My First BP... an interesting looking rescue.

[RzezniksRunAway]

Hi!
I saved this girl from a most certain death about 6 months ago. My mother called me with a typically vague mother question of "Do you want a python?". I asked her some questions, she didn't have answers other than "I don't know". Story is a kid I went to high school with moved away and left the snake at his mom's house. His mom didn't want anything to do with it, so she called my mom to take the thing. My mom heard snake, said yes and called me. After more questions she called the kids mom back to find out what it was and called me back with "Its a bulb python". I took that as Ball, said whatever sure I'll take it, and hoped for the best. I worked at a pet store at the time and figured it could be re-homed through there, as I've never really been a BP person.When I saw her, I had to keep her. My mom picked it up on a Tuesday, and I couldn't get over to pick the snake up from her until Saturday. Thankfully my Mom has some sense of what snakes need, because the snake was in terrible condition. They had been keeping her in a bare glass 29g aquarium, no heat, no substrate, no water dish. The bottom of the tank was coated in urates, not a spec of feces to be found. She had a half log hide that was too big for her to be secure, and that was it. My mom somehow managed to get paper towels in the tank over the urates, and a glass pie dish with water on one side. She put a human heating pad under it, and rigged a lamp over the screen. I give her credit for that much, she was trying, even though she doesn't like pythons. When I went to pick her up, she had shed stuck all over her in multiple layers, and was so skinny. Her sides were straight, spine sticking out, stomach caved in.


I got her home and soaked her in warm water while I sanitized her tank. I set her up in a lower tank with eco earth and a smaller log, and a hide area that averaged around 98F. She spent most of her first 3 weeks in that hide, only peeking out to see what I was doing. After her initial soak, when I took her out and wiped her down, the shed came off of her in huge, gross clumps. My mom had given her food, knowing that she was skinny. She went and got 6 frozen mice from a Petco or such, and gave her 2 on the Tuesday she picked her up, 1 on Wednesday and one on Thursday. She got home late from work Friday or I think the rest would have been gone. After that fiasco, when I got her home I didn't offer her food until 10 days later, which was a day after she finally pooped. She took 2 f/t mice. For 3 months, she was on f/t mice, once every 7-10 days, and was pooping on a regular basis and putting weight back on slowly. She had 2 crappy sheds, close together, and has now had 2 nice, complete sheds. She eats a small f/t rat every 10-14 days now, and gets a decent amount of roaming time.

I was never a BP person until this snake, but she's awesome. Very, very food driven, but awesome. She'd take a rat every 5 days if I let her, but I'm trying to not push her too fast, too soon after having gone so long without a meal.

I don't have pictures of her when she first arrived, but I have some that I took earlier today when she was helping fold laundry. She's the most helpful of all the snakes with laundry, she just sits and chills. My others want to hide in it.

[RetiredJedi]

Great story. I love the reduced "specs" on her. Good job saving her, she looks really good health wise.

[ballpythonluvr]

Awwww! That poor baby! She went through hell and now she looks gorgeous and healthy. Good for you for taking her in and giving her the proper care. This reminds me of a female normal I once picked up off of craigslist. She was so underfed and had layers of stuck shed and eye caps. Feels good to help an animal, doesn't it????

[Flikky]

She is gorgeous.. Wow! Great job with her

[Sama]

She looks good, gratz on a great rescue!

[RzezniksRunAway]

Thanks everyone.

She's not my first reptile "rescue", but she certainly was the scariest. I have corn hybrid rescue, a charcoal corn rescue and a crested gecko that looked like she had been painted with Elmers Glue from all the stuck on sheds. I've been so paranoid over her. Thankfully over the years I've picked up enough reptile common sense to not go into full panic mode over things. About 4 months in, I was cleaning her cage and she was hanging out on my bed, and I heard a whistle. I went to "Omg she has a URI pretty fast", then calmed myself, checked her nose and removed the offending piece of shed. She hasn't had to see our vet, I've been lucky, the only one that went to see him was our corn hybrid, and that was only for a WTF is she visit.

[BHReptiles]

Congrats on the rescue! I went through a similar rescue in July. I had a friend text me and said "I know someone who just rescued a snake and she doesn't even like snakes. Do you want it? It's a ball python." I had been keeping corn snakes for awhile and had always wanted a ball python. I agreed and texted the person who originally rescued her and asked when I could come pick her up. Within the hour I was taking a look at my new addition. Apparently, the original owners lived behind this girl's trailer. They had two adult ball pythons and bred this little baby and gave it to their son. The son moved out during the night and left only the snake in a Sparklet's water jug sitting in his bedroom floor. The mom didn't want her so she was going to dump her outside in the Texas heat and let her fend for herself. The girl told the mother she would take her and housed her for about an hour before I could come pick her up. She named the snake Fluffy so I kept the name. She was very skinny (44g as a 6 month old according to the mother), had a complete stuck shed, and was dehydrated. Over the next couple of months, I nursed Fluffy back to health. Now Fluffy is a little over 325g and doing great!

I just love rescue stories and like knowing that there are other people out there who will take in animals in need.

[Badgemash]

I'm so glad you took her, she's a good looking girl too!

[TRACY]

she is a beautiful one. so glad to hear she is in a good home.

[Lolo76]

Great work with her - she looks terrific!! I'm sure she is happy to have been rescued by you.