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Question about my cali king

Right- we're not being critical or blaming you. Two people you trusted told you the snake is fine. To us, who keep them, he is not fine, and you are so attached to him- you need to do something to investigate further while you still have time. Parasite treatment is relatively cheap and simple. Even a Grams stain to check out his bacteria is cheap.
 
RaLaser said:
I really don't see how he would have parasites. He's been bony for almost 3 years now. And he DID have a fecal a few months after I got him and it was normal (and he was skinny then, too). He hasn't been exposed to any "new" animals. He eats the same thing, from the same vendor and the feed is frozen. Very weird.
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Well, a stool sample, much like blood samples are only as good as the tests conducted- to get relevant results you need to know what to look for... and we don't know for sure if a test was conducted to rule out bacterias, Amebas, flagellate or Crypto to name a few... was the stool sample shipped to a lab?

Internal parasites exist to some degree in every organism, and we are constantly exposed to new ones via digestion and so forth. It is up to the immune system to go toe to toe with them- but it is possible that your snake's immune system is suppresed due to some factor... and remember that parasites wouldn't have been so common if they weren't extremely good at what they do... in-fact and live at the expanse of the host.
 
Yeah, he had a head injury where his head was almost completely severed. Because it occurred after hours, he was taken to an ER vet that didn't do reptiles who did the initial surgery, and then months of followup checking-out, from a few different vets that see herps. It's not just one vet that hasn't said anything about his size, it's 3 separate vets in 3 separate states that all see reptiles, AND a non-reptile vet. Unusual.

I'm going to schedule a vet appointment for bloodwork, etc, and I will post the results!!

To whoever said the seller "did me wrong" (can't click back)... I adopted him from a reptile rescue, not a seller. The rescue I got him from was in some woman's house in Baltimore. While most of the animals seemed healthy, there were TONS of them, and the house itself was pretty dirty. All I know about his background is that he was left at the rescue because he was unwanted. The rescue closed a few months after I got him (I got my ball python there, too), because she could no longer care for all the animals.
 
Hopefully there is a good poo in his tank I can bring to the vet. Going to schedule in the am, hopefully they have an opening tomorrow. Now I am all concerned! lol. Hopefully it's nothing major and he just was underfed. Of course, then I would feel bad about that. But at least it's easily remedied. He just never progressed like my two other kiddos did.
 
You will need a fresh stool in order to send for testing, but the vet shouldn't have too much problems to get a bit when the need rises :)
 
The person who said the seller "did me wrong"...
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RaLaser said:
I spoke with someone at the Baltimore Repticon that was selling calis and they said that they get a lot longer before they get wider. I told them how old he was and he said it was normal, but I didn't ask how long it would be.
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That was me, got confused. I thought you bought it at Repticon Baltimore. The rescue probably had good intentions, but just got overwhelmed. Good luck.
 
Nah, I went to the Baltimore Repticon a few weeks ago and asked a vendor that was selling king snakes about my boy, and he said it should be fine and that he will eventually fill out, and that they get longer before they get fatter.
 
I'm guessing you described the snake, and didn't show him the animal or a picture.
 
I pointed out a baby snake he had, and told him he was exactly that width, 3 years old (almost), and 3 feet long.
 
Okay, took him to the vet. He weighs 2 oz. (about 56 grams). I need to bring back a stool sample because there was none to bring today, however, I he was given a dose of Flagyl and I have 2 more doses to give over the next two weeks. The vet thinks it's unlikely to be parasites because of my feeder source and that he is otherwise completely healthy, but we are doing a float as soon as I bring in a sample. He suggested adding live fuzzies to the diet for added nutrition, instead of all frozen. And he suggested trying a few crickets in the tank, as well (in addition to the mice). He wants me to weigh him once a month, regardless of the results of the future stool sample. Thoughts?
 
Is this guy a reptile vet? IMO, live and crickets are bad advice -both potential harborers of parasites, which are the LAST thing he needs. And there is no evidence that live offers any more nutrition than frozen, as long as the frozen prey items are kept frozen and used promptly.

The snake could have had internal parasites when you got him, so you didn't have to introduce them. You might find Flagyl to be an appetite stimulant. I would feed this guy rat pinks every time he defecated, as long as not more often than 3 days apart.
 
My thoughts are, is the vet crazy??? Crickets??? ZERO nutritional value for a kingsnake. Live mice vs frozen mice? Does he also recommend you eat live cows and chickens yourself? What a crock.

I would weigh at every feeding, on a gram scale. The flagyl is a good first step. ANY animal can have parasites, and probably does. My vet can see parasites from the MICE in my snakes' poop. Meaning, parasites that were in the mouse, not in the snake.
 
Yes, he is a reptile vet; he feeds only live to his personal snakes. His reasoning behind why he didn't think it was necessarily parasites was because he has looked this skinny since I got him, and it's been 2.5 years and that if it were parasites from before I adopted him, something else would have occurred by now, left untreated. Regardless, I am doing the Flagyl and taking some poo samples in as soon as there are some.
 
Wouldn't any parasites in the frozen mice be dead from the freezing process? I don't know very much about parasites in reptiles, so I'm just asking. Can they survive those temperatures?
 
Some can, definitely.
Cryptosporidium can withstand temperatures as low as -27 degress Celsius(2% of the tested culture survived and remained capable of infecting).

Parasites can definitely live in reptiles for many years without killing the host- if parasites killed their host too quickly they wouldn't have thrived. They are dependent on their host.

Flagyl is a good start. Make sure you follow the proper instructions.

I suggest buying "Understanding Reptile Parasites"... IMHO, you will know more than your vet by the time you finish it.
 
The fecal sample was clear. No parasites.

He is being fed two hoppers and a pinkie over the course of each week. Still no weight gain, as of yet.
 
I KNOW I've been feeding him the proper amount the time I've had him. He just doesn't gain weight. And now I have no idea why. I was almost hoping it was parasites so I would have some medical reason. Maybe he is just developmentally challenged.... lol. Will continue weighing...
 
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