I think my snake is sick.

[J.huff23]

I believe that there is something wrong with one of my snakes. My largest corn has been unusually skinny since I bought him in August. Despite weekly feedings I can always see and feel his bones. The skin is jus stretched over the skin with very little meat. I found during maintainence today that he had regurgitated his last meal and is extremely sluggish. On top of his lack of gaining weight I am becoming concerned. Does anybody know what may be wrong?

-Jake Huff

 

[Niffarious]

Yes, he hasn't seen a vet yet.

An exam needs to be done and stool samples need to be checked out. There's not much anyone here can tell you aside from agreeing that these look like signs of anorexia due to an illness with an undetermined cause.

 

[nickianderson]

Get major heat on it until you can get it to a vet, and monitor it hourly to make sure its not overheating, if they are too cold they also won't eat. The best thing to do like mentioned is get it to a vet! Also if its big enough try to feed rat pups instead of mice as they are higher in fat and better overall. I have a lot of experience with snakes, just not corns

 

[The Snark]

On your trip to the vet you might want to take along some vomitus and feces so the vet can check for parasites.

 

[pitbulllady]

Get major heat on it until you can get it to a vet, and monitor it hourly to make sure its not overheating, if they are too cold they also won't eat. The best thing to do like mentioned is get it to a vet! Also if its big enough try to feed rat pups instead of mice as they are higher in fat and better overall. I have a lot of experience with snakes, just not corns

Nick, "major heat" will kill a Corn quicker than too little heat, especially if by "major" you mean temps that you'd keep something like a Bearded Dragon under. Corns are temperate animals, and can't tolerate high temps like that. The symptoms are typical for some sort of intestinal parasite, so the snake needs to be taken to a vet, along with its most recent fecal sample, and kept WARM, but not HOT. Many of the bacterial and protozoan causes of the problems the OP described actually flourish best at higher temps, so if the snake has something like Coccidia, that can actually make the problem get worse very quickly, quite the opposite of a snake with a respiratory infection.

pitbulllady

 

[nickianderson]

Yeah, it's nicki, and with almost any reptile you want to add heat. I said twice to get it to a vet.

 

[nickianderson]

Oh and by major that means higher than normal

 

[Niffarious]

Why would you want to add more heat than normal for an already compromised animal? I would imagine being unable to properly regulate, and being at temps too high for the species would induce stress. For a possibly heavily parasitized animal that could be fatal.

 

[nickianderson]

Almost any animal you raise the heat when they are sick. It helps the animal stay warm instead of trying to regulate their body temp, their body can fight whatever it is better, and since a snake has no way to regulate its body temp anyway, since it is an ectotherm, raising the heat can help it, at least that's what all our vets have told us. Agree with pitbullady though take a fecal and stuff to your vet.

 

[Niffarious]

Snakes regulate their body temperature environmentally, which is my point. Raising the temperature can potentially help (depending on illness) but only if the snake is able to regulate its temperature - which they do by going to a cooler location. If they are unable to do this there is the potential they can overheat or become stressed.

Of course this is all moot without vet assistance at this point, which is why my first response was that a vet and fecal need to be done ASAP.

I hope the snake pulls through.

 

[nickianderson]

Agreed, that's why constant monitoring would be required, but I also hope your snake gets better

 

[J.huff23]

Are many vets capable of treating reptiles or would I have to find one specialized?

 

[The Snark]

While I'd appreciate heat when feeling sick, I'm a mammal the last I checked. I strongly feel a snake expert needs to weigh in on this with citations. Reptiles often cope with disease by pseudo self induced torpor which cannot be accomplished in hot situations.

Are vets capable of treating reptiles? You have three different kinds of vets, two of which are very common. The first won't even look at a reptile. The second group can treat any animal under the sun from protozoa to elephants. The third group, roughly as common as Galapagos tortoises in Greenland, are competent and qualified at treating reptiles. The first group is at least, honest. At a very rough guess, for every 1$ made treating reptiles, vets make a few hundred trillion treating cogs and dats and similar feces generators.

 

[Niffarious]

Are many vets capable of treating reptiles or would I have to find one specialized?

You need to see a specialized exotics/herp vet. Try to find one that comes recommended by other local keepers. I found this list for your state doing a quick search. http://www.anapsid.org/vets/penn.html

Does your city/area have a reptile club? They may have recommendations as well.