Rescue BP--need some info

[Chu'Wuti]

Hi, everyone,

A friend brought me a young BP after her son was arrested for dealing drugs. She asked me to "foster" the BP for a few months while her son is in rehab because none of his friends would take it and her husband cannot stand snakes. She apologized profusely because she knows I'm dealing with a health problem right now, but she had no where else to turn. So OK, I'm fostering--actually, rescuing!--this poor baby.

I say rescuing because this BP is supposedly 6-months old, but it looks pretty much like a hatchling to me, and it weighs only 95 grams. Her son was keeping the baby in a 10-gallon aquarium. It does have an under tank heat pad; that's about the only good thing I can say about its husbandry. The water bowl was not only completely dry, but it was also covered with what appears to be cat fur, had feces in it also covered with fur, and the fur was matted and dried on in a way that suggested to me that the bowl hadn't been washed in God knows how long and had been dry for at least a week if not longer. I said, "You didn't empty that water bowl for the trip over here--that's been dry for awhile," and she said, "Yeah, it looks like it's been dry for quite awhile."

After I washed the bowl and put fresh water in for the baby, he came and drank immediately and for a very long time. That was one very thirsty snake. I was told that her son had been feeding him live prey because he "won't eat pre-killed prey." Other than clearly being very dehydrated, he's in remarkably good shape. Only a little bit of stuck shed, which has now come off.

I've spent the last week getting the temps & humidity right and letting the baby adjust. Tonight, without any hesitation at all, he ate 2 rat pinkies for a total of 13 gms (they were what I had in my freezer that were of an appropriate size, as my own BP eats much larger rats). So F/T prey is not going to be a problem, and I'll be ordering larger frozen prey items for him.

What I'm wondering is--What's the typical weight of a hatchling BP? I swear this guy cannot be six months old--either that, or this poor baby has been nearly starved for six months! Yet he does not exhibit the signs of emaciation that I've seen in pictures--with spine standing way out and ribs showing--though he certainly is very light. I'm thinking--hoping, actually--that she doesn't really know how long her son has had the baby and her "six months" is a rough guess, though I could be wrong.

The big relief is that he's eating, of course, but I'm really curious as to how close his current weight is to that of a typical/average hatchling weight. Anyone?

Thanks, Sandy