Buggsie's (Ongoing) Road to Recovery - A Rescue Story

You have done an outstanding job with Buggsie I look forward to the Second Month under your care.

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buggsie for president!

"Day 25 - Mite treatment! Little guy gets more wriggly every time!" We're about 3 more weeks from the end of his mite treatment, and I can honestly say I'll be glad when it's over. If a snake could give dirty looks, I get them as soon as poor Buggsie realizes what's going on!


"Day 26 - Weight update and a feeding video!" I thought it was about time we did another video update for Buggsie and as you can see he, he is growing at a fantastic rate! On the first, we do our deep cleaning and switch everyone into pre-cleaned tubs. While Buggsie is still a little on the low end of when we'd up-size weight wise, he's got the length of a snake that needs to be moved out of the 6 qt he's been in. I'm a little hesitant, just because I don't want him to decide that's enough of a change to stop eating, but we'll pack his new, bigger hide with paper towel so he feels snug and if he starts refusing we'll move him back to a 6 qt until he realizes he's outgrown it. :rolleyes: Normally, we move them up between 150 and 200 anyway, so he's just about there. He did fantastic eating today! This is also the first time we've watched him from grab to tail. Because we haven't wanted to disturb him by watching, we've been putting his meals in, then covering him once he's made the grab. I usually check back later to make sure he ate, but leave him to do the eating in privacy. He'll be moved up to pups on his next feeding and Maker willing, will have the strength to do what he needs to. We watch all of our snakes with at least the initial grab and wrap in case the rat ends up in a position where it can try biting, and have a stainless steel pair of feeding tongs at the ready to prevent injury. With Buggsie moving up in prey size, it's good to know that having observers doesn't seem to bother him.
https://youtu.be/_W97IZjk79k



"Day 27 - Urates again! I swear this kid is just full of them!" :O There is no end to the urates! A little bit of brown again, not enough to get a fecal sample yet and no obvious sausage butt after passing the urates so he must be using as much of his little rats as possible. At this point, he has seriously surpassed Blackout as the No Poop record holder. If he looked constipated, I'd be concerned but I think it's still a case of utilizing every bit of his meals as possible.

Enjoy your Buggsie update! Tomorrow is mite treatments again, and I'll see about getting some new pictures. :D

He's going great! Keep it up SmoothScales, great to have people like you around! :gj:

Thanks for all you are doing for Buggsie! He has made fantastic progress and what a trooper he has been. I see nothing but continued positive growth for him. Physical and mental growth! You should get an award. :gj:

Buggsie! He looks so lively and wriggly! He sure is a trooper! Glad he is doing so well even with the mite treatments. He seems so much more confident to me since he arrived in your care. Keep up the awesome and amazing work! Love your choice of song as well! Nightwish is one of my favorite bands. [emoji13]

You have done a wonderful job with Buggsie Thank you for saving a life.

Sent from my SGH-T999

buggsie was quick to wrap that pup :gj:

I am such a slacker! It's been a while since I've posted an update on little Buggsie, but I do have good news about him!

Since last update, he's had a few more mite treatments - much to his dismay. Still no sign of the little buggers, so his last treatment should be on the 14th. I'm sure he'll be glad about that. :)
He ate his last meal despite being so blue I didn't think he'd be able to find it. Thank goodness pups don't move around very fast. :rofl:23 grams down like a champ! Which tips it slightly over the 15% mark, but not by so much that I would consider a problem.

There's also been lots of urates - this little guy must drink his weight when I'm not looking! He's putting out a urate every other day like clockwork!

