How do you tell someone....

Hello people,

I was over at my friends place last night. He has all kinds of reptiles- mouse-eating frogs, a 5' iguana that walks around the apartment, geckos, and among others a ball python. This bp is such a sweetheart- her temperment is so calm, I love taking it out; it never wants to go back in its cage once you take it out. Its healthy as can be, and one of the stronger feeling snakes I've ever really held.

I'm really suprised at this though, because my friends setup includes a 20 gal long (snake is about 3 feet long), a full spectrum bulb for heat, no UTH, a light tupperware water dish that gets knocked over all the time, and a small bath towel (which it hides under) over a bark substrate. He keeps the heat lamp on a 12/12 timer, and his apartment was probably about 70 degrees last night, and the heat lamp was off. I noticed a slight wheezing from the snake when I was holding it, and I let my friend know, so we just turned the heat lamp back on and put the snake in the cage.

I'm not really sure how to tell him his husbandtry isn't really what it should be. But then again he has an otherwise completely healthy bp that is a vacuum cleaner when it comes to feeding time. So I'm not really sure what to think it all. If he were to take my advice, it would pretty much mean changing every aspect of his current setup; and I'm not sure if he'd do that or not.

Anyone ever run into a situation like this??

Well, I've never had to be in a situation like this. But what I would probably do is tell him what you feel his enclcosure setup should be. It sounds like he cares about his animals enough to listen to you; at least, I would hope so (with ALL those animals, he BETTER care!). So, basically, I would just tell him that if he doesn't keep heat on 24/7 it could give his bp an RI, and even kill him; etc. When you're explaining what you would change, explain WHY (how I just mentioned, "because it could KILL your bp"); so he doesn't think you're just trying to shove him around.

That's what I would try. Good luck, and if you confront him, let me know how it goes!
Jennifer

Well, I have a similiar problem with my friend's white's tree frog. I did tell her and I guess I didn't do very well cause we argued about it and then agreed not to talk about frogs anymore. We also don't talk about cat health care. She has five cats and feed them science diet...I am anti-science diet. She says that feeding them smaller amounts of science diet prevents them from being overweight and her vet recommended it. However her cats always act like they are starved. When I have to go over there to feed them when she is out of town, I feel guilty and want to give them more. Since she takes care of my animals if I am away and she cares for them the way I want her too, I take care of hers the way she wants. She has 5 cats and all of them have some type of health problem. One can't hold food down, another is always constipated, and one has a bladder problem and one has to have a special formulated food ause he won't eat. I gave her a list of the top 10 cat foods and she said hers was the best even though it was not on the list. I feed my cat one of the ones on the list and he loves it. It is the only food that I have seen him leave behind some. He gets full off of it quick because it has the nutrients he needs. I also discovered on the cat forum that feeding wet food once a day helps hydrate the cat. So I have a cat that has only been sick once (due to a bird disease) his litter business doesn't smell so bad and he is very active. I should mention that her vet just told her recently he discovered a new cat food that's out and very good. Of course it is one on my list :D But he also picked the most expensive one :( and one she can only get from him at the moment :(

Is your friend defensive about his pets? Does he act like he knows everything? Is he the type of person that thinks his way is best?

I did have another friend who had an incorrect setup and I told her if she changed a few things on her setup it would help save on vet bills later. I explained that even though her pet looked healthy that incorrect feeding habits and setup issues would cause problems later. She said she setup the tank exactly how she was told to 8 years ago, and I explained to her how we are still learning more and more things about animas and that what she learned 8 years ago was correct at that time, but now there are better ways to setup a bp tank. Same as how we are discovering some foods are better for us than others and how we are learning some things we thought were good for us turned out to be bad. I explained it is like humans eating unhealthy foods all the time and not excercising, and smoking could cause health problems even though they are healthy right now. That went over better than the frog issue with the other friend and second friend's problems were corrected.
The weezing could be a sign of problems to come if the tank setup is not corrected.

Yo .....like get totally aggressive about it. Fix it FOR him. If he is really your friend he won't be offended if you try to help him out. Once it is done, what could he say? Use a little finesse, of course. If you need money for an UTH, make him spring for it. I may be wrong, which I sometimes am, I would take matters into my own hands. Think of the poor snake, he needs you.:)

He's definitly not new to reptiles and really takes care of his pets. I mean, he puts so much time into keeping this huge iguana, I don't think he'd have a problem adjusting the husbandtry for his bp.

When I told him I noticed the wheezing, he had no problem going and turning the heat lamp on, and thanked me for noticing. Given this, I really doubt that he'd be defensive if I told him a few things on how to better care for the bp.

I'm thinking I can go about it like this: "Hey, I checked up on the wheezing sound I heard. I read it could be this (talk about RI)....which is caused by this (explain the improper heat supply)...and so on.

I'm not sure about how to approach him about the hides though. This snake DOES NOT seem stressed in any way by just having a towel to hide under. Its not how I keep mine (Amber has more places to hide than Osama Bin Laden), but i figure if isn't broke, don't fix it.

I say make him a gift of an inexpensive hide that you "just happened to see and couldn't resist getting" for his snake. How can he say no to that?

Why not tell him about this great forum that has all sorts of info for all reptiles and maybe he will realize his mistakes on his own? I also like marla's idea of getting him a gift. Good luck not an easy subject to approach. Like telling someone how to raise thier kids, kinda touchy subject.

Talk shop. Exchange ideas. Get a friendly conversation about husbandry going, and then pop in an innocent question - i.e. "Hey...can you give me some pointers on using the tupperware water dish w/o it getting knocked over? Are you having a lot of success with this?" or "I'm looking to make my setups more efficient...since ball pythons need heat at night, too, what are your thoughts on an under tank heater after the day bulb is turned out?"

Depending on how touchy your friend may or may not be, this approach can work pretty well to get a body thinking about his or her setups.

K

I have a friend that kept only lizards so he assumed that it goes the same for Ball Pythons. I just bought him a heater and told him to pay me back.

Just be blunt friends respect that anytime someone has any kinda problem or I notice a problem I'm very blunt and upfront on the issue and I get alot of respect from my friends that way cause they always know I'll tell them how it is.