Absolute heart drop I got this morning when I woke up, checked my babies, and I find Kubrick my special little guy on his back and unresponsive. I noticed a little bit of reaction when I touched his tail so I threw him on my ball python rack’s heat tape trough with some media in between so as not to burn him, to my surprise he’s been gaining back a bit of life to him. Problem is, should I keep him on that heat? Keep stimulating him? Should I try to get some food and water in him once he picks back up hopefully? And my last question, he hasn’t been regaining function of his head very well which worries me a ■■■■ ton, anything specific I can do to help him along and pray for his survival?
Here’s two pics of Kube, I briefly took him off the heat tape and warmed him in my hands to see if he could move better at all, he was doing somewhat well there but then declined again a bit and is back on the heat tape currently just coiled up
Gonna need info, was there any symptoms before this? Was his enclosure cold or were temps fine? Has he been eating and drinking normally? On the back does not bode well for survival here. If he was cold, putting him on heat immediately is not a good idea, especially if you’re not closely monitoring the temps as you could kill him by overheating, especially if he’s already ill. Whatever you do, do NOT attempt to feed him at this point.
Absolutely no symptoms before this, he seemed to be doing fine last night, even had a quick ten minute handling session. My room did drop in temp a bit last night I believe due to seasonal fluctuations by maybe two degrees, but otherwise he was kept at his usual temps. He was eating and drinking before this perfectly fine, seemed a bit sluggish lately but I played it off as normal since everybody in my collection has been since it’s already awfully cold where I am. On the heating finding a better source for him currently, thank you so much
What you’re going to want to be careful with right now is the fact that if he’s as flat (depressed/inactive) as he looks, he won’t be able to self-regulate by moving from warm to cold. Two degrees really shouldn’t do much, I wouldn’t think, but if there were a draft or enclosure heat wasn’t able to keep up, it could be a problem. In the future, make sure to always slowly warm a snake, immediate exposure to a significant temperature shift can cause shock to the system. What I can say is he’s looking a little dehydrated. I’d do a soak in 83-85ºF water, you’ll have to hold him (head above water entirely unless he goes for a drink) as he’s not alert enough to be unsupported in water at the moment, high risk for something like aspiration/drowning.
I went back and checked your post history, I saw Kubrick has some pretty significant kinking going on, and I have to say, prepare yourself for the worst. The problem with kinked animals is you can never be sure if the kinking is the only issue, or if there are more defects internally. Given age/size/appearance, it’s possible this is internal defects finally catching up and being unable to support his needs any further. Right now the best you can do is supportive care. Keep him a stable temperature slightly higher than normal around 80-83, if he’s unable to move, you’ll have to give him supported soaks to keep him hydrated. Hopefully he improves, I’ll be keeping you both in my thoughts.
Oh I am so sorry to hear about Kubrick! Sounds like this might have been brewing for awhile. You have expert advice from Jess so Kubrick is in good hands. I am sending good vibes to you and him.
I apologize for not responding earlier. I’ve been checking in a bit less these past few days because of my son’s wedding this weekend. I can’t add to the excellent advice you’ve gotten for the crisis. I hope that it was something simple like him being chilled from perhaps a heating malfunction, but I must say that being on his back is a very bad sign. They typically don’t do that simply because of being cold.
I hope that by now he’s improved noticeably or been able to get to a vet. I’ll be thinking about you and Kubrick today, saying a prayer.
finding a better source for him currently, thank you so much