scales

[CDN_Blood]

Originally Posted by mark24

large mice are the only thing that my local pet store offers

I hope you have deep pockets because it's going to take about 20 mice per feeding to make a dent in that snake and bring it back up to good health

[mark24]

thats what i was afraid of. is there any suggestions on other places i could go to for rats??

[Wildside]

Expos or order F/T online

[mark24]

what online store would you perfer??

[mark24]

have any of you guys tried frozen direct?? if so is it a good place to buy rats??

[snake man12]

I use rodent Pro. link.Frozen Mice, Frozen Rats, Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Chicks and Quail

[Will0W783]

I would recommend multiple small rats instead of one medium rat. I have found that colubrids need smaller prey items than an equivalently long constricting species. I feed my 7-foot long Spilotes rat snake 3-4 small rats every 2 weeks.

I would get the bull snake eating frozen/thawed as soon as possible. This is usually not hard with bulls as they are eating machines. Give him 2-3 small rats once a week. As he builds up muscle and size you can consider moving to mediums or feeding more small rats. If you give him a huge meal at his thin size, he is in danger of regurging it and being put off of food even more.

Now, let's address the cage. That cage looks to me to be too small for a snake his size, at least judging by how crowded it is. Get rid of the cardboard box hide- it can grow mold and bacteria...not good for snake health. Invest in either an opaque plastic hide or a naturalistic snake den. I personally like these, as they are very natural-looking and snakes love them. They are also non-porous so they are easy to sterilize. Hiding Cave - X-large - 11 in. x 11 in. x 4.75 in. | ThatPetPlace.com.

Next, you need to have a water bowl large enough for the snake to comfortably coil up in. To save space, I like to use corner bowls for larger snakes. They are easy to clean, blend in well with cage decor and are very durable. Repti-Rock Corner Bowl - X-Large - 14 in. x 14 in. x 3.5 in. | ThatPetPlace.com. This will allow your snake to soak and hydrate himself. The other thing that such a large bowl will allow you to do is to check for mites....if the snake soaks, dump the water out into a stoppered sink and look for what will look like black sesame seeds with tiny hair-like legs. These are mites.
My suspicion is that the scale damage is caused by irritation from a long-term mite infestation. Snake mites are tiny and can be very difficult to find on a speckled/blotched patterned snake like a bull snake.

What bedding are you using? It looks like cypress mulch. Make absolutely sure that any bedding you use does not contain pine or cedar...these aromatic woods are very irritating to snake's skin and respiratory tract and can be fatal.

Best of luck...keep us posted.

[CDN_Blood]

I hope it all works out for you. Keep us posted - we love success stories

[mark24]

Originally Posted by Will0W783

I would recommend multiple small rats instead of one medium rat. I have found that colubrids need smaller prey items than an equivalently long constricting species. I feed my 7-foot long Spilotes rat snake 3-4 small rats every 2 weeks.

I would get the bull snake eating frozen/thawed as soon as possible. This is usually not hard with bulls as they are eating machines. Give him 2-3 small rats once a week. As he builds up muscle and size you can consider moving to mediums or feeding more small rats. If you give him a huge meal at his thin size, he is in danger of regurging it and being put off of food even more.

Now, let's address the cage. That cage looks to me to be too small for a snake his size, at least judging by how crowded it is. Get rid of the cardboard box hide- it can grow mold and bacteria...not good for snake health. Invest in either an opaque plastic hide or a naturalistic snake den. I personally like these, as they are very natural-looking and snakes love them. They are also non-porous so they are easy to sterilize. Hiding Cave - X-large - 11 in. x 11 in. x 4.75 in. | ThatPetPlace.com.

Next, you need to have a water bowl large enough for the snake to comfortably coil up in. To save space, I like to use corner bowls for larger snakes. They are easy to clean, blend in well with cage decor and are very durable. Repti-Rock Corner Bowl - X-Large - 14 in. x 14 in. x 3.5 in. | ThatPetPlace.com. This will allow your snake to soak and hydrate himself. The other thing that such a large bowl will allow you to do is to check for mites....if the snake soaks, dump the water out into a stoppered sink and look for what will look like black sesame seeds with tiny hair-like legs. These are mites.
My suspicion is that the scale damage is caused by irritation from a long-term mite infestation. Snake mites are tiny and can be very difficult to find on a speckled/blotched patterned snake like a bull snake.

What bedding are you using? It looks like cypress mulch. Make absolutely sure that any bedding you use does not contain pine or cedar...these aromatic woods are very irritating to snake's skin and respiratory tract and can be fatal.

Best of luck...keep us posted.

yea ill get on the small rats asap.
yea it fairly small im workin on gettin a bigger one moneys just really tight right now but i am doin my best to keep him happy an healthy. i will, it was the only thing i had for a hide at the time. i have givin hin a bath 3 or 4 times an i havent seen anymites cuz thats what i thought was wrong. yea its zoo med forest floor cypress mulch. i did use pine a couple times one was cuz i ran out of the cypress multch so it was in there for like 24 hours then other time it was in there for like half hour until i read it was very dangerous to reptiles an i took it out immediately an never used it again. thank you for your advice i will change things asap. ill definitely keep you all posted

[jarich]

Originally Posted by CDN_Blood

I hope you have deep pockets because it's going to take about 20 mice per feeding to make a dent in that snake and bring it back up to good health

Come on now, there is no way that snake is eating 20 mice at a feeding. From the pictures it looks to be around 4 feet long, maybe 5? Its a little hard to tell, but that seems about right. In which case 4 mice per week should be fine.

[mark24]

Originally Posted by jarich

Come on now, there is no way that snake is eating 20 mice at a feeding. From the pictures it looks to be around 4 feet long, maybe 5? Its a little hard to tell, but that seems about right. In which case 4 mice per week should be fine.

hes actully about 3.5 feet long

[jarich]

3 mice a week should be fine then

[CDN_Blood]

I like my snakes to thrive, not just survive. I suppose I naturally assume other people like theirs to thrive too, but as you can see, we're all quite different so gather as many informed opinions as you can and you'll have a good basis on which to make a decision about what will work best for you and your snake

[Terranaut]

My gopher snake (very similar to a bull if you didn't know) eats 1 small rat every 7 days which is about the same as 2-3 adult mice (more than 2 but less than 3) so 3 mice for your guy there is fine imho. Rats are better nutritionaly in the long run but the proper amount of food is more important right now. He needs a good lump that takes 2-3 days to go away. Colubrids are great enjoyable snakes. Don't be surprised if your becomes very active after you start feeding it properly. Best of luck ,like Todd said I too love a success story. Keep us posted.

[Terranaut]

Forgot to mention mine is slightly smaller than yours. I mean my snake. I mean my gopher snake. Lol