How to Get a Underweight Ball Python Healthy Again
There are numerous reasons why your ball python may exist underweight and not eating. As a reptilian pet owner, you want to ensure you lot provide the all-time for your pet python, which includes keeping them at a healthy weight.
Snakes have the ability to shop their energy, surviving months without feeding. Ball pythons take survived upwards to six months without food.
Signs of an Underweight Ball Python
- Ridged dorsum
- Triangular body shape
- Hollow belly
- Hanging skin
- Loss of jaw muscle definition
- Sunken eye sockets
Causes of an Underweight Ball Python
Stress
Stress is a mutual reason why your ball python may be refusing food and losing weight.
If yous take recently purchased or adopted your pet or you have moved their enclosure to a high traffic area, your pet may demand some time to adapt.
Requite it time to settle into its new enclosure or location, proceed offering foods, removing them if it doesn't swallow. Your pet will start eating once it settles in.
Related – How to tell if a brawl python is happy or stressed.
Constant Source of Light
Even though your ball python is nocturnal, they don't appreciate bright light at night. A nighttime glow low-cal is ample. Leaving lights on all night will only misfile your pet as to when it is 24-hour interval or dark.
Every bit they are most agile at dusk and dawn, your pet may not be eating due to not knowing what time of day it is.
Incorrect Humidity Levels
Every living thing requires humidity to survive, including your brawl python. If your humidity levels are incorrect, then your pet may have a lack of appetite and lose weight.
Depression Temperatures
A drop in temperature is seen in colder winter months when your pet will go into a low activity state with a low ambition. While brawl pythons don't usually brumate, if there is less movement and a lack of appetite, it could be temperature-related.
Treatment
Of course, when you lot bring your new pet home, you want to handle it. Endeavor and refrain, give your pet some time to settle into its new home, and go used to you.
If you see your pet is stressed when treatment, hold back for a while. Treatment can event in unnecessary stress, which can atomic number 82 to a lack of appetite and unwelcome weight loss.
Feeding in Split Container
Many brawl python owners remove their pets from their habitat and feed them in a separate container. This can make your pet uncomfortable and less likely to eat, which will issue in your pet condign underweight.
Non Plenty Hiding Places
Ball pythons are ambush predators, they prefer hiding under leafage and then pouncing on their prey unexpectedly. If you don't have plenty hiding places, your snake can become stressed, resulting in information technology losing weight.
Related – Best ball python hides.
Fussy Eater
Brawl pythons are known to be fussy eaters. If yous accept brought your pet dwelling and it's starting to move effectually move with frequent natural language flicking, and so it's probably hungry. Y'all may have to try a number of different prey options to find what your pet volition eat.
Incorrect Size Prey
If you are not feeding your pet enough, it volition become underweight.
As a rule of thumb, your python volition eat casualty that is every bit wide as the widest part of your pet. Measure out the eye of the body to aid you identify the size of prey that your pet can manage with ease.
You may have to attempt a number of sizes to come across which your pet is comfortable in eating, reducing the risk of the prey getting stuck.
Disease
When your pet is unwell, it will become less active, attempt and coffin or hide and it will lose involvement in food, even when offering its favorite treat.
If your pet doesn't consume for a prolonged period, it will become dehydrated, showing sunken eyes and hanging skin.
Illness, such every bit mites, bacterial infections, oral fissure rot, and egg binding, can all result in a lack of appetite and your pet becoming underweight.
Impaction
Impaction is the same as constipation in humans and can result when your python accidentally consumes some substrate when catching their pretty or eating prey too big to digest.
When your pet becomes impacted, it is going to be uncomfortable and will refuse food, until the impaction passes. Do not ignore impaction, if you think your pet may exist constipated, seek veterinarian assistance immediately.
Treatments And Prevention
Authentic Humidity Levels
Brawl pythons require humidity levels that range from 50% to 65%. Optimum humidity levels help to go on your pet hydrated, helps amend sheds, and reduces the risk of respiratory infection.
In order to help your pet remain happy and salubrious, y'all will want to monitor your humidity levels on the cool and warm side of the enclosure using digital hygrometers.
Information technology is recommended to purchase ii hygrometers, one for either side of the enclosure to ensure both sides stay inside the required humidity levels.
Monitor Temperatures
When temperatures drib too low, your python will go into a blazon of brumation, where it lacks free energy and appetite.
In order to reduce the risk of this happening and helping your pet remain inside optimum weight levels, you desire to ensure you provide a warm and cool side to the enclosure, with a basking area.
The basking area temperate should range between 88ºF and 92ºF. The warm side should range betwixt 80ºF and 85ºF. The cool side can range between 75ºF and 80ºF.
Employ two digital thermometers, one on either side of the enclosure to ensure you maintain optimum temperatures for your pet at all times.
Feed in Own Enclosure
Ball pythons that are removed from their enclosures to consume are ofttimes underweight. It's recommended to feed your pet in its own enclosure. Remember to provide enough of hiding places, encouraging natural ambush feeding.
Accept a Set Feeding Schedule and Feed Right Size Prey
Many ball python owners make the error of feeding casualty that is too small-scale, not giving their pets the nutrients and minerals it needs to remain good for you and keep its weight at optimum.
Ideally, prey should be xx percent of the snake's body weight. With a set feeding schedule in place, yous are able to ensure you feed your snake enough o keep the weight on.
Substrate
In lodge to maintain optimum humidity levels, you volition want to utilise a coco husk substrate, mayhap adding some sphagnum moss. The coco husk is not big enough to crusade impaction.
Stay away from sand, clay, and pocket-size pebbles as substrate and rather get for paper towels, if yous are unsure to reduce the run a risk of impaction.
Vet
When all else fails and your pet continues to remain underweight, even though you lot are feeding correctly and you take optimum humidity and temperature levels, so seek veterinary assistance and treatment to identify the cause of the problem.
Conclusion
A healthy ball python will display consistent behavior, it volition accept articulate and alert eyes, its trunk will be in good conditions with regular sheds. Eating and drinking will remain normal with well-formed debris which should appear upwards to three days after eating.
If you are concerned your python is underweight, there are many things you can do to amend appetite and increment weight.
Source: https://thepetenthusiast.com/underweight-ball-python/
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