Rescue Rant and Information Request

Oh, where to begin...

So, my friend got a ball python at a pet store two years ago, and since then not only has she acquired about twenty or so more animals (slight exaggeration, but just barely), but has also not much taken care of them. She's cleaned the tank maybe...3 times? I myself have cleaned it twice while I was over there because I couldn't stand the squalor conditions in which it was living. I've bought her mice because she's been on maintenance feed; I got her a 29 gallon tank as an upgrade from her 20 long, which isn't bad, but I wanted her to have more room--and they left it in their car for 6 months instead of carrying it upstairs for use; last time I was over, I noticed she had dented eye caps and a little stuck shed, so I soaked her, sprayed down her tank, and bought them sphagnum moss to use in a moist hide--which they didn't bother doing, either.

So, finally I got them to bring the poor gal over to me, saying I could clean her tank and feed her. And dear god, what a task! The aspen she was on was a solid, molding mat of poo and stuck shed pieces, and it smelled like rotting fish! x.x She was covered in stuck sheds, still has dented eyes, and was jumpy I assume from not being held, but it could've just been she can't tell what's coming at her. I spent an hour cleaning her tank, scrubbing it, and finally using a razorblade to get the crud from the stuck sheds, hard water, and poo off the sides. Then I spent an hour plus trying to clean her too-small water bowl with a razorblade as well, because it was SO caked with buildup that I thought the thing was BROWN--lo and behold, it's actually gray and black! Ended up giving her a different, bigger water bowl that I borrowed from one of my corns that may be gravid and doesn't need a large water bowl right now, anyway. I soaked her for a while during this cleaning process to help her get the stuck shed she still has off, and I think I got it all off, but I'll try again in a few days.

She is currently in the 29 gallon that I re-took from them and cleaned-up. She has that bigger water dish, which last time I peeked at her, she was soaking in. She is currently on the same paper bedding I keep my corns on (Eco Bedding--it's essentially shredded paper). She has a half-log hide, and I made her up a moist hide with the sphagnum moss and a couple of moist paper towels she can crawl through. Her tank is pretty bare at the moment, but I plan on fixing it up a bit with a climbing stick at least, maybe a few other things (any ideas?). I covered half of the tank to try to give her some privacy, since I'm sure she's been through a lot today. They last fed her two weeks ago, and while tomorrow is feeding day for my snakes, I'm going to let her settle in for a few days before I try to feed her, weigh her, and take pictures of her (not in that order). I really wish I had taken a picture of her stuff before I had cleaned it!! It was so ridiculous! But all I could think was "dear god, I need to clean this". How can someone let their pet's home get that bad?? :/

Anyway, I'm here not just to rant, but I'm also seeking a little insight on care for her. I've never personally owned a ball python (a lot of my friends have, though), and I have two corns, but I know their care differs. I already read about basic care--temperatures and the like. I'll have to get a thermometer/hygrometer for her when I can. But how often should she be fed, and what size prey (I only do frozen/thawed, so no worries there), or is that something you guys need the weight for? She's pretty thick around (could be I'm used to colubrids), but I can see her spine sticking up a bit. Anything else I can do for her eyes? Any other little info tidbits would be awesome and welcome. Thank you all in advance, and I promise to get pics of the little gem for you guys when I can. :]

Thank you for taking her in, it just makes me feel sick inside when I read things like this.

Key points, give her a warm hide and cool hide that are both pretty snug, the half logs sometimes don't give them a secure enough "safe zone." For food you can go off body width (they will definitely look porky compared to corns) or feed a prey item between 10-15% of body mass. Keep that humidity up and hopefully she'll have a good shed next time.

Thanks. I'm hoping she does. :] But I don't know if I get to keep her. I'm hoping their sheer laziness will stop them from taking her back, but I'm technically only borrowing her for as long as I can. Would like to get one good shed and a couple good meals in her, at least.

Should I give her a smaller meal at first? Just in case she's underfed?