Yesterday was Day 32, and little Buggsie had a shed first thing in the morning. You know what usually happens when a snake sheds? That's right, it's usually followed quickly by a shat. Buggsie shat! It only took him 32 days to get there, but we've finally got him to the point he's moving waste through the pipes and out the other end. I literally squealed. :banana: Poop! It's that exciting. At least it is when you've been waiting this long for it. A pretty respectable one, at that. I took pictures. :rolleyes: His shed was in pretty good shape. Both eye caps are there, but the little face part tore away from the rest. :tears: I was hoping he'd get it off all in one piece, but alas! Even with his shed and a shat, he still weighed in at 147 on the 1st. :D Still growing! We need to do a little photo session with little Buggsie and get some updated pics of him to share. I actually stopped by the nameless store he came from yesterday and spoke with one of the employees that remembers him and let her see some of the day 22 photos and I thought she was going to cry.

Now that he's able to take a bit bigger prey, I'm switching Buggsie to a once a week feeding and I gotta say, he looked like he was expecting a rat yesterday after his shed. Little bugger. Now that he's eating good, he's wanting more. :snake2:



Poop! And quite a bit of it.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/z1...=w1284-h963-no

Poor tiny Buggsie - wishing him the best <3 Sounds like he's thriving in your care already.

go buggsie!

yay poop! u go girl!

(did u pop her again to confirm?)

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Originally Posted by Ax01

yay poop! u go girl!

(did u pop her again to confirm?)

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Not yet! We've been busy putting together a rack, but it is on the to-do list!

I'm not sure about this. On the one hand, there's more white than I would normally associate with a boy. On the other that's more pink/red than I would associate with a girl. Nothing 'popped out' and there are two little nubs that could be scent glands along the outside.

I would like a weigh in on this - underdeveloped hemipenes or a bit more blood flow?

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...d397c4b024.jpg

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I can't answer the gender question, but I'm bumping your thread to hope that someone will... And also to say thanks for keeping us posted on Buggsie's progress!

I want to say girl because those don't look like hemipeens but...

Who knows, maybe Buggsie is a they/them!

Female. Those are scent glands. The reason they are red is bc of the pressure being applied by the "popping" procedure. Nice job. Nice demonstration.

So, new name?
I kinda like Buggsie, even for a gal.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Female. Those are scent glands. The reason they are red is bc of the pressure being applied by the "popping" procedure. Nice job. Nice demonstration.

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Fantastic! You just settled a 3 day argument. Guess who won. :sweeet:

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Originally Posted by distaff

So, new name?
I kinda like Buggsie, even for a gal.

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Buggsie will stay Buggsie! I'll just have to work on using the proper pronoun. :rolleyes:

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...93941cd006.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...9113211fe2.jpg

:giggle:

Love your picture's

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Female. Those are scent glands. The reason they are red is bc of the pressure being applied by the "popping" procedure. Nice job. Nice demonstration.

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Originally Posted by SmoothScales

Fantastic! You just settled a 3 day argument. Guess who won. :sweeet:

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clearly, i won. ;)

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Originally Posted by SmoothScales

Careful, someone might think you're obsessed with snakes in hats! :rofl: I need to make another visit to Toys R Us. Maybe the Barbie isle?

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https://img0.etsystatic.com/059/1/93...61164_dpr8.jpg

:oops:

Who's ready for a Buggsie update? :oops:

Our little girl is doing fantastic! She's gaining weight like a champ (up to 188grams!) and eating everything little fuzzy thing that gets put in front of her. I've got some updated photos of her, but I'm not going to share them all in this thread. I have to save some of them for my collection thread. :gj: Let me tell you, there is a world of difference in her looks and actions.

Lets start with some comparison photos!

First, some belly shots -
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...78147143_o.jpg




And now some back shots. Note how much thicker she is! The difference is like night and day.
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...90316633_o.jpg



And finally, some side shots.
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...94972153_o.jpg



She's looking pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself.
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...54109969_o.jpg




Her mite treatments are done, much to her relief I would imagine, but she still has time left on her quarantine cycle. We've had some recent new additions here, so have decided to let Buggsie remain in isolation so her timer doesn't reset by joining the other snakes in our quarantine rack. That's all the photos you get for now, but I have saved a few back that I'll be sharing in an update to our collection thread. :D

Rooting for little Buggsie!!!!!!

