A desperately needed rescue!

So,Matt(my husband) was on his way home from work today and as he was driving down the street he noticed a group of kids who looked to be between 10 & 12 walking down the sidewalk. He was more concerned with what they were swinging around in the air,though. When he stopped and got out of the car,he saw that it was a very,very tiny little ball python! The kid was holding it by the tip of the tail and swinging it very hard. Matt demanded they stop and give him the baby or he was going to call the cops. The kid had no problem handing Matt the snake and told him the only reason he was swinging it like that was because he kept biting him and he was on his way to "get rid of it". The baby never once struck at Matt and immediately curled up into a tiny little ball and stayed that way the whole ride home. I was absolutely shocked at just how tiny this little guy is! I'm assuming he is a new 09 hatchling. He looks pretty skinny and his skin is pretty wrinkled. Luckily,I had some 10gallons since I just switched my 08 corns up to adult vivs this past weekend. I set one up for him and he headed straight for the water and then straight to the warm hide. He doesn't seem to be injured at all that I can tell and he isn't even head shy! Just wants and needs some lovin'! Poor baby! We're calling him Survivor and Surry for short. That way it fits either gender.
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Good for your husband! Poor guy. I hope he settles in well for you.

poor guy! he is in a better place now good rescue!

How could those kids do that? Aww, I'm just glad you were there at the right time to save that little fella and give him a good home. He's so little, too, it makes you wonder where they got him...

I'm so glad he was driving by when he was. Did you hear about that 17 year old using the class snake as a jump rope? I'm not sure how parents are raising their kids to treat animals but my parents would of killed. I am glad to she he/she is in a good home now.

Congrats on the beautiful new rescue!! It's so sick that poeple do that to helpless little critters.. I don't know about anyone else, but when I was young, my parents taught me to be nice and not torture animals..... I can't believe when I hear things like this, my mom would have grounded me for life foe something like that...........

And to your husband, thank you for not giving the kid a choice to give up the snake or not!!!!! :mad:

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Originally Posted by carrieres102584

I'm so glad he was driving by when he was. Did you hear about that 17 year old using the class snake as a jump rope? I'm not sure how parents are raising their kids to treat animals but my parents would of killed. I am glad to she he/she is in a good home now.

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It was proven he didn't actually use it as a jump rope. He was swinging it around which still is absolutely ridiculous.

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Originally Posted by Buttons

It was proven he didn't actually use it as a jump rope. He was swinging it around which still is absolutely ridiculous.

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Thats still messed up!

Thank you everybody! He's settling in pretty well so far. He took a little rest in his warm hide, came out and soaked for a minute in his bowl and is now trying to find every way possible to escape the viv! Seems pretty normal! I've never had a ball this tiny before. I have an 08 that was double this size back in February and I just purchased an 07 normal female that's het for chocolate this past weekend that makes both of them look like worms! So in other words,this is my first true hatchling in the ball species! So should I be safe to feed him small fuzzy mice?

great rescue. good to hear :gj:

Hell yeah lay the smackdown on other people's kids!

Oh my! Thank goodness he is in your care! That poor little guy :(

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Originally Posted by pavlovk1025

Hell yeah lay the smackdown on other people's kids!

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Obviously,someone needs to! I mean if that had been a puppy or a kitten,you would've had every person on the street stopping them. We're talking a very busy area and road. But it's a snake so who cares,right? Besides it was "biting" him! My husband said he'd bite him too if he thought he could get away with it! I'm so glad that we've raised our three to respect all creatures. Even the creatures we feed on and feed to our snakes. And if I caught my child treating a living breathing animal that way,well,I'd better not say what would happen! Laws and all that! LOL!;)

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Originally Posted by MinLynn

Obviously,someone needs to! I mean if that had been a puppy or a kitten,you would've had every person on the street stopping them. We're talking a very busy area and road. But it's a snake so who cares,right? Besides it was "biting" him! My husband said he'd bite him too if he thought he could get away with it! I'm so glad that we've raised our three to respect all creatures. Even the creatures we feed on and feed to our snakes. And if I caught my child treating a living breathing animal that way,well,I'd better not say what would happen! Laws and all that! LOL!;)

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Absolutely. I have a 2 yr old and she's good with the snakes but beats on the dog cause he's a puppy and uses her as a chew toy, but she's learning that he only gets whacked on the nose when he bites her, not anytime that's convenient. I love animals and I expect my lil one to love and respect them as well.

