Saved a poor preggo girl....

So, one of my good herping friends told me he found a BP on craigslist that was pregnant, and a woman who is a known animal flipper has her. I told him to get all the information he could from her, and we'd go pick her up.

So we go, and check her out. This woman has no clue how long the girl has been gravid, when she locked, what she locked with... nothing.

Keep in mind this girl is HUGE. She's one of the biggest BP's I have seen in awhile(way bigger around then a coke can, and almost 6 feet long).

We come in and she's got her in a TEN GALLON TANK. The snake literally had NO where to move, and you couldn't even see the thin layer of substrate under her. No water dish. There wouldn't even be ROOM for a water dish.

At this point, I am pretty angry at this woman. I won't go into all the other details about how horrible she was, because my morning is already bad, and I will just get more and more angry. I convince her to also give me the 2 other BP's she has in a 15 gal tank, with a make-shift lid made out of chicken wire.

We get home, and move miss preggo into a 30 gal tank. She was pretty freaked out at this point, and was rubbing all over really bad. We were worried she'd injure herself, so we covered the outside and most of the top with newspaper. She quickly calmed down, and has been relaxing ever since.

Now I am worried about her eggs. What are the chances that she'll be able to lay these without a problem? We built her a humid hide/lay box, being we REALLY have no idea how long she's even been gravid. I am about 95% sure that yes, she is gravid.

I don't care if none of the babies make it... Ok, well I do care, but my main concern is that the momma makes it through this ok. She's a huge beautiful snake, and it would be a horrible shame to lose her.

I'll have pictures today, once we get tanks situated and moved around. She just pounded down 2 rats last night, so we're pretty happy she was able to eat and wanted to eat.

ANY advice is appreciated and welcomed. I know there are a lot of unknowns, and I am sorry for that, but this is the information as I know it.

Wow, good on you for being able to get her out of there. It seems we should have a forum for craigslist rescues. I have found 2 myself. The fact that she is eating now and stopped rubbing is re-assuring to me. I dont have too much experience here so this is just my opinion but, if she is calmed down and has some food strength in her I think she should be able to get the eggs out ok.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help out, I have a few extra tanks and stuff at the house so let me know if you need anything.

How are you sure that she is gravid? Just because she is big? If she ate she may not be gravid, although that is not a definitive indicator.

If you are really worried I would take her in to your vet and have an ultrasound or x-ray done just to make sure she really is gravid.

One x-ray on her if she has eggs (if the vet dosen't have an ultrasound) should not hurt the babies.

I am almost positive. Now that she's calm she is showing more typical gravid signs, and you can somewhat see the bulge from the eggs.

She's a big girl anyways, but bigger on the back end, and lumpy looking.

congrats on rescuing the girl. Hopefully she and her eggs make it. Lol what if is she was bred to a really high end morph? Lucky you :P... but seriously, good luck with her, hope her new home helps her lays those eggs properly.

jarradw - Thanks for the offer for help. We're leaving her be for now, and seeing what happens. I am hoping she's ok in the tank she is in.

You are right about the craigslist rescue. The really horrible news is I found out that today the woman is getting 5 MORE BP's. I can't save them all, but if I can find decent homes for them I will do everything in my power too.

I was thinking last night what if she pops out all pieds or all albinos! That would be so cool!

your a really good person for saveing that big girl and i hope her babie's come out ok
:gj:great job

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Originally Posted by geekypythongirl

I was thinking last night what if she pops out all pieds or all albinos! That would be so cool!

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Well if thats the case I will be right over to help alleviate some of the stress of taking care of so many :-p

Great work, and well done keeping your temper under control when seeing those conditions. Ugh.

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Originally Posted by JeffFlanagan

Great work, and well done keeping your temper under control when seeing those conditions. Ugh.

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See, this was the hardest part. All I can say is the woman is lucky it was just myself and my friends, and not my husband. He's not as polite about these things as I am, and he basically said he would have punched her in her face, and taken all of the animals! (ok, he wouldn't really punch a lady, but you know).

