Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I have a rescue that has not eaten in months and by all means should be dead by the looks of it. Its nothing but wrinkled skin and bones completely emaciated and dehydrated to the point where it has slight dents in the head. Obviously its a fighter or it wouldnt be alive now so I thought I should do everything in my power to try and get it back to health. Its about a foot long blood python about 3/4 inch wide.

I started day before yesterday with a frozen rat pink slicing it paper thin and a tiny bit of warm water. I put it in a baby med dispenser that resembles a small turkey baster with the end cut a bit then melted so there is no sharp edges. Holding the snakes mouth open I gently forced it down the snakes throat and fed it. I gave it a days rest then today I did the same only I mixed the pinky and water with a bit of calcium powder. It took that no problem what didnt go down the snake ate on its own. after that I took a fk newborn pink opened its mouth and crammed the baby inside. It took that then after some time it took another in the same manner.

Now for my question should I stick to the rat pinkys? or should I try larger? In normal circumstances by no means should this snake be on food so small except for the fact that I'm afraid if I go too big it could regurge which so far it has not done or choke cause its weak. is there anything I should be doing aside from this? any tips on the subject would be helpful I really do not want to give up on this one

In my somewhat limited and often frustrating experience, you're doing very well to have gotten a snake in that condition to eat ANYTHING mostly voluntarily. I wouldn't mess with success until I'd gotten a few more meals in him and work from there.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

Thanks I was so happy to see the food has been kept down. I really want it to get better!

Im wondering if I should be adding vitamins to the pinky mixture? Or if since I got it to eat just stick to pinkies. I wish I had a syringe to inject the food with extra nutrients to get it back on track quicker but then I wouldnt know what to add to it. I looked online and seen people feed them with chicken baby food, eggs and calcium powder. I would try that but I heard a while back that poultry was hard on snakes digestion. Wheather thats true or not I do not know.

My instinct tells me to stick with the pinkies BUT if someone knows of a mixture of food/vitamins that would speed up the process of getting this snake on the right track I will do that instead.

Soaking the snake (only like 1/2 inch deep is fine) in slightly warm water (add Pedialyte if you want) will help alot too. Hydration is very important for weakened snakes like that.