Great story. Thanks for sharing

She looks so great!

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Yay!


Sent using software and hardware

I hope to rescue one day when I'm more stable and have more time to spare. Thank you for sharing this very inspiring story. I love her :)

buggsie!

She looks amazing! How old is she now?

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

She looks amazing! How old is she now?

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Based on the time line we were given, she is at least 7 months old now. Pretty small (188 grams at last check) for her age, but considering how she looked when she arrived, I'd say she's doing just fine. [emoji6]

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so when does buggsie become the official bp.net mascot?

Guess who had a full, complete, and perfect shed today? :D

Guess who then proceeded to unleash all the furry of their saved up waste upon the perfect shed? :rolleyes:

:snake::snake::snake::snake::snake:


*sigh*

It would've been a keeper, too.

Well, she was just in time for feeding day tomorrow!

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Originally Posted by SmoothScales

Guess who had a full, complete, and perfect shed today? :D

Guess who then proceeded to unleash all the furry of their saved up waste upon the perfect shed? :rolleyes:

:snake::snake::snake::snake::snake:


*sigh*

It would've been a keeper, too.

Well, she was just in time for feeding day tomorrow!

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my guess is Opera?

:P

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Originally Posted by Ax01

my guess is Opera?

:P

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Yep. That's it, you got me. :rofl:

Day 70 - Dropped her little rat in, and after a moment of her looking at me like 'Where my rat?' (I guess she missed me dropping it in?), she pounced...as much as any snake CAN pounce I guess. I'm betting she's up over 200 now, but she just got weighed at the beginning of the month so...trying to be patient, but would be nice to see it despite knowing she's gotta be over. She did come in at 199 on March 31st.

Also - damn! Fury, not furry...jeeze...

What a champ you are and what a strong little fighter Buggsie is [emoji177][emoji177][emoji177]

Out of interest what would be a "normal" weight for a 7 month old snake if there is a normal lol xx


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Originally Posted by embrit345

Out of interest what would be a "normal" weight for a 7 month old snake if there is a normal lol xx

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Mostly, it will vary snake to snake. One might be a great eater while another - maybe even from the same clutch - will be picky, refuse, and grow at half the rate. From what I've seen of her, though, Buggsie is far from a picky eater. She's never turned down a meal, even when so blue no one could've blamed her.

I do know that of other snakes I have of the same age, the next smallest one is above 350. Which puts Buggsie considerably behind.

While certainly not written in stone, The Red Dragon Den has posted on their website a 30 month long informal study of growing Ball Pythons. The study includes an average weight for the animals used, plus individual charts. As you can tell from the individual charts, some were better eaters/growers than others. I will occasionally refer to the averages chart to get a general idea of how my balls are doing - are they growing fast? Are they growing slow? Are they right in line for average growth?

One thing to remember is that how they look is more important than their numbers. A snake that is on target for age, but looks overly fat is just as bad for the snake's health as a severely under fed one.

buggsie will be up to speed in no time it seems


that banana spider i got back in november is growing like a weed

i first weighed her on dec 12th, and she was 119 g

yesterday after a poop, she weighed in at 514 g

every time i go into the snake room, she pops her head out of her hide to see if i have food:rofl:

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Originally Posted by se7en

buggsie will be up to speed in no time it seems


that banana spider i got back in november is growing like a weed

i first weighed her on dec 12th, and she was 119 g

yesterday after a poop, she weighed in at 514 g

every time i go into the snake room, she pops her head out of her hide to see if i have food:rofl:

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I've got a couple like that, as well! Frank the Tank, Sharona, and Maxine were November pick ups during ReptiCon, Costa Mesa. Now they're all 3-6x's the size they were at purchase. Although, Frank eats EVERYTHING that gets put in front of her, so it's no wonder there. I'll be doing water checks and she pokes her head out of her hide like "I'm ready!" It's really interesting trying to get pictures of her when she wants to inspect the camera in case you're hiding a rat in it. lol And Maxine was supposedly strictly a mouser that has never turned down a rat for us. I'm sure the difference in prey type had a lot to do with her going from 200g to 770g. Sharona hasn't been as enthusiastic as Frank, but she's still gone from 107g to 595g. If she looked like a fatty, I'd start scaling back her rats to a smaller size, but you can still see her spine fine - it's not sunken, and she has no fat rolls - so I'm not worried about her.

