I got a large collection of ball pythons of all sizes from a breeder that was going out of buisness. I had a good bit of experiences with bps for being a teen.
I checked all of them thoroughly and watched them from a distance for a while, they all ate fine and the large ones have gone to good homes.
I had only very new babys left that where blue eyed Lucy’s but they didn’t look good. turns out they had internal parasites, they ate tho. I treated the others and they where fine but I had to put down the sickly ones.
any advice on how to knowtis this in the future?
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Tons of things they could have picked up from dirty feeders. In the US Panacur you can get at farm stores but Flagyl and Droncit require a veterinarian prescription. Problem is getting a stool sample from a probably not eating snake and even if you can it needs to be viewed fresh and even if nice enough to defecate during business hours the vet is probably going to want a future date scheduled appointment to see snake and sample together. Years ago I thought I found a workaround sending my snake to a specialty clinic across the country but even boarding her all winter the cage cleaner and vets schedules never aligned to view a sample before it aged out.
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I don’t know what the background of these snakes but it didn’t seem like they where not taken care of very well.
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How did you treat the sickly ones? Did they see a vet?
Sorry to hear that you got some ill babies… some indicators of internal parasites is consistent weight loss despite eating regularly, dehydration in some cases, foul stools, and general lethargy in worse cases (not holding their bodies up when held, abnormal movement, and a noticeably weak body in general). This can be treated by a vet visit and prescribed antiparasitic medication, as long as the vet can be provided with a fresh (as in no older than a day, refrigerated) stool sample.
As far as the cause of parasites is most likely food bourne… the previous “breeder” most likely wasn’t feeding them good qaulity rodents…
Or they were Wild Caught and came in already carrying parasites.
Edit: Also be aware there are other diseases in snakes/reptiles that can mimic parasite symptoms, but are much more likely to spread and kill quickly if not caught and treated in time. So if you have any more snakes you feel/know are ill they need to be seen by a vet as soon as possible.
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yes I took the better looking ones to a vet but the others I had to put down. they where only a few weeks old. thank you
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I think the breeder knew they where going to have to give all the snakes away so they stopped cleaning the tanks and really caring for them. There were about 18 babys in one small breeder tub.
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Man that really sucks 
Sorry that you had to go through that… I rarely “hate” people because I know a lot of people struggle with life and all, but in this case I hate “breeders” that do that sh!t…
They probably went out of business because they were incredibly irresponsible while breeding and when things started going wrong they just stopped caring, when literally everything they were doing could’ve just not happened if they chose not to breed because they knew they couldn’t handle the responsibility and take their animals to a vet.
Sorry for the rant… Thank you for taking them in and giving the healthy ones a second chance.
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I’ve got to ask, how did the vet determine it was a parasite issue, and why were some euthanized if they were all feeding?
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yea its sad and i wish i could have gotten them to a vet sooner but its just what happens. thanks again and ill look out for those signs
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I don’t really know how they found out but even though they where feeding they where not gaining any weight. so it seemed like the parasites or whatever it was where taking its nutrience. we took them to a friend who took them to a vet near them to get checked out.
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they suggested to put them down because it might spread ,like it did to the other babys.
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when we picked them up the person gave us a sip lock baggy of small rats that they had, we thew those out though so I don’t know where they came from
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so I assume it was wild caught rats like you said cuz they definitely looked it. but I really don’t know
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That doesn’t sit right… they shouldn’t be put down because their illness is contagious.
I’d get it if their condition literally wouldn’t allow them to survive, conditions like organ failure for example, and even then I don’t think the vet would make you put them down yourself…
If they were just ill and contagious, but still capable of survival they should have just been quarantined and treated with medications. What were they diagnosed with??
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A lot of things aren’t adding up here. You said these babies were only a few weeks old, while it is possible that they developed a high parasite burden in that short a time, it’s less likely. I’m also confused about the vet and the treatment. How long did you have them and try to get them gaining weight? What parasite was diagnosed? Most parasites found in feeders are not going to be contagious unless you’re housing multiple animals together and not cleaning properly.
I’m just trying to understand diagnosis and timeline because without knowing what parasite they had, it’s hard to give proper advice on what to look for and how to treat.
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we had tryed for them to gain weight for another week, so they where 2-3 weeks old and I gave them to a friend who took them to a vet and said that they had parasites and that they had to be put down. we tryed asking more info but cant get a hold of those friends anymore its all weird how I never saw the babys again. sorry if all this was confusing
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so we don’t know what kind of parasite except it was internal, at least what they said
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I agree they shouldn’t have if it was only contagious because I would have quarentined them.
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So wait, you only tried for a few weeks, gave them to the friend who took them to a vet, and then never saw them again because they had to be put down? But you were never given the parasite name, never saw them actually euthanized, and you can no longer contact the other person involved?
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