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Old 10-29-18, 10:59 PM   #1
northerndragon
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Unhappy Help, dehydration?

Hi, I got a baby BRB on October 3. He's my first snake and after working out some things I did wrong in the first few days (keeping him in a tank and not giving him enough cover) everything is going pretty well except for one thing, he appears to be skinny and very dehydrated. He's been like that since I got him, with some crazy wrinkly skin, and he actually has stuck shed on him from the store I got him from, a locally owned reptile store that I assumed bred them and knew what they were doing.

I'm keeping him in a 72 quart locking plastic bin, humidity is at 100%, temperatures are 85 on the warm side and room temperature (65-75 varying on time of day) on the cool side. Temps and humidity monitored through digital gauges with probes.
I don't know when he last shed. I don't think he's in shed, his belly is white, eyes clear, scale colors bright. Unsure of his weight, I don't have a scale yet.
He has two big water bowls big enough for him to soak, one on each side, that I refill/replace every other day. 3 hides and lots of foliage for cover. Cypress mulch with a bit of sphagnum moss on top as substrate.
He seems pretty healthy, very active at night and hides all day (although he hides in weird places and doesn't tend to use his actual hides as much as the foliage), though he's not once been defensive or nippy with me.

The store told me he last ate with them on September 25 and that he was eating pinkies once a week. I didn't successfully feed him until October 22 with a f/t pinkie, and I gave him a fuzzy on October 25, I next plan on feeding him November 1. I know that's a bit odd but the pinkie was way too small and since he went a long time without food I wanted him to have something else for substance, I don't plan on doing it again but if that messed things up please let me know. The reason I couldn't get him to eat for a while was that he's incredibly shy and I was using videos of other snake feedings for reference of how to do it, and the only thing that worked with him was holding the mouse completely still for about half an hour until he came up to it and started to "nibble" on it, and lightly rubbing it against his mouth. He also has not pooped yet.

Even though his stuck shed mostly came off just from being in high humidity with me, he still appears very dehydrated and wrinkly. I know it can't be due to the water/humidity since most of the stuck shed came off, but I don't know what else I can do.

I've been told it could be due to not having enough to eat, which does make sense, but I'm not sure how long it takes for the water from the food to reach him. I am having a few doubts over what the store told me about him eating, he was a lot smaller than his siblings with him (at the time I assumed they were just females and naturally larger, even though all of them are unsexed), but that could be something else, I really don't know.

Will this go away once he's digested his food and pooped? Should I take him to the vet about this? What can I do? Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.
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Old 10-30-18, 05:37 PM   #2
phenyx
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Re: Help, dehydration?

Hi! I also have a BRB who's had multiple feeding issues (that, fingers crossed, we're past now) so I've learned a lot in a relatively short amount of time that I'll try to pass along. First off, warm spot temperature. From Dave C. at Rainbows R Us, I learned that 85 is too warm for baby BRBs. They do better with a warm spot around 80 degrees. What heat source are you using? Is it controlled with a thermostat? It MUST be controlled with a thermostat. Also, humidity and temperature are much easier to regulate in a smaller, shallower container so you might want to consider going to a shoe or sweater sized box while your baby is small. Also, how big are the hides? They need to be TINY - just big enough for the snake to wedge itself into so it can feel the sides of the hide pressing against all sides of its body.

Food items should be about the same girth as the widest part of the snake and, once ingested, should leave a slight bulge. Most baby BRBs can take fuzzies almost from birth so there's no reason to go back to feeding pinkies. They can be shy feeders though and don't always strike food off the tweezers. Try simply placing the prey item in the viv, turning off the lights in the room and/or covering the viv with a towel to encourage eating. You can also poke holes in the top of a deli cup, place the prey item and the baby in the deli cup and the deli cup back in the viv. I don't recommend doing this long term, but it can help get stubborn feeders established. It got Jerkface eating when nothing else would.

With your humidity at 100% and two water dishes it sounds like you've got humidity/hydration covered. Once your baby poops, take a look at it. Is it hard and dry or moist and well formed? Hard dry feces are an indication of dehydration in any creature. I would also create a moist hide: Take an opaque deli cup, cut an opening in the lid and stuff it full of damp sphagnum moss.

BRBs are quite a bit more sensitive to stress from husbandry issues than other snakes. Definitely lower that warm spot temperature a few degrees. I also highly recommend getting a scale to monitor your baby's weight as soon as possible. Amazon has plenty to choose from but I like this one. If your baby loses weight, I would definitely collect a fecal sample and contact a reptile vet to check for parasites.
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Old 10-30-18, 06:49 PM   #3
northerndragon
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Re: Help, dehydration?

I'm using a heat pad controlled by a digital thermostat. I've just now lowered the setting to 80

The hides are the smallest aquarium/fish hides I could find, they're still a little big for him though. I'll definitely stick with fuzzies! I think I worded it wrong initially, I wasn't sure if feeding multiple times in a short period of time was an issue, but pinkies are far too small for regular meals for him.

I'll try the deli cup feedings, moist hide, smaller bin, and get a scale asap, thanks! I've tried leaving food with him in the enclosure and while he investigates it for hours he never seems to eat it like that, though.

All right, so should I hold off until he poops and see if there's anything wrong with the feces? Or is there anything else I should do in the meantime?
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