Ball Python Shipment arrived...PLEASE HELP

So I ordered a BP from a very reputable breeder, I was super excited to get the package open and the poor thing is stiff as a board...she was packed with a heat pack which was still warm but she was kinked and stiff. I of course immediately freaked out! I knew warmed her up with my body heat at first, then placed her on her on the cool side of the tank, I checked back on her 5 minutes later and she was still stiff and kinked, but warm. She was showing the spins common to Spiders which worried me also. Is this normal when a BP is shipped?? I'm extremely concerned, any input would help! And yes she is alive, visible heartbeat and she's breathing

My setup is as follows:

Large Critter Condo
Warm side temp 92 degrees
Cool side 80 degrees
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/12/jatyja8u.jpg

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Contact the breeder asap and let them know what is going on... sounds like your setup is right, not much more you can do but wait and see, or call a vet...

Breeder should of never shipped in this weather

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Originally Posted by steve_r34

Breeder should of never shipped in this weather

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I thought the same thing, but they assured me it was absolutely fine, and having never purchased a BP online before I ignorantly believed it. This is really frustrating as she is a gorgeous girl :-(.

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How is she doing ?? Did u contact the breeder ??? And who was the breeder??

N can we get more pics

Any update?


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The breeder didn't return my wife's calls :-|. This isn't a fly by night breeder either, which even furthers my outrage, here's a current picture http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/12/u3a4enu9.jpg

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Originally Posted by steve_r34

How is she doing ?? Did u contact the breeder ??? And who was the breeder??

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Breeder was BHB Reptils

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Normally bhb is good with comunication. Cant believe that they would ship in this weather. When i lost my pastel a few weeks ago due to a heating pad going bad overnight he was stiff but still alive i tried warming him up an he died the next day definitely keep trying to contact bhb they should make things right

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Originally Posted by Nismogizmos

The breeder didn't return my wife's calls :-|. This isn't a fly by night breeder either, which even furthers my outrage, here's a current picture http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/12/u3a4enu9.jpg

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It's late and I assume you can't get to a vet at the moment anyway so here's my advice. Leave her alone in her habitat. If she is to pass let her do so in relative peace. Checking on her all the time and holding her is only going to cause stress and possibly compound the issue. You can plan your next move depending on her state in the morning should she make it through the night.

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Originally Posted by John1982

It's late and I assume you can't get to a vet at the moment anyway so here's my advice. Leave her alone in her habitat. If she is to pass let her do so in relative peace. Checking on her all the time and holding her is only going to cause stress and possibly compound the issue. You can plan your next move depending on her state in the morning should she make it through the night.

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I checked the temps and they are good, so like you said I guess all I can do is wait till morning. Hopefully all will be well in the AM

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How is the snake this morning? And where are you located (city/state)? BHB is up in Michigan, I checked the weather history for the past few days and the high(est) high was 21*F, lows in the single digits. I couldn't imagine shipping into or out of those temperatures.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

How is the snake this morning? And where are you located (city/state)? BHB is up in Michigan, I checked the weather history for the past few days and the high(est) high was 21*F, lows in the single digits. I couldn't imagine shipping into or out of those temperatures.

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x2 on this. Do you have any updates for us? I hope your little one made it through the night. I'm so sorry this is happening to you now. I can't believe they would ship with temps like this. Especially such an experience breeder.


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Hopefully everything turns out ok. I agree that you shouldnt ship in this weather. ive been waiting on a package for a month for that same reason.

Well update, she's still very much alive, a vet visit has to happen today at some point :-/. She hasn't moved from the position she was in last night. She's been showing the spider type wobble also. I'm so disgusted with BHB at this point. I'm going to non stop pestering them until I receive a response.

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Originally Posted by Nismogizmos

Well update, she's still very much alive, a vet visit has to happen today at some point :-/. She hasn't moved from the position she was in last night. She's been showing the spider type wobble also. I'm so disgusted with BHB at this point. I'm going to non stop pestering them until I receive a response.

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They should do something about it since your snake came in like that. My good friend recieved a kinked snake from them which would never be able to breed and they had him send the BP back.

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Originally Posted by piedpython

They should do something about it since your snake came in like that. My good friend recieved a kinked snake from them which would never be able to breed and they had him send the BP back.

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We will see how it goes, I'm hoping they will make it right because this is a really sour experience for the first time ordering from a breeder online :-/

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Originally Posted by Nismogizmos

We will see how it goes, I'm hoping they will make it right because this is a really sour experience for the first time ordering from a breeder online :-/

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I'm sorry that's your experience. I've had several snakes shipped in with no problems from online sellers. I'm also waiting on another to arrive but the seller refuses to ship unless the low temps for both of us are over 35*F, and I am perfectly fine with waiting for potentially six weeks or more if that's what it takes.

That is really weird. My cousin tried to order a corn snake from BHB a few months ago and they wouldn't let him till February or March to ship it. (He ended up canceling the order and went to a reptile expo)

Any updates?

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Originally Posted by Nismogizmos

Breeder was BHB Reptils

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I've heard Michigan is down right balmy this time of year...:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Gerardo

Any updates?

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I got in touch with them and they say to hang on to it to see if anything changes, but now she isn't using the last quarter of her body.

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I find it odd that they shipped in this weather that is going on up there.
I am sorry about you situation, especially being your first online/shipped animal.
I hope everything gets better.

I find it odd they shipped too, I've been waiting weeks for them to ship my order, they wanted to ship this week it's finally starting to warm up above freezing during the day but the scheudle didn't work out for anyone to be home, next week even looks warmer so I expect they will ship on Wed. home my order arrives alright. Sorry to hear about your snake I hope it turns out OK but not using part of it's body can't be good.