Your husband is a good man :gj:
Yaaay for his/her caring new home! :banana:

Not only that,but we're talking about a 55g hatchling whose head is no bigger than my thumbnail. I'm sure he was not being injured by this snake. Coincedently,the baby has not even attempted to strike at me or my husband at all and we're "strangers" and he's in a new enviroment. In fact,all the times we've handled him today,he's been very docile and calm and not even head-shy. So you tell me,you little punk kid,why this snake was striking you?! Matt did say that as the kid was dangling it by the tail it was reaching up and doing quick strikes at the kids arm while he was trying to get him to hand it over. As soon as he was in Matt's hands,he was as calm as could be. Some people just shouldn't breed! Ever!

This is also why I plan on knowing as much as I can about the people I sell my snakes to when I start breeding my corns next season and I will not sell to anyone under the age of 18 unless a parent is present and willing to take on the responsibilty of the animal.

Poor little baby! Hope he does ok and good for your husband for rescuing the little one.

That snake is so cute! Good for you and your hunsband for giving him the love and respect that he so very much deserves!

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Originally Posted by MinLynn

Thank you everybody! He's settling in pretty well so far. He took a little rest in his warm hide, came out and soaked for a minute in his bowl and is now trying to find every way possible to escape the viv! Seems pretty normal! I've never had a ball this tiny before. I have an 08 that was double this size back in February and I just purchased an 07 normal female that's het for chocolate this past weekend that makes both of them look like worms! So in other words,this is my first true hatchling in the ball species! So should I be safe to feed him small fuzzy mice?

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I just received 2 08's.. they're pretty small too! I have them on weanling rats/rat pups. I would start with something a bit smaller than the width of the body, just to get something in the belly. Still probably stressed out.. I wouldn't hold him/her for atleast a week except for cleaning.. If you always plan to feed mice, go for it.. But when he/she is full grown you will have to feed mulitples because 1 isn't enough! So my opnion would be try to start the new one on rats, see if it takes. Just what I would do.

I'll have to see if any of my local shops sell rat pups or not. Never checked. We buy all our mice and different sized fuzzies in bulk from Rodent Pro so if all else fails I do have a multitude of fuzzy sizes in mice. I'm also good friends with a local breeder so if he won't take f/t to start out,he's offered to give us a couple of lives. My other two balls were already established on mice so that's why we've stuck with them for them.

Checked him out this morning in the daylight and he is pretty emaciated looking. Perfect triangle and belly pretty sunken in. He's not dehydrated anymore. He drank quite a lot of water last night.

I'd suggest you just go small for the mice as you can always offer 2 if needed down the road. Offer him/her a meal every 5 days and try to keep the handling down to a bare minimum. You want all this snake's energy directed toward regaining it's weight and good health.

Since you don't have any history on this poor little snake I'd really suggest having a fecal float done just to rule out any internal parasites. It's not an expensive test, most any vet clinic can do it (sometimes while you wait if you phone ahead) and it doesn't require the snake to be taken into the vet unless parasites are found and a treatment plan must be started.

That's one lucky snake. :)

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

I'd suggest you just go small for the mice as you can always offer 2 if needed down the road. Offer him/her a meal every 5 days and try to keep the handling down to a bare minimum. You want all this snake's energy directed toward regaining it's weight and good health.

