What would you do ... ?

A couple weeks ago, I moved out of where I'd previously lived and into a house with someone about the same age as me. I thought it was great because I have a couple of dogs (one of which is a pit bull) and a snake, so I thought it would be harder to find housing. This person also owns a couple of dogs and a snake.

Anyways, I've noticed this guy isn't taking care of his BP. At all.

I'm talking improper temps, humidity at 25%, soiled substrate, not ENOUGH substrate, a dirty water bowl that's almost empty, and a rat that he'd left in the tank for FOUR days before I finally grabbed some tongs and fished it out of there. The snake looks in relative good health from what I can see with the exception of some small pieces of stuck shed on its head.

What would you do? Keeping in mind that 1) I've just moved into this guy's place three weeks ago and 2) a lot of people get defensive when the quality of their pet's care is called into question, however warranted it is.

If I didn't live there I wouldn't be so nice, but since you are living there I'd talk to him about it, maybe make some suggestions nicely and see how that goes. I think it is all in the delivery. Also, persuade him to join this forum so he can see and talk to those more experienced and also to see how his husbandry is lacking.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.483622,-83.121079

Well, if I wasn't living here, I wouldn't be so nice about it, either. :P

But it IS really hard to find a place to live with a pit bull AND a snake (my golden retriever sadly doesn't cancel them out, lol), and I'm very hesitant to rock the boat and jeopardize my living situation.

Suggesting he come to this forum is not an option, unfortunately. He doesn't go online hardly at all, if ever, because of the demands of his job.

That is a touchy subject and is really dependent on the overall attitude of your new house mate. Try bringing up snakes in a casual conversation and then ween into talking about your guy's snakes. Although he may need to be told how horrible he's treating his snake, maybe he's just not educated enough in BPs to know that what he is doing is wrong.

What I would do: Be honest but not blunt. Next time you go out to buy a rat/mouse for your snakes, ask him if he would like you to pick one up for him. If you want to, offer to clean the cage for him or do anything else you feel he is negligent on.

Have you talked to him about his snakes? Does he seem bored with the subject when it is brought up? What's his schedule like (he might be "too busy" to care for it properly)? If he's interested in getting a new home for it, help him out; if he's too busy to take care of it, do some chore swapping (you take care of the snake and he does the dishes). All in all you just need to be honest with this guy. Try to judge his reactions to certain things before you rag him for being a bad snake parent.

Poor snake. Do you guys talk about your snakes with each other? Maybe you could make a few suggestions. Tell him your not trying to tell him what to do. Give him some reasons why he should do things different. Such as leaving a nasty rat in the cage for 4 days. Nasty! Not good for the snake or you guys. You can do it without being ugly.

Tell him to come on here... I'll personally give him hell for it lol.

In the past I have had similar experiences (but not snake related) what I ended up doing one day was just fixing the issue myself and the guy finally saw the error of his ways. I can't say that this will work for you, but It did for me and my friend.

what exactly are the "improper temps"?

as for humidity, wait untill the next time it goes into shedding, and go up to him and say, "you know what ive noticed helps mine shed? if you spray the cage down and get it up to 60-70%". something like that, and hopefully he'll listen, try it, and you'll be proven right. but dont just go up to him and tell him a buch of things hes doing wrong all at one time, for the reasons you've already pointed out, just give him a tip here, and a tip there

If you need the home situation that desperately, well, it's really not difficult to care for a ball python...I would say, simply offer to take care of the snake for him.

I left rats in the tanks overnight and wake up needing to get rid of the smell immediately, I can't imagine after four days... that is nasty. I suffer from "too nice syndrome", I would also have a hard time confronting this issue. I would probably offer to take some of the responsibility, although it might not be ideal if you move out 'cause then the snake goes back to those conditions without the guy being any more educated on the issue. Really, he might just not know how to take care of it. You say he rarely gets on the internet- I would know so much less than I do without the help of this website. Like what I learned from the pet store :O. Yipes.
Does he ever handle his snake or show any interest in it at all?

How about just offering to help him with his snake ? If he doesn't have time to come online often then could that be the factor to why he isn't able to care for his ball correctly ( granted this is no excuse ) I think just talking to him would be more benefitial than anything else :)

Good luck hope you manage to sort something out.

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Originally Posted by blueberrypancakes

I would probably offer to take some of the responsibility, although it might not be ideal if you move out 'cause then the snake goes back to those conditions without the guy being any more educated on the issue.

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I would think that by that time, you could be "real" with him and tell him either start taking care of it or find it a new home. Or he might just give you the snake if you're taking care of it all the time. Of course this is all perspective. :P

It, seems as though he doesn't have the time to properly care for his snake. Why don't you ask if you can assist in caring for it? Then maybe he will see how much better the care for the snake is.

And for the time being you get to keep another snake =D

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Originally Posted by RuthlessReptiles

I would think that by that time, you could be "real" with him and tell him either start taking care of it or find it a new home. Or he might just give you the snake if you're taking care of it all the time. Of course this is all perspective. :P

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I had also considered that he may give it to you if he sees that you're taking such good care of it after that time... and yeah, after getting to know you're roomie a little better maybe you would feel more comfortable being blunt with him...

You've been given many suggestions on how to approach the subject with your roommate - good luck on that.

But, I don't know if you mentioned this or not but I would be certain to keep my snake as far from his snake as possible - if it isn't being cared for properly then it could very well be a carrier of illnesses that you don't want your snake to get.

Just my thoughts on this.

Good luck.

Great point, West.

I'm curious, how well does he take care of his dogs? My snakes are a lot easier to take care of then my dog or cat. If it's a "Too busy" thing then the dogs probably show signs of neglect as well. If it's an "Ignorance" thing then he should be open to suggestion. I agree it's all about the approach but most people are open to suggestion when presented as "Hey did you know?" Good luck.

Thanks for all your suggestions guys.

1) By improper temps, I mean they are too low. His snake is kept downstairs, in a 50 gal. tank, where the ambient temp is 61 degrees (brrr). All he has to heat his tank are two 75W bulbs.

2) His snake and my snake have absolutely no contact and I, of course, wash my hands after touching mine. I keep Pablo upstairs in my room. He keeps his downstairs.

3) He pays hardly any attention to his dogs except to feed them and let them out in the times he is home. Granted, they're 9 yrs old and fat and lazy and spend all their time sleeping on the couch ... but still. Spend some time with them, you know? They're always so excited to see him.

4) He shows no interest in his snake that I've seen. While I handle mine every day or so, I've never seen him handle his.

This is what I would do, when he's at work, clean the cage, fix the temp problem, give clean and plenty substrate, clean bowl and fresh water. If/when he says anything, just say you noticed the tank needed cleaned and thought you'd be helpful and do it for him, since yours needed to be done too :D

Heather beat me to it. Id do exactly what she said