Hey guys!
I’m “rescuing” a BP from a lady in one of my sister’s Facebook groups. Apparently she was given it as a gift a couple years ago and half-heatedly took care of it for a couple years but just doesn’t want to deal with it anymore. My sister just picked it up and I’m getting it from her on Wednesday. I’ve already bought some supplies I know it’s going to need by looking at its current enclosure (no proper hides, no heat lamp...) and I plan on taking it to the vet after I get it and clean it’s tank to make sure it’s healthy and get it sexed. (Although... should I wait a bit so it can de-stress some before I bring it In?) The lady who had it never bothered to find out. She thinks it’s about 3 years old.
Anyway, I’m looking for tips on how best to retrain/rehab it. Apparently it hasn’t been handled very much, and it had gone about 6 weeks without feeding when my sister picked it up. She already fed it two mice tonight which it ate pretty quickly. But she walked past its tank later and it lunges at her/got its teeth stuck in the lid. It’s probably just still hungry and stressed, I told her to feed it another mouse tomorrow and try to cover the tank with a blanket or something to reduce stimuli.
What is the best way to get it used to being handled? (And realistically how often should I prepare to be bitten in this process?) And what other things should I take into consideration as I transition it to my home/care. I don’t want to stress it too much right away by handling it too much. I’m still relatively new to the ball python world, but I’ve had one other BP now for about a year, even though he’s still quite young and already very used to being handled a lot.
Any advice you all have is very much appreciated! I can only imagine the care it’s received over the last few years by the current state of its tank and its behavior.... breaks my heart. I just want to give him/her the best home possible.
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