Since you don't have any history on this poor little snake I'd really suggest having a fecal float done just to rule out any internal parasites. It's not an expensive test, most any vet clinic can do it (sometimes while you wait if you phone ahead) and it doesn't require the snake to be taken into the vet unless parasites are found and a treatment plan must be started.

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Oh we definetly plan on doing so!

good rescue! I do love a happy ending

Wow, he's actually got an incredible pattern. Excellent job :D

i be worried about weer he kids got the snake from and just going back there and getting another one and doing the same thing to it ... the little guy is lucky that for sure.

aw man.. this made me feel really sad :(

poor little guy ><;.. least hes perfectly safe

Thank you! He's doing pretty darn well! He took a fuzzy mouse 2 days ago and didn't regurge it. He's hiding out in his warm hide so I know that's normal behavior.I haven't been messing with him or handling him. I'm just letting him settle in for now.

As for where these kids got him.....I don't know. There are a number of pet stores in our area that do sell very young ball pythons right now. In fact I was in one yesterday picking up some new UVB bulbs for my water dragon and beardies and they had a whole tank full of about 15 of them.

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Originally Posted by MinLynn

Thank you everybody! He's settling in pretty well so far. He took a little rest in his warm hide, came out and soaked for a minute in his bowl and is now trying to find every way possible to escape the viv! Seems pretty normal! I've never had a ball this tiny before. I have an 08 that was double this size back in February and I just purchased an 07 normal female that's het for chocolate this past weekend that makes both of them look like worms! So in other words,this is my first true hatchling in the ball species! So should I be safe to feed him small fuzzy mice?

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There's no such thing as a het chocolate Ball Python. It's either chocolate or not.. Like Pastels/Spiders and all the other co-dominant morphs.

For his size, a large fuzzy or a mediumish hopper mouse is fine. Leave him alone for a week first. If he doesn't feed, put him in a shoebox tub with newspaper, a water bowl, and a 4" plastic planter saucer(the saucer, not the pot).

When it's dark and quiet, put the hopper in a container next to his tub for 30 minutes or so. After he's peeking out of his hide, put the mouse in and close the tub up. Leave him alone with it for an hour or so. DO NOT feed him in a separate container, it only stresses them out and promotes poor feeding habits, meaning you take them out and they think they will be fed.

My husband was doing all the talking and all I heard was Chocolate so maybe she is chocolate? I don't really care.She's pretty and that's all that matters! I have no plans for breeding BPs anytime soon so haven't really studied up on morphs and genetics with them yet. We plan on breeding corns next season so I'm more brushed up on their morphs and genetics at the moment.

Oh and I already fed Surry 2 days ago(I mentioned that in the post above yours). He took a f/t fuzzy mouse no problem and I feed all 13 of my snakes in their vivs on plastic plates. It's just easier that way for us and the snakes know it's feeding time when the plate gets put in their viv. It's nice that way because I've never had to deal with tank aggression or hunger aggression even from my big boa boy!

Great ending to a potentially tragic story.

LOL, Are you serious?

Let me get this right... your husband was DRIVING home from work... when he sees a 12 year old kid swining something around. Even though he is driving, he is still able to determine that the little object the kid is swinging around is suspicious enough that he should pull over and get out to take a closer look.. and then he identifies this tiny object as a hatchling BP....

He gets out of the car and "confronts" these kids.... and the kid simply hands over his new snake (It must be his new snake... it is a hatchling!) to your husband to take without incident.

LOL! Next time I am at a pet shop and make an impulse purchase of a hatchling ball python, I will have to try this story on my wife! LOL, maybe she will fall for it too!

Not to mention... If this is a true story then your Husband is a theif that should be arrested! He threatened a kid, and stole his pet! The kid needed to be educated, not ROBBED. If I had seen it I would have called the police on your husband... then had a chat with the kid to show him the right way to hold his pet snake.

If I see my neighbor smack his dog on the butt for being bad, is it ok for me to march over to him, threaten him, then take his dog home and call him my "rescued" dog? I don't think so!!!!

