Meet my emaciated, pathetic foster corn snake babies--*Happy endings #56!

[Lauruffian]

I’m shipping out our last hatchling Mushroom today (to a COTHer, no less!), so I took the opportunity to take some contrast photos.

He is younger than these girls (his hatch date is 8/4), but look at the contrast in appearance when I weighed them:

“Snowball”‘s intake photo, a pathetic 5 grams.
Contrasted with our 9g “Mushroom”. And Mushroom is smaller than these snow girls’ healthy eating siblings.

I tried to get a contrast pic holding the two, but they aren’t exactly cooperative models. You do get a clear contrast in the coloring, heh. Mushroom has no melanin, but the reds and yellows remain. Snow corns have have no melanin (amelanistic) OR red pigment (anerythristic). Snows do develop various amount of yellow as they get older; the yellow is the last pigment to develop in any corn.

This close up of “Snowball” really illustrates how pitiful they are. Her head appears enlarged due to her emaciated state; skin is sagging such that it creases (note the white line of folded skin that appears halfway between the top and bottom all along her body); spine is prominent across the top. Poor baby.

But they’re eating! So I look forward to watching their appearance change over time.

[Simkie]

Awww, poor wee skinny snakeling. Lauruffian, I am very grateful that you care so much, have the knowledge to help these guys and that the pet store owner was willing to turn them over to get them better

[xcjumper]

Awww poor babies How many feeds does it take to notice a weight change?

ETA: How do you keep them on the scale without a restraint system? Amelia would be gone…gone…gone!! LOL

[wireweiners]

This is one reason I got one of Lauruffian’s snakes rather than getting one from a pet store. I felt like her babies would be better cared for and conditioned than one from a commercial breeder. I guess it goes back to my dog show days, buy from a breeder.

Anywho, Mushroom arrived in Arkansas this morning and caused quite a stir when he was delivered to my office. He’s waiting here for his new mom to pick him up and take him home.

[Kitari]

@wireweiners;7744865

This is one reason I got one of Lauruffian’s snakes rather than getting one from a pet store. I felt like her babies would be better cared for and conditioned than one from a commercial breeder. I guess it goes back to my dog show days, buy from a breeder.

Yep same here. Not to mention temperament evaluation which most pet stores dont do or lie through their teeth about.

[Lauruffian]

[QUOTE=xcjumper;7744087]
Awww poor babies How many feeds does it take to notice a weight change?

ETA: How do you keep them on the scale without a restraint system? Amelia would be gone…gone…gone!! LOL[/QUOTE]
:lol: He was groggy. I had taken him directly from his deli cup to the scale, and he had clearly been asleep. A few moments later, there is NO WAY he would have stayed on that scale for more than a few seconds.

As far as noticing a weight change–I’m not sure, but I’m about to find out! I’m going to feed every four days and weigh weekly. Of course I’ll post updates here.

Wireweiners, so glad he arrived safely! If a bit grumpily. I can’t wait to see update pics and hear stories and his adventures with his new owner. Sounds like he’s in great hands.

And thank you and Kitari for the compliments. I do look out for my “grandsnakes” and this year was extra exciting as four went to owners giving me regular updates. Last year, while I had some private sales, they went to people at my school I don’t keep in a lot of contact with so I didn’t get to see or hear many updates. This is great!

[Lauruffian]

Also, Snowball says “I have a Lego house and youuuuu donnnnn’t.”

[xcjumper]

@Lauruffian;7745065

:lol: He was groggy. I had taken him directly from his deli cup to the scale, and he had clearly been asleep. A few moments later, there is NO WAY he would have stayed on that scale for more than a few seconds.

Oh good…here I was thinking I was crazy to stick Amelia in the Deli cup to weigh her. Which, By the way, I can hardly get her in the cup. She just does not want to go in there anymore. lol!!

[Lauruffian]

[QUOTE=xcjumper;7745226]
Oh good…here I was thinking I was crazy to stick Amelia in the Deli cup to weigh her. Which, By the way, I can hardly get her in the cup. She just does not want to go in there anymore. lol!![/QUOTE]

:lol: “I’m a big girl now! No more crib! I get a big girl bed!”

