New rescues sad sad pictures be warned

So, last night I got a call from a local woman and she stated that she had a pair of balls living together---face palm. But they were healthy and they were her ex boyfriends who's now in jail for well for whatever reasons. So I went over today to see what the deal was.
Anyways she wanted to know If I'd take them bc she didnt want them and didn't want anything to do with them. She apparently hasn't fed them in a few months but I'm thinking longer than that. They were together in a wood and screen cage. NO HEAT! I guess the lamp broke. Keep in mind I'm in VT and they had them next to a window and it gets colder than cold here. It's a breeding pair and they were courting as we were speaking. So I took them. And I'm disgusted by their health, cage everything. I left the cage bc I'm not going to be using it and I had asked why they were living together with no heat. She said they're a bonded pair and they cuddle and keep each other warm. FACE PALM!! WTF anyways I didn't like it but i kept my mouth shut and just took them. Ive included some pics be warned they are emaciated. But I want to post their progress bc these two are two of the worst ive ever gotten in. I'm sure I just prevented the certain death of these two gorgeous balls. It's too bad that people could sit and watch them die.

Female I guess last year they hatched out 4 babies that died shortly after. She obviously didn't get any good food after laying bc she looks like she just layed a huge clutch.
http://tapa.tk/mu/47a996a2-7f37-cd48.jpg
http://tapa.tk/mu/47a996a2-7f4c-5759.jpg
http://tapa.tk/mu/47a996a2-7f5f-aedf.jpg

Malehttp://tapa.tk/mu/47a996a2-7fc7-f07a.jpghttp://tapa.tk/mu/47a996a2-7fde-0175.jpg

Both have a shed or two still on them. The male looks like he may have the beginnings of scale rot. And the female may have an impending Ri.
Thanks for looking updates to come.

Morgan

What a truly sad situation! I'm so glad that you took these two beauties in under your care. Now they will thrive and be healthy.

Poor babies :(

Update 1- settled them in w/ high humidity to get them a bit more hydrated. They both started moving around and giving me the hungry look. Put a sml 5 wk old rat in each. Both snapped up within 30sec. HUNGRY HUNGRY!
Sad that they were being starved.
I was in such a hurry to get them on heat I forgot to take initial weights. So I'll do that in a couple days. I put the female at no more than 11-1200g and male has to be like 1000. But well see when I weigh them. They're older like 8-10 years old.

So happy that they ate for you! Please keep us updated!

That is so sad. I'm so happy its gonna get better for them. Thank goodness for people like you :)

At least they're in capable hands now! My heart sank when I read this post. Why didn't she try to find homes for them sooner? Going MONTHS willingly not feeding an animal is definitely abuse even if she didn't know about how to properly take care of them; anyone with a lick of common sense knows that animals need to eat. /RAGE

Good job on the rescue! :gj:

I dont know why they just sat there and let them starve and it's ridiculous that people would. Apparently there was a lot more than just animal abuse going on in the household. The whole situation was just baffling to me I was done with it. She wasn't interested in doing anything with them and I'm sure she wasn't impressed with everything I had to say but I tried to just be nice. I told her the truth about their health and situation bc she wanted 120.00$ for them and I'm not going to pay someone for the abusive situation they made their animals sit in. So needless to say she tried to make money failed and figured at least she wouldn't have to deal with them anymore.

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

I told her the truth about their health and situation bc she wanted 120.00$ for them and I'm not going to pay someone for the abusive situation they made their animals sit in. So needless to say she tried to make money failed and figured at least she wouldn't have to deal with them anymore.

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WTH She wanted money for those poor things?! I would understand if she was selling the enclosure for that much (and still that's kind of a stretch) but for a pair of sickly BPs? I'm sorry but those kind of people need to be neutered.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

I dont know why they just sat there and let them starve and it's ridiculous that people would. Apparently there was a lot more than just animal abuse going on in the household. The whole situation was just baffling to me I was done with it. She wasn't interested in doing anything with them and I'm sure she wasn't impressed with everything I had to say but I tried to just be nice. I told her the truth about their health and situation bc she wanted 120.00$ for them and I'm not going to pay someone for the abusive situation they made their animals sit in. So needless to say she tried to make money failed and figured at least she wouldn't have to deal with them anymore.

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It's so very sad :( but I'm so happy they're in your care now. Now at least they have a fighting chance and can live out the rest of their lives together and happy. I think a lot of people don't view snakes as...important pets...like the way some people view a fish when it dies. They view them as something pretty to look at and they don't get emotionally envolved or they just plain don't care. It's sick and sad...it happens to a lot of animals that aren't cats or dogs, and sometimes they're victims of it too. :tears:

That turned knots in my stomach :tears: I've never seen BPs that skinny! Bpoth of mine were rescues who's ribs and spine could be felt all the way down their bodies, but neither looked THAT horrible. Poor babies :( I hope they get better soon, I'll be following their progress, thank you for sharing!

