i rescued a bp yesterday....sad story

[racer69]

i know i'm not the most expeireinced with these but my snake though i've had for a few months is very healthy eating on a regular basis, gaining weight like a champ and shedding in full peices so i think i have te priorities down...now on with the story

friday night i'm looking throught the local classified ads (thrifty nickel) and i come across. BALL PYTHON, 2 years old, 2 cages to choose from, all accessories included, need to sell ASAP, $200 or best offer...so i call the guy asking what size cages he had and he said he had a 40gal and a 4'wide by 6' tall by 2' deep convert....i was thinking cool just want ive been looking for and told him i wanted to buy the cage and was coming to look at it on saturday.

saturday comes and i go there and he has his 2+ year old BP in there and when i senn it and picked him up i about cried!!! he's between 3.5 and 4' long i believe and my Brutus which is still a yearling had more girth than him! yes severly under weight and has atleast 2 retained sheds on him....i asked the guy what happened he said i wnet out of town for a few days and his water dish ran dry. i was like BS!!! and then proceeded to ask why so skinny. he said there's times that he wouldn't eat for me for weeks and months....(but this snake is so skinny) i didn't have my truck with me for the big cage and wasnt really planning on getting another snake yet let alone another male, btu i ended up leavign with the snake and all accessories and the 40gal and going back today to get the big tank .....

the new snake's name is john and the guy was like i bought him at a show 2-2 1/2 years ago and the guy said he's HET or something...lol...he had a card on him but lost it....anyways....i know you're supposed to let snakes get comfortable in new enviroment/acclimate before feeding but saturday is one of brutus' feeding days so i bought 2 med/large mice and fed one to brutus and figured i'd atleast try to give john one...you know i had that thing dangling in the tank for about 10sec when he grabed it! i feel the mouse was a little small cause he had bitten it and constricted for 5+ minutes and the mouse was still alive so i reached in and pulled on the tail and he squeezed tighter eventually killing it and swallowing.....i waited 3 hours occasionally looking in to make sure he didn't regurgitate or anything, and when i'd look in he'd follow my head and was moving about like hunting. so i went and bought a slightly bigger mouse and wham he ate that sucker down too. i just want to punch this guy i got him from cause john is in bad shape looks to be healthy to a point very docile even with retained sheds and eyecaps! i want to post a pic but i don't want to have anyone almost cry like i about did!

BUT i would like to see pics of anyones snakes that are 3-4 foot in legnth because i know he's under weight and his girth is no where near where it's supposed to be and i'd like a reference of how fat he should be.

thanks, sorry for the novel but i had to vent a little!

[frankykeno]

Sounds like a bad case of neglect Dan. Best to just let the anger go though and focus on getting John better. Stable husbandry, regular feeding (don't rush that, remember this snake hasn't been digesting properly so too much food too quickly can do more harm than good), little handling, etc. is the way to go in my opinion. Make sure the humidity is good and he'll likely shed soon with the proper food in him now. Soak him if needed to help that old shed come off cleanly. Get a fecal done as soon as you can just to make sure all is well that way and make absolutely sure you fully quarantine him. Only care for his needs after you've done any other herps in the house and scrub afterwards. Personally we keep all snakes in quarantine on pure white papertowels to watch for mites and also for the ease of collecting fecals and monitoring healthy defecations and urinations. He's likely dehydrated so access to a constant supply of clean water is a must of course.

We had one snake come in at 18 months that was barely bigger than our 8 month old. With proper prey volume and a consistent feeding schedule she sprouted, literally gaining before our eyes in both weight and length but doing so in a steady, healthy manner.

It's wonderful you've taken on this male. Get some pics now so you can look back one day when he's a big ole healthy boy and see the great changes you've helped him through.

[racer69]

yes i have him quarantined in the 40gal i got from the guy....he used it for feeding, so i figure ti wouldn't be too much of a change, it took me forever to cleanit!!! old shed stuck everywhere...i really don't think everyone wnats to see pics of this guy, but i will get soem....i just fed him yesterday but still may try and get him outand soak him and when i do i will get pics...prob later on tonite, need to go and get a few more things to monitor his enclosure....but i will get some pics up today, but looking at other peoples pics of snakes the same length it's horible! and yes i'm waiting on that first urate so i can take it in.

[Ginevive]

How awesome, that you got him and that you'll be helping him. For starters, I would keep him in a room seperate from your current BP; a place in your house where there's little traffic and disturbance. I do think that you were right in not giving him a huge food item; but if he took it, and hasn't regurged yet, that sounds good.
I am sure that more people will chime in with more rehabilitation info; for now, I'd put him in the tank with simple newspaper substrate, a nice clean water bowl, and two secure hides in the manner given on this site's caresheet. For humidity raising, you can cover the screen lid of the tank mostly with saran wrap and spray everything down with warm water; it will retain humidity nicely. But before that, does he have any wheezing or RI signs, or any belly sores?
You should post a pic, so we can better get an idea of his condition. Since you wanted to see healthy 3-4 footers, here's my breeder male LaVey.

[frankykeno]

Dan don't rush that soaking thing. You just fed the snake 24 hours ago so give him proper time to digest. You need to kind of prioritize his needs and figure out what needs to be done versus what needs to wait a day or two. It's a very fine balance with a rescue. There's stuff you have to do that is going to stress out the snake but done for it's own best interest but you have to carefully balance it all out. I'd say give the snake a proper amount of time to digest then worry about the soaking. You may not get all that old skin off but just focus on the fully encircling stuff. Little left over patches, old eyecaps, whatever will come off with subsequent good sheds. Again a fine balance between the need to get old skin off versus the incredible stress that soaking will put this snake through. It's all about small steps Dan...patience, small steps and just working the problems.

[racer69]

i'll hold off on the soaking until tomorrow, but i'll get pics when i get back, i'll need to take him out to arrange probes and so forth...so i'll get pics then.

[racer69]

ok pics are in this thread


http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...001#post458001