he has a huge water dish and there is a humidifier running in the same room. He eats about ever 14 days (adult frozen mice). I am clueless as to what the problem is any ideas?
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
weight loss
kennedi220
Feb 14, 2005 05:44 PM
Replies (3)
bande-exotics
Feb 14, 2005 08:34 PM
Try switching over to rats and also try feeding once a week it should help him pack the weight on.
rwoodyer
Feb 14, 2005 11:44 PM
My adult male has only ever eaten mice and only occassionally at that and he is about 1500 grams and has been around that weight for over a year (he is about 3 1/2), I raised him from 100 grams on mice only. There is no reason why a yearling should be loosing weight while it is still eating, even if it is only two mice a month.
Take your snake to a vet, loosing weight while still eating is a sure sign of internal parasites! Luckily, there are several drug options that can take care of almost any parasite.
Good luck
jmartin104
Feb 15, 2005 07:21 AM
How much weight is he losing? And is the weight loss consistent? I like to average my snakes weight because you can't always weigh them on an empty stomach. Sometimes what looks like a weight drop of about 100 grams is just the difference between weighing when full and when empty. The loose skin could just be from an upcoming shed cycle. I think the real key here though is how much weight is being lost.
-----
Jay A. Martin
