very underfed snake - advice needed!

[lEriks88]

I recently adopted a VERY underfed corn snake from someone who was obviously completely disinterested with it's health. He's about 1 year and 1/2, and is very small. His little spine is sticking out and he does nothing but hide. I just fed him 2 pinkies, which he ate, but I'm concerned about him and would welcome any advice as to a feeding regime that will bring him up to a healthy weight. Thanks!!

[NH93]

I really am not an expert - so please don't take this advice too willingly - but I'd like to tell you what I would do.
Firstly, good on you for doing such a couragous act! I hope you didn't pay (and/or support) this person, at say, a pet store or something.
Secondly, what I would do is almost feed it like it were a hatchling; every 5-6 days. Two pinkies sounds like a good amount to go by right now, but then again, how much does this little guy weigh?

I wonder what other more experienced herpers have to say.
Best of luck to you and your corn!!

[Chip]

Agree with NH that I hope you didn't pay for it! But onto the more important part -his health. He ate, so I would be encouraged. Barring a regurge, he will almost certainly live. And he hides, which is what snakes do, so behavior is normal. I hope your temps are perfect, because it is important anyway, but paramount for a weak animal. I would feed every time he defecated for a couple of months, at least. For what it's worth, being a yearling, at least it has some body mass. Do you have any photos? Can you get a weight in grams? Sounds like you are off to a good start. Be sure and keep a clean dish of water at all times. Dehydration can be a killer, especially since the snake is already compromised from a lack of fat storage. A yearling snake should be on much larger food items than pinkies, but we will need to know the size to determine that.

[cornsnakeforsale_com]

But be careful to not overfeed it, a regurge or two at this stage could be all it takes to kill it. Be sure to keep it away from any other reptiles as it could be skinny because of disease rather than lack of food. Good luck and keep us posted.

[lEriks88]

thank you guys, I don't have a picture of him and I don't want to disturb him to take one as he's just eaten. I haven't weighed him yet but he's no thicker than my middle finger and no longer than 2 feet, if that. I'm keeping him well heated and his water clean, although I'm not sure whether he's staying hydrated or not as I never see him come out to soak/drink. Is there anything I can do to promote hydration other than providing the water?
And no I didn't pay for him thankfully, he was owned by a friend of a friend who was only feeding him pinkies sporadically from what I've gathered. I had a smaller terrarium that my ball python had outgrown and an extra heating mat so I decided to see if I could help the little guy out, poor thing. I appreciate the advice :)

[rachow]

Reptiles can absorb water through their cloaca (vent). I worked with a vet who encouraged 10-15 minutes of soaking in lukewarm water daily. Since he's so weak, I would make it [I]very[I] shallow so he doesn't drown. I'd make it so that his body can still touch the bottom so he doesn't have to swim. I haven't dealt with any sick snakes of my own, so if someone more experienced can back this up, or negate it, I'd trust them first.

I hope he does well! Good for you for taking the time and expense of nursing him back to health.

[juliegarner]

Aww poor fella. Thankfully he has a chance with you. Good luck. I do not know enough to advise so i am not gonna attempt it :)

[Wyldrose]

I took in a very thin ball python, I fed him smaller then normal meals every 3-4 days for a couple weeks then started increasing the prey size and spreading out the days. He thrived and I adopted him out. It sounds like he is in good hands now!

[kathylove]

Great advice! The part about not overfeeding is especially important. It is more important to avoid a reguge than even getting the food into him in the first place at this point.

Pinks don't have as much calcium as older mice, so it will be good to get him on to bigger mice when he is ready. But you can't push it if you want to avoid a regurge. So go with pinks for a few feedings. When you graduate to fuzzies, be sure to put slits in the prey bellies (assuming that you are feeding f/t and not live, lol!). That will help them to digest faster and more easily, helping to avoid regurges. Of course, if he does regurge, don't feed him again until you read the regurge protocols on this forum.

If he makes it through the first few feedings without any problems, then he should eventually make a full recovery.

[lEriks88]

Thank you all so much for the advice :) I checked on him this morning and so far so good, no regurge. He is extremely lethargic but I'm hoping that's just due to digesting. I'm going to leave him be for the day to make sure I don't stress him out and tomorrow give him a soak to make sure he's getting some hydration. If there's anything else I can do to help my little guy along to recovery, or if
I'm doing something wrong, don't hesitate to tell me!

[beautifullywild77]

I would hold off on the soak for a few days!

But great advice. Thank goodness for people like you with a kind heart! I wish you the best of luck and sending good jujus to your little scalebaby for a speeding recovery.

[subliminal]

OP, good for you for helping a snake in need, and thanks for the great advice everyone! I too have just adopted a very underfed snake and the information I got from this thread will be very helpful in the coming months. I will be checking back for sure :)

[cornsnakeforsale_com]

If you want to be sure he's staying hydrated on his own, put his head towards his water. If he takes only a small sip that's usually a good sign. If he takes many large gulps he's not getting the water he needs on his own.

[diamondlil]

Personally I wouldn't soak him. As a yearling, he's obviously been drinking successfully otherwise he wouldn't have made it this far. If there's a water bowl, he'll use it when he needs to.
Feeding every 5 days will get him the boost he needs and he'll pick up just fine under your care. If he can manage 2 pinks, the equal in a large pink or peach fuzzy will be ideal.
To have made it this far under rotten care he's obviously a survivor, so with you looking after him he should absolutely thrive.

[lEriks88]

thank you diamondlil, that's reassuring. I'll hold off on the soaking and leave him be for the time being to chill out. And I'll try another feeding in 5 days on a fuzzy and see how it goes!
All the advice and encouragement on this thread has been awesome, I'm glad I found this site!

[diamondlil]

For a snake like him, personally I'd go back to weighing the prey size. when I was just starting out and when I first bred my own corns, I obsessively weighed all the mice and had them separated into bags. By now I've been doing it long enough that I sort them by eye. If there's a snake with problems, like the non-feeder I'm rehabbing for someone right now, I go back to weighing the prey for her)
So, if the two pinks he had were tiny day-old 1g ones, next couple of feeds I'd give a 2g pink. If they are digested without problems (and I would never feed him if there was still a feeding lump visible) after 3 or 4 feeds I'd try a 3g pink for the next 4 feeds, and so on. Gradually working him up and then increasing the time between feeds to 6 days when he's taking fuzzies will be safest.
(Obviously, I bulk buy in bags of 100 pinks now, but I was lucky enough to have local shops that let me root through their bags of pinks to pick oput the sizes I needed when I started out)

[dave partington]

if the pinks are frozen/thaw. then while they are frozen, making a few cuts just through the skin across the back will allow the digestion more rapidly.

[HVani]

Keep an eye on his hydration. If he seems lethargic try offering a little water, he may not have the energy to go to the bowl himself.

I had a very sick snow female that was battling dehydration due to having some open sores. Twice a day I would pick her up and hold her by her water bowl, every time she drank a lot. I think if I had just let her be she would have gotten a lot worse.

[lEriks88]

HVani, I actually did that this morning and he took a few gulps, and he seemed to be a little bit more alert. I took that as a good sign.

[smigon]

Good for you, I am always happy to hear about any animal rescue, I have several myself!

I would normally put off holding him for at least 48 hours after eating to let him digest, otherwise you might end up wearing the stinky result of the meal. Once he has pooped it is fine to handle him for a few minutes daily, and he will also get used to your scent.

Since he seems dehydrated and you have already handled him, it was obviously a good thing you did but for the future you want to wait for the digestion to complete.

Good luck with him, and keep us posted!