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Putting weight back on after an escape

kipchack

kipchack

New member
So my little guy got out in early November and despite my desperate attempts to find him, trying every trick in the book, for two months I couldn't find him. I felt for sure that the cat had somehow eaten him or he'd gone down the vent. Well, early this January I noticed what looked like fresh snake pee leading away from the water dish I'd left out and forgotten about, and after an hour of rummaging I discovered he'd slipped through a tiny unzipped section of an old school binder in one of the big file folders. Now since being back home and to heat he seems to be doing really well and is no worse for the wear, but after a few weeks I noticed that he looks a bit skinny- nothing extreme, but I can see his spine a bit and he's not as robust as he was before.

I've been feeding him an adult mouse every 5-6 days (used to be every week before he went missing) and he's about 3 1/2 feet long right now for a size comparison. But instead of fattening up he almost seems a bit skinner after settling back down into his tank- could he be sick? What are some tips for putting weight back on a snake safely after such a long fast?
 
It couldn't hurt to get a fecal sample done, in case he's eaten a wild mouse during his escape and picked up parasites. (2 months really isn't that long a fast, in breeding mode some of my boys will go almost 4 months without getting skinny)
 
Agreed, if he's gotten any parasites then that might be why he's starting to look skinny now, they've had time to multiply and start taking a toll on your pet. My 2 cents. Probably goes without saying though :/
 
Also, if he's eating adult mice, I wouldn't feed him more often than every 7-10 days. He needs time to fully digest the previous meal.

I second the idea of doing a fecal on him to look for parasites.
 
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