That female is a beauty!! Really nice reduced pattern!

I wish I lived close by...I would try to take her off of your hands!! :D

Good job rescuing them...and I am sure they will bulk up and be doing great in a few months.

My best wishes are with you for rescuing these snakes. I have done my fair share of local rescues in the past years and it is truly sad to see how bad the living situations can be for some of these animals. Taking them in and spending hard earned money to revive and restore a good life is truly one of the things that keeps this hobby going. People who mistreat are a bad representation on the hobby. Thank you for what you are doing. everyone could learn a little about helping from you.

Damn they are thin! I'm sure with alot of work you can bring them back. good luck.:)

Thanks everyone! Honestly I take them in bc I can't stand seeing or hearing about any animal in a bad situation. But reptiles and especially bps are the ones I simply can't turn away. I try not to be a meanie but considering that these people chose to not feed them and chose to let them go without heat was just really irritating to me. I give the best to every animal in my house simply because they deserve it. I hope and am very optimistic that this is just a malnutrition thing from the bad husbandry but If any issues pop up they will be taken care of accordingly. The fact that They ate right off is pretty encouraging. I'm sure theyll be fine. It'll just take a little time.

Oh man, good luck with them! :gj:

Poor things.

They are underfed no doubt about it, but believe it or not I've seen worse.

My husband and I saw an ad for a "cinnamon" BP. I could tell from the pics it was no cinnamon, but it was nearby and they had dropped the price to $50. So we went to see it.

This poor little thing was no bigger than my pinky finger. His skin was in loose folds from his head to his tail. He had massive amounts of stuck shed. I asked to hold him, and you could feel every single rib bone. It was horrible to feel. I asked what it ate. They said it ate one pinky mouse a month. That's right, one a MONTH! Then I asked how old he was. They told me he was 8 or 9 months old. I was heartsick. We decided then and there he'd never survive in that house, and if they told the next person who was interested that he only needed to eat one pinky a month? [shudder]. So we paid the $50 and brought him home. He weighed a whopping 110 grams at 8 months old.

We started him out on live adult mice, which terrified him since he'd never been offered prey that big. Once he caught on though, he became an eating machine. He jumped from adult mice to weanling rats and from live to F/T. He also put on massive amounts of weight. Going from 110 grams to 600 grams in about 4 months. Then it got cold and he went on a winter fast. We had to go back to live adult mice, and he only ate about every two or three weeks, but he kept steadily gaining size.

At 900 grams, we sold him as a dinker to a breeder we know who fell in love with his super reduced pattern. Last we heard, he was working on figuring out what to do with his new girlfriend. :D

So, kudo's to you for saving them, and I agree stupid people shouldn't breed. Nor should they own pets.

Gale

Omg I couldn't imagine seeing a 110g 8 month old. If someone told me they were feeding a snake a pinky mouse a month. Oh dear I don't think I could hold back. Thats like telling someone ok you can have a piece of lettuce a month. It makes me really sad that people get awesome animals and then totally disregard them and their needs. I'd like to throw everyone like that off of a cliff in one big group. Now that would make the world a much better place. Agh some people just upset me.
Ok rant over.
Update: they were weighed today and this is on a full belly from eating yesterday. But the male is a whopping 1112g
And the female 1397g
They weigh as much as some of my two year olds.

I've had a couple rescues I've rehomed after "fixing".

One was a baby male kept in a 10 gallon tank. No heat, no hide, tiny water dish, fed one mouse every 2 weeks. Stuck shed.
Fixed and rehomed without issues.

My current one is an 11 year female...
who weighed 900 grams. The guy fed her one mouse a month...

I've had her for 3 weeks and she's already 1160 grams. That is only from feeding her 4 small rats. It's amazing what FEEDING a snake can do.

Update:4-21-11
Ok males scale rot has gotten a bit worse. Called the vet to send him pics and he said keep up with Betadyne baths but we shouldn't go right to ab's. He's Filled out a good bit and has now taken three separate meals. He actually hasn't missed or refused a meal. I've got him in a beta dilute bath right now. And except for this slight case of rot he seems to be doing well. No poops yet but a few urates. http://tapatalk.com/mu/47a99751-d257-3809.jpg
http://tapatalk.com/mu/47a99751-d278-3df5.jpg
http://tapatalk.com/mu/47a99751-d28b-083e.jpg
http://tapatalk.com/mu/47a99751-d2a6-0602.jpg