Any more updates? A good friend of mine works at BHB and I will definitely ask abut this but chances are that they won't know as they work in the colubrid room and Brian ships tons of animals every week. My main question to them will be what temps they ship in in terms of lows. I'm personally very surprised that they shipped if the high there was 21. What were temps on your end and where do you live?

Also surprised that the snake was shipped. Poor thing. I think Brian should be contacted to present his side. No reptile should be shipped in this weather even if the buyer demands it.

Brian and his employees stay away from forums like the plague to avoid being part of any drama, but that's not to say that we can't get his side of the story and share it here. I'll see what my friend has to say.

I live in Southern California, so I have no temp concerns here, I never had a snake shipped before so when my wife ordered her we both thought it was kind of cold in the mid West to ship, but the lady my wife talked to said Ya it would be fine. Brian from BHB is at a reptile show so I'm stuck till he gets back, in which case I'll have to ship her back, but I refuse to ship her back until it's safe to do so....There's no way I'd send her back if there's any chance she'd get worse..

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Any news?

Any Updates?????

Well here's an update, I still feel slightly annoyed by BHB. It's been a little over a week and after numerous calls and reaching the receptionist, she says that Brian has been busy and she will let him know what's going on. They were supposed to call back yesterday when he got back from the Texas reptile show, and of course I didn't hold my breath for that to happen...which it didn't. So my wife calls for the 5th time today and the receptionist says she left Brian a note and he will call back today....has anyone ever had an experience like this with BHB before??

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Never dealt with BHB. I use Justin Kobylka mainly because he is a big name breeder and gives out his personal cell number. Which I like. How's the snake???


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sounds like the receptionist is giving you the go around...I have zero patience with type of situation...I'd already be escalating this entire situation.

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Originally Posted by OsirisRa32

sounds like the receptionist is giving you the go around...I have zero patience with type of situation...I'd already be escalating this entire situation.

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I can't tell if we are getting the run around or not...but it's highly unprofessional in any case. I really prefer not to get "unpleasent", but if the situation keeps going down the road it's going I won't really have a choice being as its already been more than enough from him to get back to me.

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Originally Posted by led-zep

Never dealt with BHB. I use Justin Kobylka mainly because he is a big name breeder and gives out his personal cell number. Which I like. How's the snake???


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She still has no use of her tail and has a ridiculously bad head wobble.

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Sorry to hear that. :-(


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Originally Posted by Nismogizmos

She still has no use of her tail and has a ridiculously bad head wobble.

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Oh no :( poor thing. I feel so bad for your snake and for you. This is such a horrible situation. I really hope bhb makes this right because this never ever had to happen and could have been easily avoided. I'm sorry their putting you through all of this.


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Originally Posted by AlexisFitzy

Oh no :( poor thing. I feel so bad for your snake and for you. This is such a horrible situation. I really hope bhb makes this right because this never ever had to happen and could have been easily avoided. I'm sorry their putting you through all of this.


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Thanks :-/ , I'm hoping that they are just honestly busy and not trying to give me the run around, but seeing her this bad and no one necessarily eager to rectify the situation is very aggravating, especially from a large breeder such as them

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Originally Posted by Nismogizmos

Thanks :-/ , I'm hoping that they are just honestly busy and not trying to give me the run around, but seeing her this bad and no one necessarily eager to rectify the situation is very aggravating, especially from a large breeder such as them

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Exactly, them being such experience breeders makes it even worse since they know better than to do something like this.


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I can't guess as to the circumstances that led to your problem, but I know Brian well enough to say there's no way he's deliberately blowing you off. Try messaging him through Facebook. He's typically very involved in social media.

How many heat packs were in the box? Sometimes they can over heat and cause neuro damage like your discribing. Unless the snake was shipped with an underlying defect.

Poor baby...what duo you think happens to the snakes with severe injuries/problems like this?

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Originally Posted by piedpython

How many heat packs were in the box? Sometimes they can over heat and cause neuro damage like your discribing. Unless the snake was shipped with an underlying defect.

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She was shipped with 1 heatpack, which didn't seem like nearly enough, I emailed today and STILL no response

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Depends on their quality of life. If it's not favorable they are (or should be) put down.

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I meet Brian he a cool guy and know his snakes. I would call again and politely point out that if Brian does not call you back in 24 hours you will be contacting ( paypal/ credit card ) and starting a complaint. I also have all the attempts to call him written down ( date and times) and also a list of email on this issue.

Very sorry to hear about your snake :( Nothing worse than waiting for a new arrival and having such a horrible surprise!!
I am just wondering, a lot of comments at the beginning of this thread were about the risk of shipping in this weather. Of course, this is a problem. However, would that cause the type of problems you describe? I'm asking to learn more! I would think that a snake shipped in cold weather would:
a) die of hypothermia
b) develop a RI - then either die or recover
c) recover after a couple of days of gentle warming up (which I think the OP did perfectly).

I've never heard of neuro problems caused by low temperature... Willing to learn though!

Update please?:please:

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Originally Posted by mechnut450

I meet Brian he a cool guy and know his snakes. I would call again and politely point out that if Brian does not call you back in 24 hours you will be contacting ( paypal/ credit card ) and starting a complaint. I also have all the attempts to call him written down ( date and times) and also a list of email on this issue.

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My wife is calling again today and if she gets the same "I'll have him call you back" garbage then I'm going to have to call, and they won't like it if I call.. I really don't want to make a giant issue out of this but it's gotten ridiculous. So I'm going to give it 1 more day then I'll be demanding my refund and make sure never to use BHB again

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This is really weird. I've never heard any complaints about BHB nor have I had any problems with them.