My Rescue Update

here are a few pix of my rescue. i will be moving to NH which is about 4 hrz away and i was thinking of giving my rescue to an inexperienced but very nice fellow who lives in town. i met him through a good friend. he's never had a BP before but seems very interested. he came by last night to meet my snake, but it was brief. he and his girlfriend are stopping by tomorrow to officially meet Snikolas and talk about the "adoption". he has a larger tank and i told him he'd have to get the full setup in order for me to be comfortable giving him away. i also told him i'd want to get to know him better, and show him around the BP forum, as well as show him some videos made by various awesome BP facilities (YAY YOUTUBE).

so what do you guys think? this rescue was NOT planned and i think this is for the best. VERY sad but he's doing beautifully now and this guy will be able to do what he needs to do (i think hehe, interview still in process)... and for sure take him to the vet (which was going to happen if i moved to NH, they have one right where i'm goin, yey). this area is very unresourceful for herps, but i think this guy will do well. here are a couple new pix of the Snik, and more in my gallery. enjoy and please give your imput.

i think the car ride would be stressful and i'd rather not have to move him. i'd rather him stay somewhere permanent. it will be better for me to start fresh in the future. it's sad to get rid of my first snake but i think it's for the best, what do you think???


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my real reservation on getting rid of this snake is his disposition. he's so docile and friendly, i'm afraid i'll never find a snake so lovely. if i were ever to breed, he'd be be daddy to whoever, i'd be breeding for his niceness :P am i being paranoid? are there oodles of loving snakes out there? or am i just being a weirdo :P

Of course you're not being a weirdo; but you are the only person who can decide what is best for your snake and then what is best for you. :)

i never thought i'd get emotionally attatched to a snake. i got all teary eyed reading my post out loud to my roommate haha... snake love :P :snake:

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Originally Posted by ViciousBliss

i never thought i'd get emotionally attatched to a snake. i got all teary eyed reading my post out loud to my roommate haha... snake love :P :snake:

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Well if you do decide to place him you may want to get the adoptor agree to give you "first right of refusal" if he ever has to find a new home.

Also you might want to find out if he has a good history with previous animals (i.e. so you had a dogs/cats/whatever before...what happened to them?) If he remains devoted to them until they are ancient and arthritic he will probably be a good caretaker for your BP, if he has a history of getting new animals and then not keeping them that says something too.

from what he's said and from what my friend has said a few times, his girlfriend is skeptical and he hopes i can influence her to be more accepting to a "pet" snake. like i said, tomorrow they will come by in the mornin, so we will see. i will probably end up asking said girlfriend if she has any pets she enjoys :P and see where that brings the conversation. i have a small rat (very friendly... next weeks breakfast!) so they will be able to see what size is the correct size to feed him...

now on a side note i say correct size because thus far i've been feeding him 2 mice at a time and it's taken him usually under a minute or a minute and a half (give or take) to kill the rodent. when i gave him a small rat, it was the quickest kill time, and seemed to be the least stressful to both animals... so am i right so am i right to say that this is the right size to feed my snake? he killed the small rat in under 45 seconds, with just 2 strong coils... i was impressed, and glad to have bought 2, as i had not even had them AVAILABLE to me till this past week! the petstore currently holds sm rats for me every monday (but not this monday bc i bought 2 :) )

wow, i'm totally into this hobby. haha am i ready to let go?

when i move i think i'm going to apply at a petco to try and work in the reptile section to see that the lil dudes there get the proper care... or try to find a local pet store to work in... and satisfy my craving to collect said animals by educating myself further before hand. i am still teetering on the idea of just bringing Snikolas with me bc one of my boyfriends roomies, Tanya, has a BP... and i think it would be cool to ya kno, have that in common. that and she's had hers longer than i, so it would be a great way to learn from what she knows and experiences and vice versa... heh. ok so i have not decided yet. boo.

It sounds to me like you don't want to adopt him out...... :)

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Originally Posted by ViciousBliss

i never thought i'd get emotionally attatched to a snake. i got all teary eyed reading my post out loud to my roommate haha... snake love :P :snake:

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I totally know what you mean! When my husband and I had to move, we debated getting rid of my three snakes, but I couldn't
bear to loose my handsome boys, and girl. I literally teared up
thinking about Loki being in the care of someone esle. :P

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Originally Posted by SnakieMom

I totally know what you mean! When my husband and I had to move, we debated getting rid of my three snakes, but I couldn't
bear to loose my handsome boys, and girl. I literally teared up
thinking about Loki being in the care of someone esle. :P

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thats what makes me so uneasy is just the thought of someone else caring for my Snikolas!!!

It's making me sad just reading about y'all getting separated! The car ride might not be that bad if you put him in a small dark shoe box or something else secure and just keep him in the front seat with you. Or secure the box somewhere else so it doesn't move too much. I totally respect you for being willing to leave your pet behind for his best health interest. I just hope that the person who gets him doesn't mistreat/stress him out more than the car ride would have! Good luck with everything. :gj:

keep the snake! for the snakes good and your own self conscious.how many nights will you wonder how things are going?is it worth it?even if the new owners take good care how will you really know?just my opinion

If you do adopt the snake out - make sure you keep in touch with the new owner so that you know what is happening with the animal. I adopted out a couple snakes (2 that were given to me because people moved and their new apartments did not allow snakes) In both cases I knew that the new owners I had found had prior experience in dealing with snakes and I still keep in touch with them today though myspace to make sure everything is going well.

