Constipation?

[Malus]

no vet yet however the prolapse is gone completely and has been for the last 24 hours or more. i also have been keeping him real moist and his skin is much better looking. i will post a new pic tomorrow and you an tell me if he looks better

[infernalis]

sounds like good news..

[mykee]

I missed a lot of this thread, but all I can say here is that snake looks to be in rough shape.
Dehydration (which as mentioned exacerbates the issue) is also causing terrible sheds.
Poor humidity in the enclosure is to blame and/or a lack of drinking water.
Vet trip in order for sure.
I suspect internal parasites.

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by Malus

no vet yet however the prolapse is gone completely and has been for the last 24 hours or more. i also have been keeping him real moist and his skin is much better looking. i will post a new pic tomorrow and you an tell me if he looks better

But you are going to a vet right? Because if you don't that's kinda bad.

[Malus]

i fully intend to take him as soon as i can find a vet that deals with snakes. pic to come later to day

[Malus]

sorry so long on the pic, things are busy round the house cuz my wifes mother from Cali is coming out for a visit soon. Snake is still doing great. Think it was just dehydrated bad. still haven't found a vet round these parts. sucks living in BFE. here some pics.

[Malus]

and i know everyone is just really wanting me to take a trip to the vets but I still am looking around in my spare time for one that sees snakes. and a trip to the vet costs quite a bit of money, which we just aren't rolling in around here. I think we have worked out the kinks for now but i'm still gonna vet shop just in case it happens again. love my snake, just like all the other animals and I treat them all the way I want to be treated when i get reincarnated as an animal haha.

[mistersprinkles]

Head too big for rest of body. Skin looks 3 months old rather than 1 month. Spine too easily visible. Too thin. Skin looks dehydrated, appears floppy and weak.

In the second image, there is a visible bump before the cloaca that shouldn't be there. No baby ball python's skin should ever look that old, work, kinked and wrinkly, or dark. That snake has the skin of a 10+ year old adult. I'm making out kinks and dimples on it's back scales that should not be there. The scales should be smooth and shiny and look almost wet when taking a photo with bright light or flash. It is like this because it is sick. Only a vet can tell you why.

If you can't afford to take the animal to a vet when it's in dire straits, you can't afford the animal. It's really sh*tty to say, but that's the bottom line here.

You really ought to take it in, because in the condition it is now, nobody's going to adopt it then take it to the vet. People don't think that way. They'd rather spend 1/3 as much and get a 'new' one.

And I don't know about the whole looking for a vet in my spare time thing. I'm not being rude, I'm just a little pickled by the whole thing. It takes 20 minutes. yellowpages.com 'veterinarian ; reptile .... city/state'

I feel that in my near 3 decades of mostly reptile and odd creature experience, and very little human experience, I can say with 90% certainty, that this animal will not make it if it is not treated. It's suffering from some very severe signs of malnutrition and dehydration. When something is chronically malnourished like that, you can't just feed it and make it better. The root cause needs to be adressed. That's not even considering the prolapse.

I can say for sure that if you had that snake coiled tight around two fingers and tried to open them, you could. A month old ball python should be able to put one coil tightly enough around two of your fingers to hold on that you can't make the peace sign without feeling like you're going to snap something.

[Lankyrob]

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

Head too big for rest of body. Skin looks 3 months old rather than 1 month. Spine too easily visible. Too thin. Skin looks dehydrated, appears floppy and weak.

In the second image, there is a visible bump before the cloaca that shouldn't be there. No baby ball python's skin should ever look that old, work, kinked and wrinkly, or dark. That snake has the skin of a 10+ year old adult. I'm making out kinks and dimples on it's back scales that should not be there. The scales should be smooth and shiny and look almost wet when taking a photo with bright light or flash. It is like this because it is sick. Only a vet can tell you why.

If you can't afford to take the animal to a vet when it's in dire straits, you can't afford the animal. It's really sh*tty to say, but that's the bottom line here.

You really ought to take it in, because in the condition it is now, nobody's going to adopt it then take it to the vet. People don't think that way. They'd rather spend 1/3 as much and get a 'new' one.

