possibly sick ball?

I have many balls, but have not seen a snake do this before. I will however start from the beginning.

We purchased this baby (seems to be a 2010 normal female) from petco because they were on sale for 20$ (why the hell not get one at that price right?) Usually we dont go to petco but a friend had said they were having a killer rep sale.

Initially when handling her she seemed as healthy as any baby ball, but when we got it home i noticed its nose was a bit irritated (looks like retained shed, but shes shed a few times so idk) so i figured possible RI but i quarantined and brought temps up and she seemed to be doing better so i moved her into a bigger tank with another snake. They seemed fine for a few months but ive noticed she is not gaining any weight (dont have current weights cant be over 100g and i have had her for 2 or 3 months) but i have sence bought more babys and they seem to be growing quicker at this point.

Just a few questions i have before i consult a vet if need be
1. I would assume they do but does petco get from CBB or do they import (thinking possible parasite infection?)
2. Can a RI cause a baby to not gain weight?

Whatever it is, it is not contagious as her cage mate is healthy and gaining weight. Which in part is why im worried, one growing, one not. And from what ive seen most snake illness is contagious, but this is not as they have been together for over a month and one is 100% healthy and the other is just not gaining weight.

Any ideas will help, i can post pictures later if i can find my usb cable for my dslr, but the snake looks normal except the irriated nasal area and that its bothering me by how underweight it is.

Also it is eating like a champ too, one hopper a week like clockwork.

Your snake is probably stressed. BPs seldom seek out the companionship of their kind except for mating season.

I would separate her and ensure she was feeding and take a stool sample to the Vet to check for internal parasites.

Thanks for the advice. Not 100% sure shes stressed they seem to enjoy eachothers company, but i can try it.

I always separate them for eating anyway so i know that she is eating 100% of the time, i usually watch them while they are eating to make sure they eat.

Visually just seems like shes not getting any nutrition from eating once a week, how common is it for stores like petco to carry animals with parasites?

I am fairly certain that the majority of the ball pythons that come into petco are CH babies... I am not 100% on that, but at least the petcos around here seem to have it set up that way.

As Deb said, it sounds like an internal parasite. The other possible cause could be a developmental defect, for which there is not likely much that can be done. I have seen/heard about snakes that simply developed improperly prior to hatching, and were unable to digest food properly... Ultimately these snakes do not usually survive.

I doubt that a developmental issue would be the problem, especially if she's eating regularly, and defecating without difficulty.

I would DEFINITELY keep the two housed separately though. Even if it doesn't appear to be contagious, it may take a long period of time before any signs manifest themselves in the healthier snake. Personally I feel that it wouldn't be worth the risk of housing them together regardless...

Another option could be increasing her food intake. Instead of a single hopper, perhaps offer her 2 in one sitting if she is large enough, or offer every 5 days instead of once a week until she starts putting weight on. It's difficult to really give a perfect suggestion without seeing the snake, but those are typically decent starting points.

Good luck!

well it seems like most people are in agreement that its somekind of parasite, is there anything i can buy online that will treat it? (hate paying vet for meds)

There are probably tons of things you could buy online... but without knowing exactly what you're trying to treat, odds are you'd be doing more harm than good... Of course if you're an experienced microbiologist, you could probably just run the tests yourself and determine exactly what medications would be the most effective against the specific infection... but most people don't have that experience... and even for those of us that do, there are many medications that are available by prescription only.

I agree that vet fees are often a little outrageous, but sometimes it's really the only course of action that is an option to ensure that the animal gets the required treatment...