Ball Python Still Sick - How to feed

[VI Reptiles Snr]

Hi - My son is the one who wants to sell his ball python and go into breeding leopard geckos (he already has two geckos). He has great enthusiasm for reptiles, but guess who gets to take over when things get rough. Not that I mind, but anyways, he won't be selling the snake or buying any more creatures. First of all, I want to get this snake well. My son has spent probably $200 at least of his own money to the vet for injections of Baytril. We have done most, if not all that you have suggested. Also, last night, I put a mouse in the tank, which the snake still hasn't touched. I am thinking to take him to a true reptile vet in Victoria tomorrow, as he doesn't seem to be improving with the Baytril injections. I don't want the poor thing to suffer, but it is quite inconvenient as where we live is smack in the middle between Victoria and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Where we live, there are no reptile veterinarians, but with the phone consultation and digital photos, I thought we would be able to get the snake healthy again.

Thanks for listening.

Shari

[zero&stich]

I'm no expert but BP's are netorious to not feed during the cooler months. Also, your snake maybe stressed from all the trips to the vet and injections, so not feeding wouldn't be surprise to me.

I'm not sure how much the snake wieghs but if it appears to have good muscle tone and good wieght/girth it might not be a problem that it went off feeding.

I wiegh mine, like most, with a gram scale. One of my snakes wieghs almost 1700g's.

There is thread pinned in this forum on feeding tactis for BP's if it hasn't fed for a few months.

[mykee]

Try an appropriate-sized rat.

[pinoiballer01]

VI Reptiles senior. i am no expert on bp's. i purchase a bp last october from a swap meet and regret purchasing them. dont get me wrong. i got attached to the snake so i coudnt get rid of him. all the problems of being the first snake and not knowing much about ball pythons. but anyway, i got a 2 1/2 year old bp. hes tick infested and has worms in his system. at first i dont want to take him to the vet since ive been reading a lot and they said that balls are finicky eaters. then after 2 months of waiting he pooped some brown liquid and now im concerned. i took him to the vet and the vet diagnose him. he gave me some stuff to inject him and he force fed him for me. he was also given an anti worm that came with the food. after all this he still hasnt eaten. by the way the bp i got is wc. he hasnt lost any weight and i just treated him with the parasites that he has. i offer him food every 2 weeks and if hes not loosing weight then i wouldnt be worried. bp's not eating doesnt really means that its sick. by the way, it cost me $ 200 US fot the vet bills and i only bought my bp for $ 40. i was thinkin that if i got rid of this one, i could have bought 4 more but i felt sorry for him and i felt im responsible for his health now. just sharing a liitle story of mine. thanks for reading

[nita]

Sorry to hear of the problems. Unfortunately many kids do tire of animals specially if there are problems with the animal, and it is up the the parent to take care of it. I would suggest getting it to a reptile vet to ensure that you have a proper diagnosis and as for the feeding many snakes go off feed at this time of the year. Keep track of his weight and as long as he isn't losing and doesn't look like he is too skinny (spine showing etc) then dont' worry. I have one that hasn't eaten since Oct, but he hasn't lost any weight and shed a week ago! Good Luck.

[BoidKeeper]

You don't feed while using Baytril. Don't worry about food worry about heat, humidity and getting ride of the RI. Also soak the snake after every injection to make sure that it stays hydrated because baytril is hard on the kidneys.
Cheers,
Trevor

[VI Reptiles Snr]

Thanks for the information on Baytril. I didn't realize that they don't feed while on medication. I also didn't know that it is hard on the kidneys. I will definitely get the snake in a bath. As for the snake vet, I think it's time to take him in.

Thanks for all the info.

[mykee]

"hes tick infested and has worms in his system.........by the way the bp I got was wc"

Ticks and worms? WC!!! No kidding!! That's what you get for trying to save $40 on the animal. Too bad really, sorry to hear about your vet bills, but what a great lesson to learn and what a super way to learn it.

Shari, DO NOT for one minute consider said post to be the 'norm' for a ball python. MOST people do a little bit of research before purchasing their ball pythons and realize that if the price is too good to be true, it's a WC (wild-caught).

[BoidKeeper]

I didn't realize that they don't feed while on medication.
It's not that they don't feed while on baytril it's that you are not suposed to feed them while they are on the baytril.
The ball is probably off food for the winter anyway.
I'm sure glad I don't have you're vet. I got an exam, throat culture and the meds for $82! When I went back to get baytril because the first stuff wasn't working she sold me more needles and baytril for $40. Sometimes it's good to be in rurual NB.
Cheers,
Trevor

[nita]

When my 2 girls were on baytril and I fed them, was never told not to. Mine were on oral though not injection would never do that again either though. They were on it for 2 weeks and never missed a meal. Cost me $120.00 for checkups and the meds for both snakes.

[Slannesh]

Shari,

First off, bravo for caring enough and taking the time to step up. It's nice to see.

The baytril I can't really help with since I have no experience with it, but I did want to echo that Ball Pythons can and do go off of feed for the winter months. Just keep an eye on the weight and as long as it's not losing a bunch the feeding issue should be fine.

herps are great pets but can be tricky to care for since they can tell us even less than 'normal' pets can when things go wrong. I'd suggest reading as many caresheets as you can find and if you don't already have a copy picking up "the Ball Python manual" You should be able to find it at most petstores that sell herps.

Monitor the temperatures and humidity closely, and make sure you have enough hides of appropriate size to make the snake feel secure. Balls like to curl up in tight spaces and feeling secure goes a long way to having a healthy snake. Perhaps you could let us know a bit more about the general set up the snake is in? Size, temps, substrate... then we can make sure it's in an environment that will be the most helpful to a speedy recovery.