Totally disagree. The snake is emaciated and dehydrated, that doesn’t happen in a week. Definitely happened over the course of months at the least. I’m even going to pull the ‘I am a veterinarian’ card here. No chance. Owners are afraid/ashamed to admit long-term neglect (virtually all of them) and will claim the issue has only happened within the last 1-2 weeks. Very very common. The owner is very unlikely to crack and tell the truth. That said, if the snake was truly purchased recently, (1) the seller was the one neglecting the snake and should be charged and (2) the owners are extremely stupid. It doesn’t take any education or familiarity with reptiles to see that the poor thing is dying. As said earlier:
If this is an indication that they are trying to say they bought this animal from Petco within the last week, that’s absolutely a lie. Even the worst Petcos won’t put annimals in that condition out front to sell, and the few I’ve been involved with do take sick animals to a vet.
Also disagree about being hopeless to treat. With aggressive treatment and hospitalization, there may be a chance. Given the situation and low the likelihood of receiving that kind of intensive care, then there’s no chance of survival. It sounds like relinquishing the snake to a rescue that can handle the costs of either treatment or euthanasia would be the way to go here, just as previously suggested. Just so the owners know- most veterinarians will euthanize-only for reduced costs or even for free. (So, no cremation- they would most likely have to take the remains home with them.) I would only go to a reptile veterinarian for euthanasia, most small animal or mixed animal veterinarians don’t know how to humanely euthanize reptile properly.
Dudes I can’t spell or adhere to basic grammar. Thus all the edits. 