The saddest part is she was super mean to her kids while we were there too. One wanted to be picked up and she said to her "Go away, I don't want you". :(

Here she is. Sorry its just a crappy cel phone pic, but I need new batteries for my digi.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...Mom/preggo.jpg

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Originally Posted by geekypythongirl

Here she is. Sorry its just a crappy cel phone pic, but I need new batteries for my digi.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...Mom/preggo.jpg

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I'd say she's gravid. Looksthick enough anyhow. Not an expert though. Good on you for rescuing.

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Originally Posted by geekypythongirl

See, this was the hardest part. All I can say is the woman is lucky it was just myself and my friends, and not my husband. He's not as polite about these things as I am, and he basically said he would have punched her in her face, and taken all of the animals! (ok, he wouldn't really punch a lady, but you know).

The saddest part is she was super mean to her kids while we were there too. One wanted to be picked up and she said to her "Go away, I don't want you". :(

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And I suppose you can't adopt the kids too. It sounds like they have it worse than the poor snake. Just horrible.

Yeah she is huge. I would say she's as big around as a baseball, if not bigger.

We have to move her again this weekend, and while it makes me nervous, I don't feel so bad because we have her best interest at heart. She's going into the basement where no one goes. Its a low traffic, quiet area. She's still rubbing against the sides of her tank, so we're moving her into a HUGE tank to help with that. With a combo of the extra space and the quietness of the basement, we think that will be the best solution.

Just make sure that when you put her in the Huge tank, you give her a hide big enough to avoid stressing her out.

Though I don't know what kind of a hide you use for a snake that big.

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Originally Posted by Jeo123

Just make sure that when you put her in the Huge tank, you give her a hide big enough to avoid stressing her out.

Though I don't know what kind of a hide you use for a snake that big.

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Maybe a large litter box with a hole cut/soldered in the side?

Well, I have to at least make her a hide and a lay box. I think for both at the moment I will just use large tupperwear containers (or a litter box). We're having a hide making party this weekend (from the DIY thread on here), so for a few days she'll just have to deal with a tupperwear container.

Really? Not one of you caught on to this:

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"She just pounded down 2 rats last night, so we're pretty happy she was able to eat and wanted to eat."

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Maybe I'm the only one in this thread who's actually bred ball pythons before, but gravid females don't eat. They're too stuffed full of eggs and it can be VERY dangerous for them to do so.
Good luck....

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Originally Posted by mykee

Really? Not one of you caught on to this:

Maybe I'm the only one in this thread who's actually bred ball pythons before, but gravid females don't eat. They're too stuffed full of eggs and it can be VERY dangerous for them to do so.
Good luck....

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Sure they do. They USUALLY don't eat, and that's perfectly natural. But sometimes if a mouse happens wander by, they'll budge long enough to swallow it... so it's not really a reliable sign by itself.

(Good luck, OP! You did good.)

Without knowing Preggos history, we have really NO clue when the last time she ever ate. It could have been 6 months for all we know. She's changed hands at LEAST 3 times during her pregnancy, and that is prior to me getting her.

She's got a meal in her, and she is looking like she may shed here pretty soon. I'm fairly excited to see what comes out!

Eating may be a sign she's not gravid however, like previously stated its not always the rule. If she was malnourished she may feel the need to eat due to egg development. But...she doesn't look malnourished from the picture. She looks nice and plump.

I would suggest just keeping her temps/humidity stable and keeping her as quiet as possible. A humid lay box is a good idea too to prevent her from holding on to any eggs due to her feeling like her new home is an insecure place to lay. I would either find and experienced breeder to help you out by trying to palpate her to verify if she is indeed gravid or having an ultrasound done at you vet's office. Wouldn't recommend X-rays just because an ultrasound is a better option. This will also verify if she is gravid for sure and how far along she is by the size of the eggs. Hopefully you can get a grasp on when she maybe due to lay to avoid any issues with egg binding. Finally, I wouldn't offer any more meals until you know if she's gravid or not.

