Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Picked up a female ball python the other day. It is 7 years old and weighs under 600 grams/3.5ft long. Its spinal cord is sticking out about a half of an inch. As soon as I got the snake home, I fed it 3 medium f/t rats. I have never seen a ball this thin before. I am worried about the health of the snake. It seems healthy other then being skinny and having the spinal cord stick out. I will keep feeding the ball every few days and hopefully get it healthy. The only info I got out of the owner, was that she went off feeding for 6 months and she feed her 2 weeks ago. Seemed like the owner didn't seem to concurned about the wellbeing of the snake or how much she should be feed. I work at an animal hospital and im going to ask the doc's if there is anymore I can do for her. We don't work with exotics, but I should get some good advice from them. Can anyone think of anything else I can do.

Soak the snake in fresh water for a half hour and make sure it has plenty to eat and water always available. Being dehydated will kill him much faster that going without food. Most of the snakes that I have saved from certain doom were super dehydrated. It seems more that few ignorant people think that snakes don't need water always avalable. Keep him warm, fed, and well hydrated and he should completely recover within a month or two if he eats well for you.

Tho you do want to get the snake up to a healthy weight and on a good eating plan - stuffing her right off is only going to lead to more feeding issues and regurgiation (that doesn't look like it's spelled right). anyway, leave her some digestion time, and then offer her some frequent small meals.
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Tosha

8.15.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
1.0.0 Angolan Python
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.3 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

If your rescued snake has been on a starvation diet and is dehydrated, giving small meals and water will help it improve over time. Resist the urge to overfeed as that can also cause problems. Be extra cautions, however, because there may be another cause for this snakes thin and sickly appearance, such as internal parasites. Be sure to quarentine the animal from your other snakes to prevent your healthy animals from getting sick for at least a 3 month period. A visit to your vet for a parasitic fecal exam might not be a bad idea, too.

Quarantine is a very good idea; parasites and more crucial, viral diseases may infiltrate the rest of your collection. If possible, perhaps keep the snake in the clinic (since you work there, you may have an "in". This will keep it well seperated from other herps.