My Rescued Ball

So i have a new friend named Snikolas. he's nice. well, currently he's effing IRATE because he just shed, and the tip of his tail is still on... which apparently he really doesn't appreciate. but he was nice before the shed, and i'm assuming after a few days he will be nice again.

anyway, i rescued this 3ft unsexed ball python from a friend whose ex boyfriend dumped off on her and her 10 year old son whom both really had no experience or interest in avidly caring for it.... it had NO hide, no humidity, nothing to rub on for when he sheds... it was sad. (i call him a he....) he was uncomfortably curled up on very dry filthy aspen shavings. i currently don't even have a job, but knew if i left him there he'd eventually die. i spent the last money i had to my name on substrate and vitamin spray because of how dry and messed up he was...

he hadn't eaten in 2 months, and a month prior they had tried to feed him a rat and he threw it up. it was still in the cage in the corner. foul dude. decided not to do anything with his cage, handle him, clean it, nothing, until he was fed. he had a terrible shed and was covered almost completely with dead skin. he had a huge, almost 4 inch long burn on the back end of him, and scattered smaller burns before and after that one along his tail end. some patches of scales were pretty much missing or peeling off, and he just looked miserable.

i fed him 2 mice (didn't want to feed him a rat, because it is bigger and had more of a chance of fighting back.) i am currently feeding live.

the first mouse... oh good lord... he caught by the BACK FOOT so obviously i started freakin out thinkin that this damn mouse is gonna bite the crap out of my snake. no, no, we were lucky and he ended up taking about 5 minutes to kill it. dragged it around, ended up swallowing with a piece of bedding on it, aspen... i freaked... had my roommate google what to do if a piece of shavings gets swallowed... and he found SOMETHING (never read it myself) that said he would be fine... so i let him chill and "digest" for about 30 mins or whatever, and decided to drop the second mouse. he had been pacing the entire 30 mins so i figured he'd eat it. instead of catching it by the foot and struggling like a rookie who hadn't eaten in 2 mos, he turned into an S shape and waited for the thing to get in his face (which didn't take but less than 10 seconds haha) and he bit it right in the face. he suffocated the damn thing in less than like 45 seconds and gorged himself on some little white mouse. hahaa.

i was so proud. the next day (over 24 hours later) (i was still skiddish to handle him, ppl said he bit!) i changed the substrate to eco earth, which i personally love, gave him a dog bowl of water (big-ish cheap and deep), boiled a brick to clean it and stuck it in there so he had something to rub on if he decided he was itchy (which i figured he was) and gave him a bath. my roommate was nice enough to clean the inside of the tank he's currently in (which is definately NOT big enough :( ugg) while i gave him his bath... he didn't act like he liked it but i didn't put him in a tupperware tub or something... i just had him in the sink with a towel... he snaked around, tried to go up on the counter a few times, but for the most part, he laid his head up on the counter as i gently wiped the old dead skin off. i avoided the burns, which stayed pretty effin crusty... but i didn't want to hurt or piss him off. seriously, last thing i'd like to happen is to get bit, or give him a reason to bite me for that matter.

so even with his burns and owies and whatnot, i wanted to handle him so he'd trust me. maybe i was rushing it but he ended up acting like he wanted to be out all the time. he'd curl up around my neck and chill. i think he could tell i had helped him, and was happy with his current place of residence. he even killed a hangover headache/neck ache (u know what i'm talkin about...) one morning as i was sitting outside having breakfast. it was warm outside so i had decided to let him chill on my neck, and he really did act like he was enjoying himself. he's really very social...

till he started shedding. i could tell DAYS before that he was getting more antsy and snakey (you know, snakin in the air, lookin at stuff, squirmin :P) and figured he was going to shed so i left him alone and raised the humidity a little bit. the next day he was milky, and his eyes were blue the day after that.