The female:
Alright the girl. It really freaks me out that she still could become
Gravid. The bodies first defenses are to shut breeding down. But as she puts on weight I'm a little worried she will ovulate. And I'll lose all that good weight. Again she has never misses a meal. And still hasn't pooped. But she's expelled urates as well. She now a bit more feisty, especially as I'm writing this she's in the bath just hissing and hissing away. I see no signs of scales rot on her. Which I'm very happy about. Nor do I see any signs of the impending Ri that I thought was coming. So I think as long as she doesn't become gravid on the very near future I'll be happy.

http://tapatalk.com/mu/47a99751-d452-d14f.jpghttp://tapatalk.com/mu/47a99751-d48c-d45d.jpg

They seem alright though. And they are already getting healthier. So another update to come Soon.
Morgan

4-23-11
The male in his bath today expelled a urate that is about as big around as he is. I've never seen a urate that large. No poop yet but that may have been blocking things alot. At the same time I removed 2 very stuck sperm plugs. It looks like his hemipenes are much less swollen now.

You'll probably see some real improvement on the scale rot when the male sheds next. They look much fatter--good luck.

That's what I'm hoping. Its hard to keep it humid enough for him to shed but not too wet to promote the rot. Pain in my butt. But they seem to be doing better. Much more active then they have been with me. It's good to see them feeling better.

Poor guy, I bet he feels a lot better after getting rid of that uncomfortable thing!

They already look worlds better than they did, and I'm so glad the female seems to have dodged the RI.

Please keep us updated, I really feel for these guys.

Gale

Ok so after the shed. His belly looks perfect. Which means it's was a few stuck sheds that were dirty and yucky. There's no sign of anything in his belly anymore. Whhooo hooo! They appear to be slowly gaining weight and are getting more accustomed everyday. It looks like now we just have to get them up to a healthy weight.

Looks like they are doing great. Nice work :)

I am so glad that you did this. It gives me faith that there are still good people in the world. Though the conditions they were in and the fact they were probably just going to slowly die while that woman watched makes me lose it again. Good luck and I look forward to hearing more about their progress.

you have a reptilian green thumb my friend, gj

Thank you thank you. All of the Herps I seem to bring here seem to thrive and go on to producing cute little ones. I'm an OCD type of person with everyone's husbandry. But it's nice to see the gradual changes the rescues take. It's also really nice to see how just a little love gets the job done.

OH :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:E!!!!
oh man im pretty sure that the female is going to ovulate. She's had exact building behaviors, and there are 4 distinct lumps. Arggggg. Not what I wanted. I'm waiting for the vet to call back because she's still just so thin, really worried about her laying eggs with her underweight. I think that the old owner essentially put her into cooling and now she's out of it and eating like a hog. I just really really didn't want her laying. Hmm I'll keep updating on this new issue. If it comes down to it I'd rather have the vet do whatever necessary instead of the female dying because this takes such a toll on her.

Ohh, that's not good.

Just keep an eye on her, as long as she's eating let her chow down. If that is the case, as she gets closer to an actual ovulation, she'll stop eating again, and she sure doesn't need that.

I know they are capable of re-absorbing follicles, so don't panic yet.

Let us know what the vet says.

Gale

It just bothers me. I don't like unplanned pregnancies, and on top of that I really hate seeing a girl that shouldn't be bred anywhere in the near future go though the signs that I'm so excited to see my breeding healthy girls go through. So intead of being excited I'm like Nooooo. Both me and the vet are praying for a reabsorbtion. If she does become gravid depending on her weight/ overall Health then we may have to look at other options to save her or she could go through the whole preg. He can't say right now. Sucks huge... But for now she's eating. And using every bit of what she's eating bc still no poop yet. Shes due for a weight check so I guess we'll see soon what's going To happen.

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

It just bothers me. I don't like unplanned pregnancies,

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Too bad they don't have a Plan-B for snakes hehehe

Now that's a poop. Wow I. Ant believe this girl had all that in her. Thank God I had her in the tub. So hopefully those were the large lumps... And not building follicles. Even though she's still showing building behavior I'd like to think that there won't be any eggs. http://tapatalk.com/mu/47a98233-e51f-ce0f.jpg
http://tapatalk.com/mu/47a98233-e533-3e4d.jpg

Excuse the pun but...holy crap! That's a lot of poo!

I bet she feels better getting that out! Poor girl!

It was the MOST poop I've ever seen come out of a snake. Serious Holy Crap. Well no poop since arrival on 4-15. That's a decent amount she was holding on too. She was pretty backed up from a few pretty large urates, and a really giant hard ball of crap and then she let loose (lol) after that. I walked out of the bathroom for 2 seconds and heard some pretty crazy noises so I went back in and that's what I found. It pretty safe to say she's no longer constipated.