Edited to add: I weigh my snakes in a light plastic tub thingy (it weighs 114 grams, to be specific )that’s about 12" long and 8" tall–and even then it’s hard to keep them in there. They’re like cats: “I only want to be in here if I choose to be in here!”

[Lauruffian]

It’s been 4 days and the snakelings are getting active, so I thought I’d try feeding again.

Sunrise: Success! She went straight for her boiled pinkie and immediately started swallowing, even before I covered her deli cup to give her privacy.
OM NOM NOM

Nice happy full belly yet again

Unfortunately, Snowball showed NO interest. I may try again tonight when it’s completely dark and quiet (that’s when she ate last time), or I may wait another day or two, which probably makes more sense…I’m just impatient to get weight on them.

[JumpQH]

How are the two babies doing??? Especially Snowball…

[Lauruffian]

Snowball refused to eat last night, but I’m being a bit ambitious as she hasn’t even pooped out her last meal and it’s only been 4 days. I aim to try again with her this weekend.

[JumpQH]

Dang it! Snowball - EAT!

Another weird question - how long does it normally take a snake to poop out their last meal?

[Lauruffian]

It depends on a few factors, like heat and health, but the average I’d say is about 48-72 hours. Snowball had poop in her cage just today, which is a LONG time to digest (6 days)…but as emaciated as she is, I’m guessing her body was sucking every drop of nutrients out of it as she could. Maybe she was a touch constipated–I think that’s normal for any emaciated animal when they start getting real meals again. I’m going to try again with her tonight.

[Lauruffian]

Whoo hoo! After waiting 48 more hours, Snowball ate last night. He ate readily too, so…YAY!

That’s two meals in a week for these guys. They’re looking much better; I think they were dehydrated as well. I’ll photograph progress and do a weigh in tomorrow so Snowball’s meal can settle a little more.

Also, both appear quite clearly to be boys. Popping is a new skill of mine, but it seems quite apparent that if they got 'em, they got 'em. And how funny is this–someone who bought one of my females from this year’s clutch already wants one for future breeding. Obviously, they need more time, but cool that someone already wants to take one home.

[Simkie]

YAY!! He already looks so much better, Lauruffian

[JumpQH]

Yay, Snowball! Funny how they’re both boys instead of girls!

[JumpQH]

Lauruffian - what, no update? No new pictures??? I want to see the difference!

[Lauruffian]

So sorry. Life has gotten in the way of me posting (darn that life), but I have been wanting to update.

I offered feed again (going with the every 4-6 day regimen), and Sunrise just inhaled it. It seems to have clicked with him that food = well, food. He was so eager he began eating as soon as he saw it. But, before I fed him I took a few photos. Here’s a close up of him–I really like his unusual pattern of the saddle marks along his back.

Now, good news is when I tried to weigh him, he wasn’t having it. He was too energetic, as a healthy baby should be. I just could NOT get him still on the scale, so I had to put him in this 25g container to hold him in place long enough for a proper read (and non-blurry photo).

Unfortunately, Snowball refused to eat both then and today, but it’s only been 6 days since the last feed. I think I’ll back him up to offering food about once every 6-10 days. My son’s yearling happily makes good use of his leftovers. I did get some nice updated photos of him, though.

I managed to keep him on the scale to weigh him–7g, like his brother. This means they’ve both already gained 2g (40% of their intake weight!) under my care. :yes:

Snowball still appears more emaciated than his brother–head appears enlarged compared to the rest of the body, visible folds of loose skin, and so on–but he IS more active already and not nearly as weak and listless as before.

Snowball may be telling me subtly that he doesn’t like being handled; some babies just find it terribly stressful. That’s another reason for me to decrease feed attempt frequency.

Both boys are now the healthy weight of newly hatched babies and have a ways to go to the 10-12 grams they should be at this age, but they are definitely on their way there.

[JumpQH]

Whew, thanks! I hate when that danged “life” gets in the way of an update!

Sunrise looks AMAZING! Snowball still does look skinny, even though they weigh the same. When do you think Sunrise can go back to the pet shop? I would guess that Snowball will be staying with you longer than his brother?