i came into my room @ about 3am during a party a night or 2 later and he was 3/4 of the way shed... (from what i could see with a really low moonlight lookin touch lamp on) so i immediately turned tail and went back downstairs. i entertained at least till dawn, so that gave him his privacy as far as the room being dark and quiet. i could tell he was freakin out, or at least extremely uncomfortable and pissy, because he flew into his box (his hide) as soon as i walked in the room (was gettin a sweater :P)

now he's royally agitated with a piece of his shed left on the tip of his tail. he's irate. i tried to help him but i didn't want to pull it off and hurt him (it's kinda stuck i guess?) and i really don't feel like handling him because he keeps hissing. first time he hissed was like a "Please leave me alone i'm uncomfortable and yucky feeling" and that was after he shed, and i realized the tip of his tail wasn't done shedding yet, and the second time it happened was this morning, and all i was doin was checkin his tippy tail to see if he'd gotten anywhere with it... and he hissed like he was pissed. i know it's normal for them to be angry when they're shedding, and he has raw spots on him from where he shed the burns and yicky scales off so he's probably wicked sensitive. i will try to locate my digital camera and get pix but he's an angry beaver right now so i'm tryna just let him be.

just thought i'd share the details of my :snake: journey with you ppl. i've been lurking and reading trying to educate myself, but like i said, i'm jobless and currently just scraping by, so i don't have oodles of cash to invest on him. i DO have a friend looking into a 50gal tank for him which would be ideal. i tried to measure him in length and he squirmed and got bratty, so i gave up. i think that was right before he shed. also, his weight... i dont' have a digital scale so i have nooo idea. i know he's over 3 feet long. i say 3 feet but it's more like 3 and a half. i don't know about having him sexed either, is he too old or would it piss an older or larger snake off?

anything anyone can tell me or suggest would be lovely. thank youuu.

PS i know soaking the snake would be what i should do but it's just the tip of his tail and the tip of his tail was like, burnt and hurty so i dont' want to mess with it, and i'm thinking thats why it's stuck. other than that he shed phenomenally. the hissing is what makes me nervous and i just don't want to give him a reason to hiss or bite!

a pretty good shot of the burn

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...wiepicture.jpg

i call him a he but i just don't know and am not educated enough to try anything crafty with this guy right here. he's got a sweet face-

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...headlovely.jpg

burn close up, he insisted on putting eco earth on his burns. :(

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s.../snikoburn.jpg

he's shiny now, much clearer and brighter than in this pic, but he's still pretty for a regular royal :)

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...ss/snikolS.jpg

I would get him off of the Eco-Earth and onto some newspaper or papertowels for sanitary reasons. If you can get some Sulfadene cream from your vet, that would help his burns heal alot faster. Also, don't allow him to soak in his water bowl, or it could get his wounds infected.

Also, soaking him once a day in some dilute betadine solution or chlorhexidine solution(www.valleyvet.com) will help clean the wounds and keep them from getting infected. You'll want to get some gauze or a soft wash cloth and gently but firmly scrub the areas. This helps clear away any dead tissue and open up the wound so the disinfectant can work. Neither betadine or chlorhexidine sting. I've soaked animals in dilute bleach before(not snakes) because of recurrent fungal infections, so betadine and chlorhexidine are very mild. They work great though.

What size tank is he in? What are the temperatures and humidity and how are you measuring them? You can get an inexpensive digital thermometer from WalMart for around $11. The name is Acu-Rite and they are in the outdoor thermometer section, by the light bulbs and such.

As far as hides and decor, avoid anything wood or rough right now(such as that brick). You want things that are easy to disinfect, such as plastic or ceramic. You definitely want to get a smaller water bowl, such as a Van Ness plastic crock made for dogs(also found at WalMart). The 4-6" diameter bowl would be fine, as Ball Pythons really don't soak unless there is a problem with their environment or they have been overfed(or they are ovulating and uncomfortable, but that's beside the fact).

For a hide, you can use a dark plastic bowl, such as a salad bowl from the dollar store, and cut a hole in the side of it. Just flip it upside down and they make wonderful hides.

