A sad story comes to a happy new beginning

So I just recently replied to an ad on craigslist where the guy stated that he purchased his ball python for 600 and wanted to see if he could sell it cage and all for 100. So I wrote to him asking why he paid so much was it a particular morph or something. He told me no and he must have been suckered. Anyways I told him I was not interested as a 100 dollars is not justifialbe to me for a normal ball. I thanked him and gave him my number and said if he doesn't getting any takers he could get back to me and I would by it for a reasonable price. Anyways 2 days later he texted me saying that the snake was mine at no charge. In the text he also said to bring my "picker uppers" so I did just in case I had a mean male on my hands. Man I was stoked. So I headed out to pick it up and noticed a couple things were off, but I ignored them and ended up taking the snake home while in it's cage anyways. Put it in my car and got home. Anyways I get home and carry the 50 gallon tank with the snake and all in to my house and set it down and this is what I saw.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7550.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7544.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7548.jpg
basically waste everywhere
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7546.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7545.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7543.jpg
Snake skin that appeared to be from multiple sheds and in a dry cage.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7547.jpg
A huge hide. What disgusted me the most though was that inside the hide it looked like this.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7548.jpg
This feces was very old and the snake was in it when I pulled him out of the tank. The snake is very beautiful and rest assured it will be taken care of. Here it is happy in its new rack. I will be making a nice hide for him tonight and everything. This story now has a good new beginning
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7548.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7557.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7564.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/IMG_7551.jpg
P.S I'm sure there have been a lot worse situations out there but it broke my heart to see this one. And it's not mean at all it's actually very sweet and wants to be held.

Looks like its been on a diet of corn on the cob

He looks good :gj: Hope that you have him in quarantine though.

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Originally Posted by FIREball

Looks like its been on a diet of corn on the cob

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No thats the urates.It does have a yellow and white tint to it ;).

My god that poor thing :O.Its sad that people keep them in the worst conditions and they seem to stick it out :(

Good job on the rescue. He looks actually healthy for being in those conditions. He looks as if he might have an eye cap or a dent. The dent can be fixed by upping the humidity and it will go away.

He is beautiful and very lucky that he is with you now. I just don't understand why people treat animals so badly.
Thank you for all of us who love animals for rescuing him.

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Originally Posted by Mina

He is beautiful and very lucky that he is with you now. I just don't understand why people treat animals so badly.
Thank you for all of us who love animals for rescuing him.

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Yeah thanks for all of your support on this. I do have him in quarantine and he is in a higher humidity though I didn't do a thourough check yet because I want to let him relax in his new rack. We will see how it goes.

Great looking snake! I can almost hear him sighing from relief now that he's in that tub :)

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Originally Posted by ChrisBowsman

Great looking snake! I can almost hear him sighing from relief now that he's in that tub :)

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Yeah me too. He seems so happy now. I know your not supposed to hold them for 3 days or so after you get them so I haven't but it's really hard because he comes towards me like he wants to be held.

Firstly, thank you for rescuing!! Glad you found this guy - now he'll have a much better chance in life. Great pick up! :gj:

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Originally Posted by OhBalls

Firstly, thank you for rescuing!! Glad you found this guy - now he'll have a much better chance in life. Great pick up! :gj:

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Thanks a lot I appreciate that. He has some cool blushing and stuff to on the neck so I feel pretty lucky I found him.

Great pickup. Looking forward to seeing some more pictures of him.

wow, those pics were just...gross...:O

Sam,Ted, and Ivan (the corn) weren't being well-kept when I got them either, but not half that bad. Lots of feces, urates, and old skin in the enclosure. Hadn't been fed in several weeks. Ivan was being kept in a little cheapo turtle enclosure with no heat and a tiny water bowl. basically some college kids got in over their heads and couldn't afford to feed them or take basic care of them.

I've spent about 25 bucks on Accurite temperature probes, 30 on a UTH heater for Ivan's enclosure, and I buy aspen shavings once a month or so to change out the substrate....But.....how hard is it to pick up feces, urate, and old skin?

Nice save, man...:)

wow, that looks like the local petco.. i went there a couple times within a week or two and the same piece of poo was laying in the same spot throughout that time period. very disappointing

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Originally Posted by drgonzo

wow, that looks like the local petco.. i went there a couple times within a week or two and the same piece of poo was laying in the same spot throughout that time period. very disappointing

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That's a shame. I've actually rescued a kingsnake recently too. Not too shabby of a pickup considering I also got a free reptile basics ball python rack out of it too, but it just ticks me off when people don't use a rheostat and you can just tell the snake wants nothing to do with that side of the cage as was the case with that kingsnake. Snakes come to my house and become much happier.