As far as her rubbing her face, have you noticed any mites on her? Sometimes excessive rubbing is due to parasites.

Good luck and its great that you've helped save a few more BPs from a neglectful situation! :salute:

Preggo has an appointment tomorrow at the vet, so we will know soon exactly what is going on with her. I would have taken her sooner, but we're somewhat new to the area, and had to find one.

Let us know how it goes "fingers crossed"

if I know your close to de I almost swear that was one of the snakes I rescued and later adopted out ( before I found the forums) I know so far the farthest I adoped out was Va

My guess ~ She looks more like she's building and not gravid.

Palpating is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
I'd lay her on the floor and let her grab a heavy table leg with her neck and run your fingers down her belly pushing upwards gently but firmly, if she is gravid you should be able to feel the eggs because she's using her muscles to pull her self forward and not tightening up her belly.

She's a really nice looking big girl, congrats :gj:

So, one very expensive herp visit later, and this is what I have learned:

She's gravid, and about to shed. And boy is she pissed right off. She was not happy when we took her out for the vet to take a look.

She's got 6 eggs inside of her (as far as the vet can tell).

She's about to shed. Did I mention that she's PISSED OFF?

Other then the extreme hate of everything right now, she's in good health. She's got some scaring that the vet asked about, and I told him the story about how I got her. He took some off the bill, which was way awesome of him. He thanked me for doing a good thing for a pet often looked over.

Glad to hear, keep us updated and let me know if you need any help.

It's pretty normal for gravid females to be cranky:) It's good to know for sure that she's gravid...if this is her pre lay shed, you should have eggs about a month (give or take a few days) post shed.

I'm pretty excited, and a bit nervous. I wasn't prepared to start with breeding until next year, but there was no way I was going to let this poor girl be flipped over and over to new places, so I snatched her up.

I guess this will be a good trial run!

Now to start setting up your incubator, best to start now so you can work thru any problems that may arise ;), and congrats again :)

This is a dangerous thing, it should find a professional veterinarian.

I would say if she ate she is building or very close to ovulation. After ov she won't eat. She's obviously had decent meals in the past but I'm very confident she wouldn't eat after ov. Feel the bottom 1/3 of her if it's very firm and not collapseable like normal she's either right at ovulation or ovulated. Now by collapsable I mean if you were to run your finger down her tummy they suck up. They can't do this past ov bc they are chock full off eggs. Hope this helps
Morgan
I guess I missed the vet post. She probably just had ovulated. And she's going into post ov shed. She will have a prelay shed next and then lay and then a post lay. But I'd say get everything set up now. Great job.

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Originally Posted by dy6221216

This is a dangerous thing, it should find a professional veterinarian.

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

I would say if she ate she is building or very close to ovulation. After ov she won't eat. She's obviously had decent meals in the past but I'm very confident she wouldn't eat after ov. Feel the bottom 1/3 of her if it's very firm and not collapseable like normal she's either right at ovulation or ovulated. Now by collapsable I mean if you were to run your finger down her tummy they suck up. They can't do this past ov bc they are chock full off eggs. Hope this helps
Morgan
I guess I missed the vet post. She probably just had ovulated. And she's going into post ov shed. She will have a prelay shed next and then lay and then a post lay. But I'd say get everything set up now. Great job.

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read the full thread before posting!!

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Originally Posted by dy6221216

This is a dangerous thing, it should find a professional veterinarian.

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You have 3 post. One of which is this.

Why did you bump a 4 month old thread for a senseless post?

Well now that this is redirected, lol, any updates on eggs/babies?




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I read the whole thread expecting baby snake pictures in an update :( How did this turn out?

I'd love to know what happened.. since it has obviously been so long since this was posted.

I want to know too!!!

i want PICS!!!! :rage:
i hope everything turned out ok

Yes, we need an update;)

She just recently moved, I will see if I can get a hold of her to update this with some more info. Long story short the snake is well now and I will let her fill you in on the rest ;)