My rescue story w/pics. Saved this guys life!

Heres the back story.

There is this guy that would make all of you want to hit him. Unfortunately I have known him for years. Met him through a guy named Rick about 15 yrs ago. Rick got a small business loan to open the first reptile store ever in my area back then. He then employed this other guy to help out. One night the store was broken into, vandalized & animals stolen. Whatever wasn't taken was let out of its cage. Snakes, ferrets, lizards, everything roaming around together. My BF at the time & I were called to help with the clean up & to temporarily house some of the animals that had broken cages.

We eventually found out it was the guy Rick had employed. The idiot admitted it to another friend who then ratted him out.

Not only is this guy a thief but he is very neglectful of everything he has. He gets an animal just because he thinks its cool to have but usually lets it die. He has had multiple reptiles that died in his care & two skinny dogs he finally gave away.

2 yrs ago he adopted 2 burmese pythons that had been surrenders to Anetta & Wayne at Three Rivers Reptiles. One albino & one normal. They were a couple years old & about 5 ft. This guy never took proper care of them & was even so afraid of them, he had someone else come over to feed them. He got sick of them and put the cage in a back room never paid any attention to them after awhile.

Needless to say after being a small cage with no heat, no food, no water, the albino died. I dont know how the normal stayed alive for so many months after that but the entire time a friend & I have been trying to talk him into giving the snake to me to nurse back to health & then find it a home.

He didnt want to give it up! Yet he gave it no care at all? Finally after months he agreed to give it to me. I just couldnt stand to see it die like the other.

Now I have my hands full with an underfed & aggressive burmese which I need to use a 4 ft snake stick just to get him out of his tank, but in time I should be able to get him handleable & find him a permanant home. He is at least 4 years old now & only 6 ft. He is in a 3ft x 2ft 40gal breeder so you know he is much too small for his age. He drank water for 5 minutes & then took 2 large P/K rats.

Heres my mean as hell rescued burmese..
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...s/DSCF0941.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...s/DSCF0944.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...s/DSCF0943.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...s/DSCF0942.jpg

Thank goodness you did this! I had a similar experience with a man I contacted on Craig's List yesterday. I am looking for a burm, and contacted him, and he had this animal for 9 years, in a glass tank with no heat, not hide, water or substrate. He told me he fed it one mouse every 20 days. The photo he sent me was heartbreaking. I reported him. It's unbelievable what people do. Thank you for helping this beautiful animal, he has lots of reasons to be aggressive right now. :(

Wow, poor guy! Glad you have him now... I can't believe someone would intentionally do that to an animal. So sad...

Good job.

Word of advice if you plan on keeping him start NOW building him a nice BIG cage for him. I recommend nothing smaller than 6x3x2

Yeah the guy that had him is a joke. He didnt want to give it up because then he wouldnt have anything to scare his friends with..

I cant believe the other one died months ago & this one has been in a wooden cage with absolutely no heat source or water for so long.

Well now he has a UTH on a therm. A ceramic emitter on top and a big bowl of fresh water. Maybe he will calm down once he is no longer cold & hungry.

I always said Id never own another giant snake due to the hassle of housing & feeding but this was one of those things. I had the room so I had to take him. I wont be able to keep him forever but for now at least he is being taken care of properly.

Holy cow this guy is nuts! Im hoping after he digests and settles in a bit more I can get him out for some decent pics with myself but this guy sometimes strikes at the glass when you walk by.

Im hoping he is just cage aggressive and being in an area where he will see a little more activity than he is used to will calm him down a little. The tank he is in for now is actually bigger than what he was in before I got him. He is taking advantage of having a gradient now. Im going to work with this wild guy & try to get some better pictures up soon. Heres hoping I dont get bitten :O

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Holy cow this guy is nuts! Im hoping after he digests and settles in a bit more I can get him out for some decent pics with myself but this guy sometimes strikes at the glass when you walk by.

Im hoping he is just cage aggressive and being in an area where he will see a little more activity than he is used to will calm him down a little. The tank he is in for now is actually bigger than what he was in before I got him. He is taking advantage of having a gradient now. Im going to work with this wild guy & try to get some better pictures up soon. Heres hoping I dont get bitten :O

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First off good job for rescueing him from that idiot :gj:.He is striking at every movement because he has been starved and more then likely teased all that time.If you give him some time to realize he is in a better home he should calm down.I would just feed him and aproach him slowly when its needed.

Of definately. If you really look at the first pic you can see how thin he is everywhere other than the feed lump where he just had his first real meal in awhile. A 4 yr old burm should not be that thin & only 6ft long. He was tucked away in a back room and never saw anyone or anything. Now that he is being fed & gets to see a little more activity he should eventually figure out that he is not in danger.

I have a three year old anaconda that is only 6 feet. I would put a towel over the glass for a while to try to stop him from striking it. One of our labyrinths use to strike the glass constantly when we first got him and messed his face up. But he calmed down over time. I wouldnt count on him calming down after hes warmed up if anything he will probably be more snappy. Put one of your shirts in his cage so he knows your smell. Dont try to handle him for a while let him get used to where hes at and warmed up. And then start handling him everyday even if its only for a couple of minutes. And dont try to stuff him with food either. I know hes hungry but if hes been starved and you feed him to much or to big of prey items he may regurge them. Hes a gorgeous boy and IM sure he will calm down after a couple of months in a new home that cares for him properly. Congrats on the pick up! BUrms make the world better lol

I like hearing stories like this, where the snake finally ends up in good hands. Poor guy has suffered a lot, but I bet he'll eventually come around with good care and lots of food. Best of luck with him.