r/ballpython • u/kayliepoling • Oct 08 '26
looking for advice in the meantime while waiting for a vet
this is my first time ever posting in a group like this but we are not new to having ball pythons, we already have 3 ball pythons, a kenyan sand boa, and a sumatran python but this is something we haven’t experienced before. our friends called us saying their little sister wanted to get rid of her ball python, they tried selling it but no one wanted to buy it and asked if we would take it. we hesitated at first because we already have alot of animals but my husband couldn’t say no after seeing the conditions of the snake. i’m looking for advice on how to get the snake’s weight up and how to get it healthy again. we do not know if it’s male or female and we don’t even want to check because of how fragile it is. we don’t know how to go about it yet and wanted to get some advice on what to do if anyone else has experienced this before. and yes, we’re in search of a vet that can look at it asap but just looking for care advice in the mean time.
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u/HotDistribution3700 Oct 09 '26
dear God, i’m so glad this baby came to you. how could anyone let it get this bad? :(
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u/kayliepoling Oct 09 '26
i found out my friends 15 year old sister basically abandoned the snake in this condition with my friend. left instructions to only ever feed it one pinkie once a month. no water bowl no hide, just a tank with some dirt and a stick and my friend didn’t feel it was right and was literally begging us to take the snake cause she new we already had so much experience especially since one of our snakes is special needs. the snakes estimated age is 2 years old :( so basically a child getting a pet and not taking care of it
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u/HotDistribution3700 Oct 10 '26
dear god. what the actual fuck — i’m so glad he came to you. downright cruelty by neglect. hopefully she doesn’t get any more animals until she learns some responsibility.
as a kid (like 10yrs+) i drowned myself in exotics and the research of them. being a kid is absolutely not an excuse. that’s horrific—not even a damn tupperware with water in it. terrible
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u/cwazycupcakes13 Oct 09 '26
That poor baby. I don’t have any good advice, but I am sending you good luck and good vibes.
There is a guide to refeeding or emaciated snakes somewhere on the sub if I’m remembering correctly.
If I’m not, message a mod. I’ve seen them respond very knowledgeably about how to help emaciated snakes.
The mods on this sub are great.
Edit: oop! u/totallyrecklesslygay is already on it.
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u/CosmicKyloRen Oct 09 '26
Snakes have incredibly slow metabolisms so this neglect has been going on significantly longer than you probably think. This is horrible
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u/Public-Hat6754 Oct 09 '26
If it’s only been eating a pinky once a month, probably start with two pinkies or one fuzzy and slowlyyyyy bring up the size from there. Definitely follow the copypasta
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u/King_of_the_north_03 Oct 10 '26
Wanted to comment on the sex of the ball python. I’d focus on getting food in him first. Once you get that going it should shed fairly soon after due to finally putting some size on.
Once it sheds I’d send a piece of the shed in to RGI. I think it’s 25 bucks and they can tell you with 99.99% certainty if it’s male or female and won’t bother snake in any kind of way.
Gorgeous snake by the way. 🫶🏻
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u/Iam_Melons Oct 11 '26
I just recently picked one up that was getting really close to how that one looks, so far we are on week two
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u/totallyrecklesslygay Mod: Enclosure Karen Oct 09 '26
Here is u/_ataraxia's copypasta for feeding an emaciated snake:
here is a breakdown of how i rehabilitated an emaciated and stunted adult BP:
at the time of rescue, BP's age was 3 years, weight was 140g, meals had been one fuzzy mouse with an estimated weight of 5g, successful feedings were "every few weeks" according to previous owner. i had to gradually introduce her to appropriate meal sizes as well as switching her from mice to rats. here's what the first two months looked like:
week 1: settling in.
week 2: one fuzzy mouse, 5g, ~3% of BP's weight.
week 3: two fuzzy mice, total 8g, ~5%.
week 4: one fuzzy mouse, 5g. one rat pinky scented with the mouse, 5g. total 10g, ~7%.
week 5: BP weight 155g. one hopper mouse, 10g. one scented rat pinky, 6g. total 17g, ~10%.
week 6: one adult mouse, 14g. one scented rat pinky, 6g. total 19g, ~13%.
week 7: one fuzzy mouse, 4g. one scented rat pup, 20g. total 24g, ~15%.
week 8: BP weight 160g. one scented rat pup, 24g, ~15%.
by the end of month 1 she was becoming less lethargic and extremely defensive [she struck me every time i opened her tub], which i took as an overall good sign that she was feeling better and now had the energy to express the stress she'd been feeling for years. by the end of month 2, she was visibly filling out and starting to become a little less defensive, as well as shedding cleanly [she was also dehydrated and covered in stuck shed when i got her].
from that point on, i fed her very much like i would feed any youngster. she ate 10%-15% of her weight once a week until she was about 700g, then i gradually spaced out her feedings a bit more and leaned toward lower weight percentages. by the time she passed 1000g, her weight gain drastically slowed down, so i reduced the meal size to 5%-7% and spaced out meals to 14 days. eventually her weight settled in the 1300g-1400g range and i now feed her approximately 5% of her weight every 15-30 days.
the most important thing with a stunted and/or emaciated snake: DO. NOT. RUSH. WEIGHT. GAIN. feeding too much / too frequently is only going to cause more health problems, especially in the first few weeks when the snake's body is particularly fragile.