For his size, a 20 gallon long tank will last him for quite awhile. Ball Pythons prefer smaller, more secluded places rather than huge open spaces. That 50 gallon you were mentioning would just be too open and would be very hard to keep heated and humifidied properly.

You'll want his temps to be around 90-94 on the warm side and have a 10 degree gradiant over to the other end. So if your warm side is 94, then your cool side would be 84, or thereabouts. Warmer temps will help him heal faster(warm temps equals faster metabolism). Undertank heaters are more efficient than lamps and do not dry the enclosure out. Lamps dry the air and you will be fighting an uphill battle with the humidity. Remember, all UTHs need a control, either a dimmer or a thermostat.

Glad he decided to eat, and live mice are fine. I would go it easy though since he has regurgitated in the past. 1-2 mice every 7 days will be fine, and if he decides not to eat one week, no worries.

Hopefully that cleared up some things. If you have any other questions, just ask :) Definitely see the vet though, he needs that Silvadene cream for his back.

SatanicIntention gave great advice so I won't go into anything. But good on ya for taking him in. Seems like you're doing great with him so far. I'm sure you're right about him being sensitive and icky feeling. Those burns look terrible. Hopefully he heals up soon.

those burns looks horrible. good that they are getting treated

Good for you for rescuing this poor guy and helping him out!

I think Becky (SatanicIntention) pretty much covered everything, so just follow her advice and ask any more questions you have!

20 gallon is NoT big enough. he has one hide because that's what i have room for. he's too big for the tank. someone apparently felt they needed my digital camera more than me so i'm pretty sure it got stolen. i think at least a 30gal tank would be better... it's just not big enough dude, trust me :( god i'm really upset i don't have the digital camera. if you could see how much better he looks right now you'd do a dance :P lol. but the tip of his tail is like crusty and hard and stuck :( omg what do i do :(

and i'm also thrilled to know that 1-2 mice a week is fine bc thats what i'm comfortable with for now :) yey. and they always always have mice at the petstore in this town (crappy town to have exotic pets, there is nothing for petstores for at least 45 mins!!!) they don't always have a small or medium rat... but i'd like to try a rat sometime... not sure how accurate this is... but the petstore dude said if i feed him things that are too small he won't constrict correctly? like huh? and it will cause a kink? sounds scary but is it true?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ViciousBliss

20 gallon is NoT big enough. he has one hide because that's what i have room for. he's too big for the tank. someone apparently felt they needed my digital camera more than me so i'm pretty sure it got stolen. i think at least a 30gal tank would be better... it's just not big enough dude, trust me :( god i'm really upset i don't have the digital camera. if you could see how much better he looks right now you'd do a dance :P lol. but the tip of his tail is like crusty and hard and stuck :( omg what do i do :(

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Trust us when we say a 20 gallon is big enough for now. ;) I would even go so far as to tell you to get a 28 qt tub for him as it's easier to control.

Bp's are secretive, and for the sake of rehabilitation, will benefit from having a small enclosure that's easy to clean, and keep at proper levels.

Becky already went over that, and I will back her up as well. BP's do not need a ton of open space. A 20 gallon will do quite well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ViciousBliss

not sure how accurate this is... but the petstore dude said if i feed him things that are too small he won't constrict correctly? like huh? and it will cause a kink? sounds scary but is it true?

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It is good that you are questioning what the petstore dude told you. "Petstore dudes" tend to be full of inaccurate information.

There is some truth in the idea that feeding smaller prey may cause your snake to not constrict correctly. If a snake decides the prey is small enough to not be a threat, they will sometimes eat it without bothering to kill it first. Also, if the prey item is much smaller than the "appropriate" size for the snake, it is hard for them to get a tight wrap on it, which might be part of why they'll eat it without constricting it first. However, these things aren't harmful to the snake.

I've never heard of a snake getting a kink due to constricting prey that was too small. I highly doubt that would happen.