indeed.

my pewter calico YB female has not eaten in 5 months. she's only dropped about 130 grams in that time though, so i'm not worried (yet).

i'm about to get a new rack system, so maybe a change of scenery will get her going again. of course, the last thing that got her eating again was being lose in my apt for 2 1/2 months. not trying to do that again. :taz:


still, great job with buggsie. if someone gave me a snake today that was in the same condition in which you got buggsie, i do not think i'd be able to save it.

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Originally Posted by se7en

if someone gave me a snake today that was in the same condition in which you got buggsie, i do not think i'd be able to save it.

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I think you underestimate yourself. ;)

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Originally Posted by SmoothScales

I think you underestimate yourself. ;)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H2UIcnICRs

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...af3eeb0dc9.jpg

Day 102

Buggsie is doing great! Really starting to stack the weight on now that she's eating bigger rats. Up to 310 grams now. She is looking so good! If I hadn't watched her grow with my own eyes I might not believe this is the same snake from page one of this thread.

I took her out for a quick photo during tub checks and she was just looking to cute poking her little snoot out.

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I can't believe how wonderful she looks! You did an amazing job rehabilitating her :) Stories like these absolutely melt my heart. Thank you for all of your hard work!

This was amazing, I just read the entire thread and it makes me happy that Buggsie is doing great!. Good Job!

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Originally Posted by Rikoku

This was amazing, I just read the entire thread and it makes me happy that Buggsie is doing great!. Good Job!

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Thanks so much! She's really turned into a nice, healthy chunk of snake.

I noticed you'e in the AV. So are we! Good to know there's other enthusiasts in the area. :D

yay Buggie! she's outta the danger zone and looks to be in the sexy zone now from that pix. :)

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Originally Posted by Rikoku

This was amazing, I just read the entire thread and it makes me happy that Buggsie is doing great!. Good Job!

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Originally Posted by SmoothScales

Thanks so much! She's really turned into a nice, healthy chunk of snake.

I noticed you'e in the AV. So are we! Good to know there's other enthusiasts in the area. :D

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doesn't Lancaster have rumple strips on one street that when u drive over it, the noise it makes sounds like La Cucaracha? i lived in South LA/Hawthorne briefly during one job but i never got the chance to visit.

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Originally Posted by Ax01

yay Buggie! she's outta the danger zone and looks to be in the sexy zone now from that pix. :)


doesn't Lancaster have rumple strips on one street that when u drive over it, the noise it makes sounds like La Cucaracha? i lived in South LA/Hawthorne briefly during one job but i never got the chance to visit.

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She certainly is a sexy little thing. [emoji6]

Yes! The strips are out on Ave G. Which Is a bit out of the way - nothing much out there. I'm guilty of using that road for no other purpose than to hear the song. Lol

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Originally Posted by SmoothScales

She certainly is a sexy little thing. [emoji6]

Yes! The strips are out on Ave G. Which Is a bit out of the way - nothing much out there. I'm guilty of using that road for no other purpose than to hear the song. Lol

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I lived here for four years and I just recently went to the road while geocaching! Glad to hear you are in the AV too! My GF and I almost bought our first BP from one of the big chains. Glad I didn't now!

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Thank you for the story. I actually ended up here because I ended up with a ball python and was trying to figure out how much underweight he was/is (and he's my first snake to boot) and find pictures to gauge if how much I was feeding him was helping him gain weight healthily.

He was at 60g a week after I bought him (didn't think to weigh him when I first got him). It took me another week to figure out what he'll take, so far I've had 3 consistent feedings with him and been doing it once every few days.