And I don't know about the whole looking for a vet in my spare time thing. I'm not being rude, I'm just a little pickled by the whole thing. It takes 20 minutes. yellowpages.com 'veterinarian ; reptile .... city/state'

I feel that in my near 3 decades of mostly reptile and odd creature experience, and very little human experience, I can say with 90% certainty, that this animal will not make it if it is not treated. It's suffering from some very severe signs of malnutrition and dehydration. When something is chronically malnourished like that, you can't just feed it and make it better. The root cause needs to be adressed. That's not even considering the prolapse.

I can say for sure that if you had that snake coiled tight around two fingers and tried to open them, you could. A month old ball python should be able to put one coil tightly enough around two of your fingers to hold on that you can't make the peace sign without feeling like you're going to snap something.

You can tell all that from a pic!! Wow you must have super diagnostic powers!!

How can a snake be TOO dark for its age?? Ever considered that it may be a darker coloured snake than others? And could you explain what you mean by the head being too big for the body?

I see a snake that looks relatively healthy - hard to diagnose all but the most severe cases of malnoutrition from a picture and to my eyes that looks like a normal shaped ball python.

I do agree that with a prolapse like it had it needs looking at by a vet but not living anywhere near the OP i wouldnt like to say whether he should be able to find a vet easily or not.

In the pic with the snake around the fingers it looks to me like the snake is supporting its own weight with its grip.


TO THE OP - there were previous mentions of humidity being a little low - is this up where it should be now?

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

You can tell all that from a pic!! Wow you must have super diagnostic powers!!

How can a snake be TOO dark for its age?? Ever considered that it may be a darker coloured snake than others? And could you explain what you mean by the head being too big for the body?

On a 32" IPS panel, yes, I can.
I was begged to work at a shop repeatedly when I was 14 because I could spot mites in a snake's heat pits from six feet away.

The head is too big for it's body, a sign of stunting. Compare that snake to another ball with the same size head. And another. And another. You only need the head size as a ratio.

The snake is too dark for it's age. No baby ball python's patterning is that dull. There is a fundamental lack of any kind of sheen to that animal's skin. I can make out wrinkles in it very easily as well as kinks- especially if I blow up the image and alter the gamma.

The snake has no muscle tone in the posterior third of its body where its on the bed. It should always be flexing mildly so that if you lift it, it does not flop limply, but remains relatively rigid.

Of course the snake is supporting itself in the other picture. A constrictor no longer able to support itself in such a way is a lost cause, which this snake is not.

I'm not a nice person, but I have yet to meet anybody that is as good with animal morphology as I am. Honestly.

I've corrected 4 decade experts on fish identifications. This is just something I'm good at.

That snake needs a vet. It won't be alive this time next year. They last a long time sick because of their very low energy consumption compared to other kinds of animals, but they don't last forever if they're sick.

I'm just giving my opinion, which I know is right, in a very stern way at this point because I don't think that people are recognizing the severity of this animal's condition.

Once something is clinically and chronically dehydrated- just in and of itself, it needs help.
We have a prolapse (the fact that it's gone back in means nothing), likely intestinal damage, likely parasites, a definite nutrient uptake problem, chronic dehydration, stunting...

[Lankyrob]

When does your tv show start? Surely with these skills you must be in such high demand by all networks?

[SnakeyJay]

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

When does your tv show start? Surely with these skills you must be in such high demand by all networks?

Lol ur on a rampage today rob..

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

When does your tv show start? Surely with these skills you must be in such high demand by all networks?

I'm holding out for more money.

Hopefully I'll have something on local TV by the end of the year. Bigger national networks and even the BBC have expressed interest as well.

We're playing with a few names, such as "The insightful prick's journal of animal husbandry"

[Malus]

to respond to every one who is not a natural born animal god
he is about 4 months old
the snakes head is smaller then the width of my finger while his body is easily twice that
his skin has a very nice sheen to it as well as all the left over scales have rubbed off with the exception being right behind his jaw. also according to the humidity gauge it is around 60%
the lump at the bottom of his but is all gone and he is once again plotting escape at nite as he tries to climb his cage. hopefully it is just a case of bad info from the pet store on the water dish(which i now realize was way to small)
also i found a vet to get him checked but they want a 100 dallor bill just to look at him and as my money needs are not the greatest right now i hope he can wait a month or two longer. i have since fed him and he has passed it no problems

[Malus]

see, the snake can hold itself up. and i just got done disentangling him from the wife's hair and he DID NOT want to go, so now she has a bald spot LOL
and his nice shiny heiny