Bleh! That is just sad. And here I feel bad for not noticing my ball having pooped during the night until ~12 hours later. ;)

He looks to be in pretty good shape, though. Beautiful snake. :)

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Originally Posted by pangolin

Bleh! That is just sad. And here I feel bad for not noticing my ball having pooped during the night until ~12 hours later. ;)

He looks to be in pretty good shape, though. Beautiful snake. :)

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thank you I think so. He has a lot of blushing for being a normal and even some flames along the body. and he's very sweet.

Poor thing! What a mess of a cage that was! Thank goodness you've got him out of those idiot's hands. How hard is it to clean up after a snake or care for it properly! Our family dog is way more work than all 26 of our snakes....just disgusts me when owners are that lazy and uncaring.

He looks like a lovely snake and will likely do well with proper temps, humidity, fresh water, a clean home and a nice meal once a week. Things he's likely never known before. :(

Thanks for taking the time to rescue. These poor snakes suffer in silence in far too many of these nasty homes because there's not a lot of places for them to go to. I'm glad this snake found a place with you.

Good job you saved that poor snake i rescued my female as well she was not as bad off as yours but still not being looked after right thats why this site is so good all people got to do is read a bit to figure out the right way to look after there snakes

GOOD SAVE:gj::gj:

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Originally Posted by turk621

Good job you saved that poor snake i rescued my female as well she was not as bad off as yours but still not being looked after right thats why this site is so good all people got to do is read a bit to figure out the right way to look after there snakes

GOOD SAVE:gj::gj:

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Yeah exactly. I've decided that when the time comes that I'm selling babies I am going to send them with a really good care sheet that highly stresses their care as well as highly reccomending this site and it plethra of knowledge and how well people on it answer any question one may have.

That is such a shame, pure laziness is what that is. Good job on the rescue! I rescued my baby about 7 years ago, when she was brought to me, she was in an auto parts bin with a dirty rag & stunk of diesel, and she was very, very cold. Whoever owned her before me was going to chop her head off because she wouldn't eat, she ate right away for me, being that she had the optimal living conditions that were needed. She was & still is my first snake, it is very easy to take care of her, thats why it pisses me off when people are too lazy to pick up a turd and toss it in the toilet!! I would rescue another one in a heart-beat. I will always admire my fellow rescuers!!

Thats awesome! Good for you. You may want to give him more than 3 days to settle in, I know its hard;) Give him a good look over to see if there is anything that needs to be adressed like mites and whatnot but then let him be:) If you knew that already, then good on ya!!

He's in good hands now!

Ugh...those pics were pretty bad. Poor thing!

He's really lucky you found him.

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Originally Posted by sharilynn

That is such a shame, pure laziness is what that is. Good job on the rescue! I rescued my baby about 7 years ago, when she was brought to me, she was in an auto parts bin with a dirty rag & stunk of diesel, and she was very, very cold. Whoever owned her before me was going to chop her head off because she wouldn't eat, she ate right away for me, being that she had the optimal living conditions that were needed. She was & still is my first snake, it is very easy to take care of her, thats why it pisses me off when people are too lazy to pick up a turd and toss it in the toilet!! I would rescue another one in a heart-beat. I will always admire my fellow rescuers!!

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That's horrible. People disgust me. As if snakes are disposable.

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Originally Posted by mwedgley

That's horrible. People disgust me. As if snakes are disposable.

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I've seen lots of people treat all kinds of animals poorly, though. It's part of a larger picture.

"It's my dog, and I can kick it if I want." I've actually heard a kid say that. I told him if I saw him kick the dog, I'd kick him twice as hard.

Some kids hurt my cat about 15 years ago by putting a firecracker in its rectum and lighting it...

I can't watch Animal Precinct very often because it's really upsetting to me.

You just shouldn't take on animal ownership unless you can be responsible and compassionate.

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Originally Posted by Reverend Jones

I've seen lots of people treat all kinds of animals poorly, though. It's part of a larger picture.

"It's my dog, and I can kick it if I want." I've actually heard a kid say that. I told him if I saw him kick the dog, I'd kick him twice as hard.

Some kids hurt my cat about 15 years ago by putting a firecracker in its rectum and lighting it...

I can't watch Animal Precinct very often because it's really upsetting to me.

You just shouldn't take on animal ownership unless you can be responsible and compassionate.

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Man I hate hearing stuff like that, people piss me off. I want to cuss so bad about that. Did the cat survive. How screwed up.

My friend got a bp that was about burned from nose to tail because his owner bought an UTH for a large tank, and put it on a 20 gallon.He had pushed all the substrate out of the way and layed on the heat because nothing else in the cage was warm. She spent months feeding him meds, changing his set up and taking him to the vet to get skin peeled off till he was finally perfect again,

He is the reason I decided to get a BP, he was such a loving and great snake. i did a LOT of research on snakes and BP's before getting my male. I'm big on knowing as much as possible before making a commitment. I'm also big on teaching kids about animals. I have a 4 year old that I trust to sit and hold Bobo nicely, but i wouldn't let the neighbors 8 year old hold him because he's never held a snake before, and when he got hold of a friends rat, he was running around shoving it into people faces.

