Struggling Ball Python...

Question
Hi!  I found Blake the Snake laying half in his water dish which I thought was odd given our old house can be cold and drafty when it;s 16 outside!  I know his whole house should be toasty but in extreme weather he lounges over his heater pad under the tank.  Well, turns out his pad had been unplugged somehow and he was near death.  Wayyyyy too cold!  We thought he was on his way out for sure as he couldn't move his body very well and did weird flips.  Something lead me to put him in the bathroom sink full of warm water and he looked awful, thrashing around because he had so little muscle tone.  His eyes had been sunk in and wrinkled but this 1st H2O treatment brought them back to a beady eyed state, subsequent soakings gave him more muscle tone and cleared his eyes so you could see pupils again!  I worked with him a lot yesterday, making him slither from hand to hand and working on muscle tone.  He couldn't begin to hold onto anything, today he can hold himself, hang, onto my hand by his tail for a few minutes. Tried getting him to eat a freshly killed small mouse but no luck.  If he continues to improve today I will go to town and get him a pinkie.  I figure I should make eating as easy as possible.  The cat enjoyed his mouse last night!  He is now wrapped around my neck where it's warm.  Yesterday he wouldn't have been able to do that as he was so weak and stiff.  I put him through the water bath agian today and got his eyes back out of the sunken state he went back to overnight and worked his body some more. His eyes got round again but now appear to have sunken back a bit again.

Any advice??  Could the vet feed him some how other than getting him to open his mouth and eat normally?  I have an exotic pet vet.  Unfortunately just ran up a $300 bill on my African Grey parrot when a Raccoon tried to pull him out of his outdoor Summer cage and really can't afford another big vet bill for a $80 snake (although he was a grand opening special for $29, it would be $80 to replace him now, parrot $1000).  We love his little beady eyed self though and if you think it would be worth doing I will take him tomorrow when they open again.  NOT doing an emergency trip!  I have managed to get a lot of improvement doing my snake physical therapy thing!!

Any advice would be great!  I'll go get a pinkie and try to get him interested in eating in the meantime and will check back here often.  Left a message with another expert who has changed his status to maxed out today (my luck!) and also left a message on a reptile rescue line but haven't heard back from them either.

THANKS!

Answer
Hey Lisa,

I am so sorry about the wait on my reply. It sounds like you are doing the right thing. Just keep an eye on him and listen to his breathing. If you notice any wheezing then you may consider asking the vet for an antibiotic for it.

As for the eating, let him get more comfortable and back into the routine of things. Just keep offering food every week.

Eric Rovegno