We think he's dying

We've had one of our hatchlings for around 7 weeks now. He hasn't eaten a single meal since we got him. We force fed him a leg around a week ago and then tried a live scented pinkie 5 days later. He did not eat. We took him to the vet and he was deemed healthy other than not eating. He is becoming EXTREMELY lethargic and I don't know what to do.

At what point do we call it quits and euthanize him?

We were told to wait 14 days after force feeding to try again but I am pretty sure that will be too late... help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Should we try to hibernate him or is it too late for that as well?
Once they get lethargic is that the end?

help

Oy, that's a hard one

I say keep force feeding him a mouse tail or leg every 5 days for a month and then try offering him food once a week for 4 weeks. If he's still refusing at that point, then you know you've done your best to get some strength into him so he can have a chance. If he's still adamant that he doesn't want to eat, then you might want to try cooling him in the fridge for a couple of hours and then popping him in the freezer.

A friend gave me 2 childrens python hatchlings he'd been coaxing for 7 weeks and one died just days after coming to me. He gave me his non-feeders because he couldn't face making the decission that all breeders hate to face.

..it's no easier for me :shrugs:

Good luck,
Adèle

somthing else you might be able to do is get your vet to tube feed the hatchling. This will at least get a good amount of neutrition into his tummy.

pcar said:

somthing else you might be able to do is get your vet to tube feed the hatchling. This will at least get a good amount of neutrition into his tummy.

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Like pcar said, you can tube feed it. Instead of taking it to the vet (b/c of the added $bill$, and it may unfortunately die anyways), you can do it yourself. There are commercially made pinkie tubes/pumps, but you can easily construct one youself. All you need is a syringe (<50ml), no needle, and then attach a 1-1 1/2" piece of clear tubing (eg. aquarium tubing) to the end where the needle would be. Take a pinky or two, (this may be unpleasant, but), place them in a blender or food processor (you may need to add a small amount of water too), and then basically puree them. Suck this pinky smoothie into the syringe, squeeze the air out and insert the tube into the mouth of the snake. Go slowly when releasing the food. Hope this helps.

In my experience with non-feeders, when they get to the point of being triangular (back bone sticking out, skinny), and espeically being lethargic and showing a wrinkling of the skin (esp. further back on the tail), you are generally going to lose them. It's horrible, but it's an unfortunate fact of life. If you want to have any hope of saving them, you have to get enough nutrition into them to help them grow, not just stagnate. If I'm going to force-feed, I bite the bullet and feed them every 5 to 7 days minimum.

I stay on the lower end of size, but I try to keep constant nutrition going in. Something like a young mouse or rat limb, piece of a day old chick thigh, tiny pinky or pinky head or I tube them with rat puree as described above. (Nasty, have a dedicated blender for that mess.) Tubing is a little less stressful (depending on your forcing technique, it may be a lot less stressful), but you may not have all the equipment you need to do it.

Now, this being said, if your little one is as far along as you describe, understand that the stress of just forcing or tubing him alone may push him over the edge, but you really have no choice (other than to euthanize him). When I get one to the point of skin wrinkles or acting lethargic, my general practice is to euthanize them. I'm trying to remember a single one at that point I've saved, but I can't come up with one, unfortunately. I'm not trying to be harsh or say that it's impossible to save them, but I'm just trying to be realistic to let you know what to expect.

I have one little gal I'm fighting with at present who ate like a monster while I had her, then refused all but 2 meals with her new owner. I have her back, and despite trying every trick in the book, we're down to force-feeding her pinkies. She's maintaining and seems to be bulking up just a bit on the feeding schedule, but I'm having to force her a day-old pink every 5 days. She's active, and physically was thin, but now looks like a normal hatchling, but she's not out of the woods. I am contemplating a short brumation for her to see if I can jump start her appetite. I keep checking her for kinks as I've seen them develop them when they suddenly quit eating like she did, but so far, she seems to be in perfect health, with perfect stools, just no appetite. It's so sad when they just seem committed to starvation and nothing you can do will change their mind.

Gosh...that's so sad...I've gone through it with kittens and puppies and baby birds (force feeding) but I hope I never have to do it with my snake! I can't imagine it! We had to forcefeed a kitten once and he was so malnurished that we couldn't even give him a bath to get all the fecal matter off him because he couldn't maintain his own body weight! That was obviously because of neglect by his previous owners though. He's a really great pet now though! LOL! I hope you can pull through! Good luck!

We force fed him pureed mouse and supplement to make a "snake shake" (or "mouse malt"? we also liked the name "pinkie smoothie"... thought up "rodent-beer float" but that was a mouth full :cheers: ) He fought a little bit but took it down and was still alive this morning. We will continue this unless he get worse. (he isn't wrinkled or "triangular" yet so we are hoping...)

thank you for all the tips and support

thats good news...hopefully he'll eat on his own soon

I hope he starts eating for you. Its so sad to hear about babies that try to quit on their owners. How long are you going to do the "mouse malt"? (I think that term is cute BTW). Are you going to try offering him solid food in intervals?

I guess he was worse off than I thought. I came home from work today and he was gone. I feel horrible that I let him go so long. One of his sisters has that "triangular" look today, too. (She hasn't been eating, either, but isn't near as lethargic as he was) I have decided to not let her suffer like he did. I looked up some ways to help her not suffer so much, although, I admit, it is extremely hard knowing that my actions will end her life. I thank you all for the support and help you gave me... now to break the news to the kids.

Wish me luck.

I'm sorry to hear that. I was hoping he would hold out a little longer. I hope the kids take it well. I guess that death can be a learning experience too... eventhough it is really sad.

Good luck. Sorry to hear the bad news.

Sorry to hear the bad news. You gave him every opportunity possible. It's just sad that some just aren't meant to be.