Does this corn snake look sick or unhealthy to you?

I purchased my first corn snake from a breeder whose name I'm not releasing, as I have no idea if this was my own doing. I purchased two siblings, a male and female, from a breeder who claimed she had been breeding corn snakes and boas for 20 years. She was one of the few breeders I could find anywhere nearby, and was willing to drive and meet me halfway with the snakes, although because of time constraints, I chose to have them shipped. She had their pictures on here, although the account only had two posts. I had her send me videos of the snakes, which she did, posting on her Instagram and tagging me. I assumed the lack of info about her and her husband and their breeding was simply because they seemed to be private people. I was worried for a while that I was getting scammed and would be receiving zero snakes, as I found very little of their existence as people anywhere online. Eventually, I found marriage records for the two of them in the state they had said they were located in. That and the Instagram was enough for me at the time, although I will be more careful in the future. The woman seemed very helpful and kind, and she recommended the pictured anery male to me, saying it was her favorite. I eventually decided to purchase a female sibling as well.

The first picture is of when they arrived, where I briefly handled them before putting them in their enclosure, and the remaining pictures are in sequential order of the time I started handling him (5 days after they arrived) to his death a little over 2 weeks after I received him. The last picture is roughly 13 days after I got him. I've had many people say that he looked sickly upon arrival. He was 1/3 the size of his sister, something the breeder explained by saying that he was "a little finicky, but usually eats if you offer it to him every day until he eats until the third day or so" and "Yeah, she usually eats two so that's why she's bigger" . She assured me that they had both eaten the 3 days before she shipped them. I had/have had no luck getting either of them to eat. It has been almost 2 months since I received the female, and she has not eaten. Both seemed terrified of the frozen thawed pinkies I offered them no matter what method I tried.

I realize now I did a lot of things wrong. The breeder gave me a lot of bad advice, and I chose to listen to it rather than things I had read myself. So it's very possible that this is a situation of my own making. I am just curious as to the opinions here because everyone who I've talked to about it has said that the anery did not look or act healthy. Here are some of the things I did wrong, and how I've tried to correct them:

-The breeder said that I could house them together--when I told her I planned to put them in separate cages just in case, she argued and said that I should at least keep them together for a little while because they were used to each other. I planned to move them the day that the anery died. As of now, the female is still in that cage. It is a pretty densely furnished (lots of cover and hides to choose from) 20 gallon terrarrium.
-The breeder told me to repeatedly try to feed them everyday after they refused food. I now realize I should have offered food to them weekly regardless of whether they ate or not. I have taken this approach with the female for a month now.
-The breeder told me it was fine to handle them as soon as they started exploring. I handled them after five days (I had read 5 days to a week) for probably 15-30 minutes a day everyday. As of a month ago, I have stopped handling the female completely save for a minute or two every few day until she feeds, which seems unlikely to happen at this point.

I would also like to point out that the female was extremely frightened after her brother died. She was in a hide curled up next to where he died. The only time she ever struck me was when i reached to check on her. It was very much a defensive strike. She remained skittish and rarely ventured to that side of the enclosure for a while. I checked them both for signs that they had fought, but found none.

I think he looks sickly and starving, something I attributed to his small size at the time. But I also know I'm not very experienced and don't want to jump to conclusions.

The images aren't showing for some reason, so here is a link to an imgur gallery of them. http://m.imgur.com/a/khKFu

The picture of him on the leaf is the last one I took of him, a couple of days before he died.

I don't know under what conditions you kept him, or how you attempted to feed, but that male was in very poor condition.

It is doubtful that he was eating, at the "breeder's", and it is unlikely that he would have gone downhill, so fast, unless there was a preexisting problem.

The information, given to you by the "breeder", exhibits inexperience and a lack of knowledge.

....

I'm sorry your snake died. I'm not knowledgeable enough to give an opinion but condolences.

Sent from my C6743 using Tapatalk

IMO, he looks underfed and possibly dehydrated as well. My guess is that he never ate at all. Did he seem light or weak when you held him? Also, when he was being held, did he explore your hand, frequently flicking his tongue or he just sit there until you put him back. The tongue flicking is a very important sign to look for. Snakes that are very weak or very dehydrated either won't flick their tongues at all or will just barely stick it out. My condolences on your loss.

Originally Posted by ljarzynka

IMO, he looks underfed and possibly dehydrated as well. My guess is that he never ate at all. Did he seem light or weak when you held him? Also, when he was being held, did he explore your hand, frequently flicking his tongue or he just sit there until you put him back. The tongue flicking is a very important sign to look for. Snakes that are very weak or very dehydrated either won't flick their tongues at all or will just barely stick it out. My condolences on your loss.

He just sat there. I thought it was just because he was 'calm', as he was my very first corn snake. But you're most likely right. He was very light, almost to the point you wouldn't know he was there, and he seemed pretty weak. He would eventually explore, but it was very slow. I didn't want to believe it, but when I looked back at the pictures and watched his sister deteriorate, I couldn't shake the feeling. I'll be much more careful in the future. After more snooping and some subtle question asking, I feel like it's her husband that's the crook and has all the "experience". I found where she got the corn snake breeding pair on social media, and I'm fairly certain this was her first clutch as opposed to the 20 years of breeding she was touting about. Thank you. I've had to learn through trial and error, which is the worst way to learn, but I feel more confident in my husbandry now so hopefully I can find a good, healthy corn snake. Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by Pasodama

I don't know under what conditions you kept him, or how you attempted to feed, but that male was in very poor condition.

It is doubtful that he was eating, at the "breeder's", and it is unlikely that he would have gone downhill, so fast, unless there was a preexisting problem.

The information, given to you by the "breeder", exhibits inexperience and a lack of knowledge.

....

He was kept in very good conditions at my place. I got all the best supplies, spent hours reading up on husbandry. It was a bit difficult with all the dissenting options I read, plus the 'breeder' feeding me misinformation, but both he and his sister were kept in 10 gallon tanks until I would have felt they were big enough to move up to 20 gallon tanks. Lots of places to hide and cover, good sized hides that weren't too big or open. Warm side 80-85, cool side around 75. Humidity around 45%. Aspen shavings, clean water every two days. UTH and lamp. Regularly spot checked, completely fresh aspen every week. I'm open to any suggestions that will help me in the future, but I don't feel like the conditions were poor enough to kill him.

I definitely think this was her first time breeding despite how she bragged that she had never lost one of her babies in 20 years. There were too many mistakes, they didn't have a name for themselves out there like you'd expect from 20 years of breeding.

Yeah, that's what I read. The sister would not eat either, but she actually at least looked healthy when I got her, and it took her around 2-3 months to die. She was really pushing the anery, and I feel like it's because they couldn't feed him. I'm glad to have my suspicions confirmed because these were my first snakes after all, so my knowledge and experience base isn't huge by any means.

Would also like to add the sister has now passed away. She clearly starved to death, as in the 2-3 months I had her, she refused feed and deteriorated rapidly. She looked and acted just like her brother did before he died. Regurged after assist feeding, very weak, poor, and she's always acted terrified of her food. I would not be surprised if she was being assist fed or force fed by the breeder.

Originally Posted by Micki01

I'm sorry your snake died. I'm not knowledgeable enough to give an opinion but condolences.

Sent from my C6743 using Tapatalk

Thank you!