Great Rescue, I can't believe someone would leave a cage like that for any animal. wouldn't that stink up the house? how do you not notice that? I don't want to imagine what the rest of the house looks like if that's how the snake cage was.

Seriously, how hard is it to pick up poo? Yeah, fresh stinky poo is a little gross (and y'all ain't seen nothing until you have a giant snake take a dump), but little dried up BP poo? Hi, just reach in there...=P

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Originally Posted by sharilynn

Whoever owned her before me was going to chop her head off because she wouldn't eat, she ate right away for me, being that she had the optimal living conditions that were needed.

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:O :taz:

WHAT THE...?!

The mind reels...

I just don't get some so-called "people". Seeing pics and hearing stories like that just pisses me off. They should be drug out into the street and publicly flogged. Well, okay, maybe not flogged but perhaps beaten about the head with some large, firm rutabagas then.

<Getting onto soapbox> "People...and with some of you I use the term loosley...and CERTAINLY NOT ANYONE who uses these forums...if you really don't want to invest the time and money and labor of love it requires to take care of any type of animal, whether it slithers, walks, flies or crawls...do yourself and others a favor and just save yourself a trip to the local pet shop and instead simply continue to invest your money and time into resting back in your Laz-Y-Boy on the front porch with your Bud in one hand and your bong in the other and let someone who really cares about critters do it for you...thank you and my apologies to those who DO manage to still be responsible herpers and the like who actually do enjoy those things previously noted..."<getting down off of soapbox>

Accept my congrats Michael along with the others on the rescue which I really believe that's what it was. A rescue.

I guess you named him "Mr. Lucky" huh?

Sincerely,
Jeff in AZ

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Originally Posted by mrmertz

Accept my congrats Michael along with the others on the rescue which I really believe that's what it was. A rescue.

I guess you named him "Mr. Lucky" huh?

Sincerely,
Jeff in AZ

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Thanks, and I haven't thought of a name because I like to get to know their personality first and I'm still letting him adjust to his tub. I like Mr. Lucky though, theres a bar like 5 minutes walking distance near my home called Mr. Lucky, and I'm Irish and it's that time of year. It would be suitable.

On a side note I emailed the guy to get some basic info. Like possible date of birth. Last shed date things like that. Didn't think I'd get far with that and didn't but what really go me is somewhere in the email he said I miss him already. I was thinking since when did you miss him when you didn't take care of him the last month or two or more. I saw what I thought was multiple sheds. I don't know.

I'm actually suprised that he even noticed him missing! What a crock, huh?

Have fun with the "name game"! I tend to base names (as if snakes really know!) on quirps or personality traits as well. Our Suriname boa loves to bury under substrate, hence I got to calling him "Gopher". The wife likes John Wayne movies and refuses to call him anything but "Hondo".

I guess perhaps we should just call him "Gondo or Hopher"...I dunno.

Have fun bro!

Jeff

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Originally Posted by mrmertz

Have fun with the "name game"! I tend to base names (as if snakes really know!) on quirps or personality traits as well. Our Suriname boa loves to bury under substrate, hence I got to calling him "Gopher". The wife likes John Wayne movies and refuses to call him anything but "Hondo".

I guess perhaps we should just call him "Gondo or Hopher"...I dunno.

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/highjack on

*cough*PICTURESPLZTHX!*cough*

/highjack off

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Originally Posted by mwedgley

Man I hate hearing stuff like that, people piss me off. I want to cuss so bad about that. Did the cat survive. How screwed up.

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She got a couple of stitches and lived many more years. We lost her to coyotes when we lived in northern New Mexico:( Best cat, ever. Taught herself to use the toilet, just couldn't figure out how to flush, heh.

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Originally Posted by Reverend Jones

She got a couple of stitches and lived many more years. We lost her to coyotes when we lived in northern New Mexico:( Best cat, ever. Taught herself to use the toilet, just couldn't figure out how to flush, heh.

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That's sweet. Congrats on a great cat and I'm sorry she passed.

Great job on the rescue! :gj:
With all the info on the web about proper BP care (like here, for example), there's no excuse to not know how to properly care for them. I've see a few Craigslist listings myself that make me realize that many people are clueless as to what they have and how to take care of them. Some people just make me so mad... :mad:

Gongrats on the rescue. I actually got one a long time ago because the person was afraid of it and it was easier to give it away cage and all, than to just clean the cage!! I placed her in a wonderful home.:)