I'm also throwing out "her" a lot, but I don't actually know. Saw some pretty good-sized spurs on "her". Of course, from what I understand, the presence of spurs does not necessarily mean male. -shrugs- I'll take her to one of my friends to get her sexed later.

Dear lord, that poor girl. Again, thank you so much for taking her in. Definitely do what Badgemesh said. I like making my own hides from dollar store plastic bowls. Yay for cheap cage furniture! I like the accurite thermometers. I'd feed her smallish meals to start, you can't be 100% certain she was actually fed 2 weeks ago... I would definitely clutter her cage up with crumpled newspaper or fake plants if you want to get creative. Best of luck with her, I'll be looking forward to pics of her speedy recovery :)

i WOULD PRETEND SHE DIED AND GIVE IT TO SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO TREAT HER RIGHT... :P

So, saw her cruising around, slipped my hand in the tank and let her crawl on me. She's a curious sweetheart. Weighed her while I had her out: 604g. I'm assuming that's low? I'm pretty sure I've seen yearlings advertised with that weight.

That's definitely low for a two year old. I've got a 7ish month old at that weight.

​That's a LOT more behind than I was expecting! Jeez! O.o

I wouldn't panic, my male yearling was only 450g at his first birthday and he's never refused a meal, so she could just be a slow grower. If she is in fact female though, she definitely needs a few real good meals. Thank you so much for 'borrowing' her, here's hoping you don't need to take her back! You mentioned that the original owner has 20+ more animals, are they all in this same state of neglect? Because that reaches a level of criminal if the aspen was literally a sheet of feces and mold. :(


Sent from my cool hide

Archimedes, her aspen came up in solid sheets with a dust pan. It was just gross. And I know I bought them bedding.... The other animals include: 8 mice, 1 rat, 2 cats. I actually gave them a breeding pair of mice so that they would have food (I was breeding mice for my snakes at the time), but obviously they aren't using the offspring. The rodents probably are living in crap conditions, but the cats are decently kept. And judging by the spine on her, I'm going with she's not just a slow-grower. It's apparent, but not scary.

Here's a pretty good video if the snake is not to head shy. Not sure how bad the eyes are but if there is a few retained eye caps you can give this a shot or wait until next shed with a bump in humidity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WUymT0kZN4
Thanks for giving her a good temporary home. Nice to know some people care...makes me sick:mad:

No problem with giving her a home. The sad thing to me is they didn't think she was that bad. But she's had dented eyes for months, stuck shed pieces (they laughed and said she never figured out how to shed! it's not her fault!), that they feed her whenever she's cruising and hungry...

She's a little head shy. But I think she just can't see.

Well definitely keep us updated on her progress. It breaks my heart to hear things like this. Do you have any photos of her?


Sent from my cool hide

Oh bless her! Some people should not get animals! It sounds like they got her simply to say they had a snake but had no intention of giving her the care and attention she needs! I feed my 200g Pastel small weaner rats and I plan to feed my 700g het albino large weaner rats (might upgrade him but only got him recently and was told that is what he was eating). Perhaps try her with a small weaner to start and see how she takes it? (People correct me if I'm wrong here!) Of course letting her settle a little first as it sounds like she has had a right old time!

Thank god there are people like you to intervene! She should be offered food on a weekly basis not "when she is cruising and hungry"!!

People infuriate me and that is why I have snakes. They're so much easier to understand! I wish you luck and honestly hope they forget you have her so she can live a happy and healthy life with someone who obviously cares!

