Ball off Feed

[Smilts]

Hello today i went to the pet store, that my friend owns. Well she had a ball that a lady had dropped off there. the lady said the poor thing hadnt ate in 5 months. It was also severly dehydrated. My friend asked me if i could take it home and try and nurse it back to health for her to wich i agreed. Ive been reading around and read that this time of year alot of ball's gp off feed but its kind of scary how long its been. Sorry to go on but what i wanted to know is should i wait or after its acclimated try at regular periods to get it to eat. It also has slight burns on it from a heating rock that got to hot. And he /she just shed but most of the shed wasnt coming off after two days including the eye caps so im giving it regular warm baths and using mineral oil to moisterize the skin

[mykee]

Let it get used to it's new surroundings for a few (2-3) weeks, and then try an appropriate-sized live rat. If the snake wants to eat, it will. Good news is that soon enough, most balls will be going back on feed. Good luck.

[zouleous]

I wouldn't just jump on live rats without knowing what it used to eat. If it's been eating prekilled then that could be a bad thing imo. Watch it real careful in that case.

[BoidKeeper]

As for the dehydration, go to a drug store and by some pedialite. It's expensive and has no shelf life once it's open but if you're seriouse about re-hydrating the snake nothing works better.
Like mykee said don't even look at it for 3, maybe even 4 weeks and then try to feed it.
Make sure the cage is not too big and it has no less then two tight hide boxes. Hot spot of 90-95 and a cool end of 80.
You can try F/T, then F/K, then stuned, then if all else fails try live. I would go small though if you go live. Stay with rats. 9 times out of 10 a snake that will take live will also go for stuned or even fresh kill so try thoses first.
5 months is a walk in the park for an established ball python so don't get stressed. The record is 22 months.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Linds]

Stop applying mineral oil to your snake. This will suffocate the skin which can lead to scale loss. As long as you work on hydrating the snake, the condition of the skin will be restored. Like Trevor mentioned, orally administering a small amount of (unflavoured) Pedialyte is an excellent aid in rehydrating a snake. It may also help stimulate the snake's appettite in some cases. What is his weight like? Is it a young snake or an adult? Older snakes can go a great length of time (in fact I had an adult male fast for 1 year 6 days, eat 3 meals, then go on a fast again). It becomes a concern if the snake is losing a significant amount of weight.

[BoidKeeper]

Also the best wayu t to remove retained shed skin is to wrape the snake in a warm wet bath towel and place the snake inside a rubbermaid over night. Line the rubbermaid with the towel, put the snake in the middle and then wrape the snake in the towel. Put the rubbermaid right back inside the cage so that if the snake gets out the it's still inside it's own cage.
In the morning you'll find a clean snake and a dirty towl.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Auskan]

Originally posted by mykee
Good news is that soon enough, most balls will be going back on feed. Good luck.

About when is it usual for them to go back on feed? (Mine has only been off for a few weeks but has lost some weight so I'm hoping it won't be too much longer).

[Smilts]

Thanks for the advice he's adult. Im not using mineral oil at all i only used it once, that got all the skin off and now its doing better but still severly under weight it doesnt move much but is much more responsive now. I honestly wondered about pedialight but wasnt shure i will get some right away thankyou again all.

[mykee]

Auskan, giving you a date when balls go back on feed is like trying to guess the score of not only the next two teams to be in the Super Bowl, but the exact score and MVP. There is no date, it's whenever they want to eat again. Also, if your ball has only been off-feed for a few weeks, and has already lost weight, you have bigger problems than when he'll eat again. A healthy ball will not lose weight during a 3-4 week "fast" (I feel uncomfortable calling 3-4 weeks a fast). Get him to a vet and have him checked for parasites.