WOW! Just WOW! I don't think I've ever been called a liar in such a way before in my life! And never ever quite so 'frickin rudely,either! First of all, did you read everything I said!? At all? The kid handed the snake over because he said he was taking it to get rid of it anyway because it was biting him all the time. There wasn't exactly a struggle and the kid never even protested. Why educate a kid who said "I'm taking it to get rid of it. It bites too much." What? Should he have educated him on the proper way to "get rid of it"? We had JUST bought a ball python the 'flippin night before! Why would we go out and buy another one and make up a dang story about it? Does that even make sense?! If we had purchased the baby ball, why wouldn't I just say "Hey guys! Look at my new 09 hatchling normal!" I mean I've posted pics of my other ball and there was no story behind her other than we bought her! Also how did he "steal" the snake? He told the kid he was being cruel to the snake,the kid said "I'm taking it to get rid of it." My husband said then give it to me or I can call the cops about the animal cruelty. The kid said here take it. Yep! He should be in prison all right! A regular felon! I guess that kid that was caught swinging the snake around in school should have just been taught how to properly handle the snake instead,right? Or was it all just a big lie!?

I'm also extremely offended and insulted that you are insinuating that I'm gullible in any way whatsoever! How sad that you choose to believe that someone is a gullible liar when you know nothing about that person or ever spoken to that person before.

I've recieved nothing but nice replies and helpful advice on how to care for this little guy from people here. I had stated before I've never had a new hatchling ball before only hatchling corns and boas. The BPs that I have were all much older than this guy when I purchased them. You though? That's a whole 'nother story. If THIS is what I have to look forward to on this forum,then maybe I'll just stick to elsewhere.

:O :O .....speechless here

WOAH! That got way to far! Come on guys we are all a great big community lets not fight. Lets keep this site to what people have grown to love. Mike I believe you took it WAY to far with that comment. Lets all forget about this and I think Mike should get an infraction.

O wow! Wtf were they thinking! Im so glad you guys found him in time!

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Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

LOL, Are you serious?

Let me get this right... your husband was DRIVING home from work... when he sees a 12 year old kid swining something around. Even though he is driving, he is still able to determine that the little object the kid is swinging around is suspicious enough that he should pull over and get out to take a closer look.. and then he identifies this tiny object as a hatchling BP....

He gets out of the car and "confronts" these kids.... and the kid simply hands over his new snake (It must be his new snake... it is a hatchling!) to your husband to take without incident.

LOL! Next time I am at a pet shop and make an impulse purchase of a hatchling ball python, I will have to try this story on my wife! LOL, maybe she will fall for it too!

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Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

Not to mention... If this is a true story then your Husband is a theif that should be arrested! He threatened a kid, and stole his pet! The kid needed to be educated, not ROBBED. If I had seen it I would have called the police on your husband... then had a chat with the kid to show him the right way to hold his pet snake.

If I see my neighbor smack his dog on the butt for being bad, is it ok for me to march over to him, threaten him, then take his dog home and call him my "rescued" dog? I don't think so!!!!

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Mike,

I do see your point - but I still don't think it was necessary. We - as staff, AND as a community - try so hard to make this forum an open and welcoming FRIENDLY forum. We want people to post their stories and experiences here...but if they are going to get responses like THAT...who would want to? If you had such doubts about that - why not PM her and get clarification? Do you HAVE to call people out on public forums to stir up drama? I would hate for members to see our community as one that condones overly hostile replies and comments towards other members. Consider this a warning, any further aggressive comments will not be tolerated.

Well, anyhow
whatever is happening, at least the animal is in good care (no matter how it got there)
As long as he / she is fed, healthy, vet treated and pooing.....
Who cares
A safe snake is a well cared for animal, who cares where or what or how?
Good luck with the lil guy / girl
Rusty

thats aweful :mad:
good ************RESCUE************* btw