I actually keep in touch with most of the previous owners or breeders of the snakes I own now - I got 2 snakes from Kathy Love 2 years ago and I send her e-mails every year with pictures of the snakes showing how much they've grown and that they are having a nice life here! My other snakes were bought locally and I'm friends with almost all the people I got them from on myspace so they always see the latest pictures of their old friends :)

Make sure that they contact you first if they do ever decide they are no longer interested in the animal - that way you would be able to give it a home if it really needs one - or find a new home with someone who you trust!

If keeping the snake in your new location isn't a problem, then I say keep him!! Breeders ship snakes all the time and from what I understand, most make it to their destination with no problem and I'm sure the majority of them travel for more than 4 hours...not to mention they are being handled by a complete stranger who couldn't care as much about the snake as you do about yours. I would without a doubt take any and all necessary steps and precautions that I'd have to take just to keep the snake.

But, if you do decide to adopt him out, hats off to you for looking into the new owners and not just handing him over to the first person willing to take him.

haha you guys are making me feel like i should keep him... and i totally thought the feedback would be the other way around! interesting!

i am definitely on the "keeping" side of my decision, and having him and his girlfriend come this morning probably won't sway me much. the world wants me to keep this snake, i can feel it... so that's probably what's going to end up happening.

thank everyone so much for their imput and keep it coming, the different opinions are stellar... haha but i think everyone is in agreeance that i should probably keep my snikolas.

haha now you all need to give me suggestions as to how to let this guy down easy... he's even bringing his girlfriend to meet my snake today! yikes haha....

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Originally Posted by ViciousBliss

haha now you all need to give me suggestions as to how to let this guy down easy... he's even bringing his girlfriend to meet my snake today! yikes haha....

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Don't worry about letting the guy down easily. Its not like this is the ONLY bp available, and if this convinces his girlfriend that getting a BP is a good idea then you still did the guy a favor by helping to convince the girlfriend.

If you decide you absolutely want to keep this BP and you feel awkward about telling them then just get misty eyed and start apologizing to them, if you become overly emotional they will naturally feel the need to calm you down and say its okay (and if they don't then you have reason to question their character...haha.)

Just be sure that you will be the better long term home, by that I mean be sure you will be willing to sacrifice for this little guy in the future by putting his needs first when you move to new places and such (don't take an apartment that says "no pets") etc...

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From what he's said and from what my friend has said a few times, his girlfriend is skeptical and he hopes i can influence her to be more accepting to a "pet" snake. Like i said, tomorrow they will come by in the mornin, so we will see. I will probably end up asking said girlfriend if she has any pets she enjoys and see where that brings the conversation.

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This could lead to problems in the future, if they live together.
Also you need to see reciepts that show they have purchased the digital thermometors, Thermostats, hydrometer, UTH's, the correct bedding, NO LOGS... two identical hides, etc. etc.. etc...
they can say, 'Oh yeah we got it." and think you are doing "overkill" since its your baby.. sort of...
I would do a home visit, there is a great little rescue semi close to me and they do home visits, and have a contract that allows them to come visit with a 1/2 notice for 2 weeks after placement. They had to take back a Beardie adult from one lady, due to lack of care.
You need to check to be sure they fully understand what they are getting into.
Carol

well Snik was a big hit with the girlfriend. before we even discussed the adoption, i told them i was still on the fence about it, and was leaning more towards keeping him. i also informed them of NERD, which is located in NH, and told them that if i didn't end up giving them Snikolas, in the future i'd love to go to an Expo in NH to buy their first snake. i also told them that if they couldn't make the ride i'd be more than happy to pick something up and bring it to them. they are psyched. all in all it was an educational and fun morning. they are genuinely interested in BPs and stayed for over an hour to discuss care and handling, and watch videos on youtube. the girlfriend seemed less skiddish than the boyfriend, and by the end of our visit, i was laughing with her, telling him that she's going to be the one prodding for a BP in no time. i definitely think they will be back to hang out, they seem like cool people i'd get along with on the regular, and am excited to help them learn more, and introduce them to the BP forum, so they can familiarize themselves with the animal and what it's needs are.


and then after all that i had a spectacular breakfast that included sweet potato home fries and blueberry sausage *grin*

werrrrd. good morning!

oh and PS i told them i'd have to SEE the enclosure before they got him, sooo yeah no worries there!!!

oh and PS again his belly is pink, shedding time is soon :)

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Originally Posted by Butters420

keep the snake! for the snakes good and your own self conscious.how many nights will you wonder how things are going?is it worth it?even if the new owners take good care how will you really know?just my opinion

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i very much agree with butters! you just no one but you will really have such a strong love for that snake that you would always do what's best.

oh and im getting my first snake from nerd on tuesday