I have a large rat pup (a little bigger than an adult mouse, at any rate too big for my corns) that I am going to start her off with. Then move her up to small rats gradually. And yeah, I hate people, too--much prefer snakes, or any animal. A few years in retail really made me dislike people. x.x

Snapped a few pics, they're links because I have a feeling they'd end up huge if I posted them directly:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x206/ProductMur/Mobile%20Uploads/20131021_211953_zpsc84997ab.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x206/ProductMur/Mobile%20Uploads/20131021_211820_zpsb5cc3c36.jpg

Please pardon the blurry tablet pics. x.x You can't tell, but her eye caps are already rounding out:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x206/ProductMur/Mobile%20Uploads/20131021_211721_zpsb13eab78.jpg

I like her, she's a lovely normal. The pics don't really capture it, but her white creeps up further than normal, and she has nearly no blushing on her black pattern, it's a solid black. Anyway, you can see in the bottom left corner of the first of these a bit of the wrinkly skin she has. Also, her spine is evident--again, not startlingly so, at least not to me, but enough to be noticed.
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x206/ProductMur/Mobile%20Uploads/20131021_211713_zpsbb7893cc.jpg
And her tail stripe is cool. :]
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x206/ProductMur/Mobile%20Uploads/20131021_211744_zps934429de.jpg

Chow time! Weighed her again, she was at 603g. Fed her a f/t rat pup that was 28g, so 5% of her body weight, about half of what is recommended to get her started. She snatched it up right as I dropped it in! I didn't even have time to close the lid! Snapped a couple crappy tablet pics before covering her back up and giving her some privacy. :3

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps52a26157.jpg

Poor dear thing. My heart just breaks for her and you. I've taken in my fair share of rescues, and it's not an easy thing to do. It may be wrong of me to say this, but I would tell them she got sick and died suddenly, so sorry! And just keep her.

She is such a lovely thing to live such an awful life. I know we can't save them all, but it doesn't keep me from wanting to try!

Bottom line now is: stable temps, tight hides, humidity, humidity, humidity, and just let her eyes alone until she sheds good a time or two. I have a lovely rescue who is blind in one eye, because the owners were convinced she had a stuck eyecap. It turns out, they pulled the outer lens of her eye off! So yeah, I'm not a big advocate of messing with eyecaps.

Feed her small for now, it won't hurt her. You can even put her on a 5 day schedule for now if you feed small.

Make sure she has really snug hides. I mean so small you think no way she can fit in there, because that is what she will prefer. I have a few now who's hides are so small they look like they are wearing a hat, but I'm not allowed to change them! If I do, I get all kinds of grumpiness and food refusals. So for now, hat hides it is! Be patient with the poor love, and she'll come around in no time. And whatever decision you make about her care, I am glad you did what you did.

Gale

If the situation is as disgustng as you say in that house, it would be a clever and responsible idea to call the authorities.
People that treat animals with neglect should not be allowed to have them. Period.
The fact that you know and do not do something about it makes you as responsible as them, you should think about the animal's interests before your frienship.
And honestly, I would be ashamed to have friends like that.
No offense and I do not want to flame or start a discussion, but honestly, someone who keeps a snake in a tub of mold and sh*t is a monster.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jamesv85

If the situation is as disgustng as you say in that house, it would be a clever and responsible idea to call the authorities.

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If the snake were still there I would say yes. However, the OP has removed the snake from the situation. Apparently the other remaining animals are ok, so there's not a lot to investigate at this point.

Also, depending on where the OP is, animal control may be able to help, or it may not be able to take on animals that aren't either cute and cuddly, or livestock. Many simply aren't equipped to deal with reptiles, and I can name several of my local counties that put them down immediately on intake because they don't have the expertise and enclosures on hand to house them. BTW I'm trying to change this and at least have them call me or some other local herpers first, but policy is policy...

James, on many points, I agree with you. I hate that they've kept her this way, and after repeatedly trying to give them advice and money I don't have (being a stay-at-home mom) to help maintain their animals...I'm pretty damned infuriated. Snakes are one of the lowest maintainance pets I know of--but that doesn't mean they don't require things still! But yes, she's hopefully going to end up staying with me for good and out of that situation.

angllady, I am going shopping for her this weekend. I may get a new hide or two along with some cluttering decorations, or I may just use some tupperware. But I'll be sure she's snug. :3