Pix of the rescue pastel...and a rant.

Well, Just brought the two new snakes home. Here are some pix of the abused pastel.

Just before being put in his new home. You can kind of see the location of those broken ribs 1/2 down his body near the tail. (My little finger is right under it)
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...Newpastel1.jpg

In his transport box, the kinked part is the injury.
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...Newpastel2.jpg

Poor little thing is so undersized and underfed... He didn't eat there at the store, but I'm not surprised since there was really no where for him to hide in the little keeper they had to put him in. I'm just hoping that he'll pick up in a nice warm secure tank. At least he can move his whole body and seems interested in his surroundings, since he is currently climbing over his hides.

Now for the rant: As some of you know, I took my Amel het Snow corn snake in today to trade for a much calmer and sweeter Amel corn. Well, when my friend takes him out of the box, he tells me that that was no male... I had a female all that time! :O
Now I feel really dumb for not double checking, and kind of upset with the breeder that sold 'him' to me. Oh well, it was still a good trade, since they know a corn breeder who was looking for a het snow female, and since I got myself the nicest male (probed) Amel in exchange. Now all I need to do is pick out a good female at the first spring reptile expo.

That is so sad....

But it is good that you took it in and are caring for it! Kudos to you!

So has anyone spoken to a vet or had this snake seen by a vet yet?

Not yet. But I will be talking, at least, to my vet on Monday about him. I wanted to get him into a proper environment with good temps and humidity first, plus the clinic isn't open on weekends except for emergencies. He's a pretty alert little guy, and was climbing all over his cage on the initial explore, so his injury hasn't affected his mobility. The main thing now is to see if he eats.

Perhaps I'm being overly cautious but I wouldn't say the main thing is to see if he eats. For me the main thing would be having a vet confirm that whatever damage is there, the act of constriction/feeding won't make it worse on the snake. Personally, I wouldn't feed this snake until a vet confirmed what's going on damagewise with this snake. It's obvious from what you've said that something traumatic occurred during the time this snake was at it's first owner's home. For me figuring out exactly what that injury is and how much actual damage was done, would be my first priority (other than getting it into appropriate housing of course).

I would want to get him to a vet asap. I probably would even have gone in before bringing him home.. and the store who had him would definately get a piece of my mind abot keeping a broken-up animal without getting it to a vet! I would actually be worried about feeding at all, until I knew just what the extent of the damage is.. but I wish you luck in all of this. And I hope that whoever injured her gets their karmic payback.

Oh believe me, I understand that concern. I wouldn't even think about feeding him until after he was totally settled, injury or no, and the injury just brings even more caution.

I will be speaking with my vet about him tomorrow, and most likely he will give me a time and day to bring him in for a total look over.

He's currently curled up on his cool side behind the hide with his head poking out from under some leaves. He hasn't discovered the hides yet (probably because he never had any before :mad:), but his temps are staying constant and he seems nice and alert.

Thanks again for the concern. He's such a sweet little guy, he deserves a second chance.

What store did you get this guy from ? That is so sad, did they have any story as to how he got injured?

Neil

did you get them from a shelter or a pet store. because there is no such thing as a rescue from a pet store. by buying from a pet store that treats animals like this all you have done is put money in there pocket and opened up room for them to get two more snakes in to be not taken care of. sometimes the best thing to do is walk away even if it breaks your heart. or call animal controle and have them take a look at the animals.

She posted about this snake last week, here's the back story:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=57337