A Sad Story with a Happy Ending

This is as much an intro as anything else. One morning a couple weeks ago while surfing my local Craigslist, I came across an ad that caught my eye. "BP for Free" it said, "to the first person that can take care of it and wants it." I'd been wanting a BP for a while, but the time never seemed right, but this sounded like the perfect opportunity. So I contacted the advertiser. Come to find out, he had found the poor little thing dumped, broken tank and all, on the curb outside an apartment complex in sub-freezing weather while walking his dog that morning. He couldn't keep it, but also couldn't just leave it there, so he tucked it in his shirt, brought it home, and advertised it on Craigslist.

Since I had been wanting one anyway, and had almost everything to take care of it anyway, I decided I would take it. A few short hours later, I was in possession of a half-frozen, severely dehydrated, skin and bones, mite-ridden BP. I swung by the local herp store on the way home and picked up the couple things I was missing along with some miticide, and they told me my snake was *probably* female, although she was tiny and it was difficult to determine. I brought her home and popped her in a warm water soak while I set up her tank, then rubbed her in miticide and left her alone for a couple days.

After she had settled in, I went back to the store and got her a mouse, which she DEVOURED like she hadn't seen food in weeks (probably hadn't). Fast forward to now, and she's eaten three times, is rid of the mites, and gone through a horrible shed. It basically flaked off three scales at a time. She still has some skin left on her nose and has retained her eye caps, but she's still eating well and doesn't mind being held.

I have no idea as to her age, breeding, background, morph (if any) or anything else. She's roughly a foot long and weighs 93g, so I'm assuming fairly young, but she's eating a regular sized mice without difficulty. What I do know is that she's home now, and won't ever go hungry, thirsty, or be left in the cold again.

that's a great story .. u did a great thing and it will come back to 10 times better .. the pet store cant look at ur snake and tell u what it is without popping it or probing it .. I will throw up a video I did on popping and when u feel the time is right u can pop and see the sex .. but deff wait until it is more healthy

Watch "Popping ball python" on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0i8...e_gdata_player

hope it works . if not just search it

Thanks, Steve! The folks at the store probed her, but said they weren't 100% sure. I'll just wait until she's older and healthier, and then try popping her just to make sure.


She's already filled out a good bit. I can't see her ribs anymore and she isn't wrinkly either. Is it odd that she's only defecated once despite having three meals? Or is that to be expected since she was half-starved? I'm feeding her every 5-6 days, and she's hunting with no hesitation at all.

Give us pics, we love them! What a happy story! Glad you encountered her =]

She won't poo terribly often, she's using her prey quite efficiently to gain weight and energy back. I'm glad she's eating so voraciously for you.

When I first got her

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...ic/image-2.jpg

Today
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...c/image-11.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...ic/image-8.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...c/image-10.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...5fa2de9b5f.jpg

If she wasn't being fed before you got her like you suspect, it might take a few meals before she loads the chambers, so to speak, and starts defecating on a regular basis.

What a great story. I love it when a neglected animal is taken in by someone who genuinely cares. Now she has a wonderful home! Also, welcome to the site. :)

Bless you for taking such good care of this girl. She looks so much better, and she seems to know how well you're caring for her!

She looks worlds better!!!!

Welcome to the site. Im glad you rescued her and gave her a good home she looks alot better now

Great job rescuing the poor girl

Thanks, everyone!

She's an absolute sweetheart. Very docile and calm, even in the height of her shed. She's not cage aggressive or skittish at all.

Any guesses as to how old she might be?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naamah

Thanks, everyone!

She's an absolute sweetheart. Very docile and calm, even in the height of her shed. She's not cage aggressive or skittish at all.

Any guesses as to how old she might be?

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Young. Perhaps a Christmas gift gone awry.

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Beautiful thing you've done! I love to hear stories like this!

Good job and beautiful ball!

Welcome to BP.net! Outstanding job on that rescue. With a story like that, she is certainly a very lucky BeePee :gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naamah

Is it odd that she's only defecated once despite having three meals?

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Not odd at all. Right now it's putting every thing it can into re-building new snake. It simply doesn't have much waste left over to eliminate. Once it catches up, so will the rest of the functions LOL

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naamah

Any guesses as to how old she might be?

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Very hard to say, but if I had to take a guess, I'd say a mid to late 2013 hatch date.

I'm sure you know this, but just a reminder to keep an eye out for the mites to return. I don't know of too many products on the market that kill the eggs. Once they hatch, you'll need to treat again. Provent A Mite (PAM) seems to work well at killing them as soon as they hatch. Some keepers even use it as a preemptive measure in all their enclosures. A simple key word search on "PAM" will give you a bunch of threads detailing the proper way to use it.

That's so awesome that that guy took her in and gave her a chance to find a new home.
It's so sad that someone would actually just dump her on the curbside in the cold and in a broken tank. :( she looks like a sweet little snake.



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Great job!

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Let the collection begin! very good job with her, so happy it happens, thats how i started 2 years, ago.... 1 little baby male names trouser, which is now a female....and now +34 later