Saved a poor preggo girl....

[geekypythongirl]

So, one of my good herping friends told me he found a BP on craigslist that was pregnant, and a woman who is a known animal flipper has her. I told him to get all the information he could from her, and we'd go pick her up.

So we go, and check her out. This woman has no clue how long the girl has been gravid, when she locked, what she locked with... nothing.

Keep in mind this girl is HUGE. She's one of the biggest BP's I have seen in awhile(way bigger around then a coke can, and almost 6 feet long).

We come in and she's got her in a TEN GALLON TANK. The snake literally had NO where to move, and you couldn't even see the thin layer of substrate under her. No water dish. There wouldn't even be ROOM for a water dish.

At this point, I am pretty angry at this woman. I won't go into all the other details about how horrible she was, because my morning is already bad, and I will just get more and more angry. I convince her to also give me the 2 other BP's she has in a 15 gal tank, with a make-shift lid made out of chicken wire.

We get home, and move miss preggo into a 30 gal tank. She was pretty freaked out at this point, and was rubbing all over really bad. We were worried she'd injure herself, so we covered the outside and most of the top with newspaper. She quickly calmed down, and has been relaxing ever since.

Now I am worried about her eggs. What are the chances that she'll be able to lay these without a problem? We built her a humid hide/lay box, being we REALLY have no idea how long she's even been gravid. I am about 95% sure that yes, she is gravid.

I don't care if none of the babies make it... Ok, well I do care, but my main concern is that the momma makes it through this ok. She's a huge beautiful snake, and it would be a horrible shame to lose her.

I'll have pictures today, once we get tanks situated and moved around. She just pounded down 2 rats last night, so we're pretty happy she was able to eat and wanted to eat.

ANY advice is appreciated and welcomed. I know there are a lot of unknowns, and I am sorry for that, but this is the information as I know it.

[jarradw]

Wow, good on you for being able to get her out of there. It seems we should have a forum for craigslist rescues. I have found 2 myself. The fact that she is eating now and stopped rubbing is re-assuring to me. I dont have too much experience here so this is just my opinion but, if she is calmed down and has some food strength in her I think she should be able to get the eggs out ok.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help out, I have a few extra tanks and stuff at the house so let me know if you need anything.

[kellysballs]

How are you sure that she is gravid? Just because she is big? If she ate she may not be gravid, although that is not a definitive indicator.

If you are really worried I would take her in to your vet and have an ultrasound or x-ray done just to make sure she really is gravid.

One x-ray on her if she has eggs (if the vet dosen't have an ultrasound) should not hurt the babies.

[geekypythongirl]

I am almost positive. Now that she's calm she is showing more typical gravid signs, and you can somewhat see the bulge from the eggs.

She's a big girl anyways, but bigger on the back end, and lumpy looking.

[TheSnakeEye]

congrats on rescuing the girl. Hopefully she and her eggs make it. Lol what if is she was bred to a really high end morph? Lucky you ... but seriously, good luck with her, hope her new home helps her lays those eggs properly.

[geekypythongirl]

jarradw - Thanks for the offer for help. We're leaving her be for now, and seeing what happens. I am hoping she's ok in the tank she is in.

You are right about the craigslist rescue. The really horrible news is I found out that today the woman is getting 5 MORE BP's. I can't save them all, but if I can find decent homes for them I will do everything in my power too.

I was thinking last night what if she pops out all pieds or all albinos! That would be so cool!

[pixie6710]

your a really good person for saveing that big girl and i hope her babie's come out ok
great job

[jarradw]

I was thinking last night what if she pops out all pieds or all albinos! That would be so cool!

Well if thats the case I will be right over to help alleviate some of the stress of taking care of so many :-p

[JeffFlanagan]

Great work, and well done keeping your temper under control when seeing those conditions. Ugh.

[geekypythongirl]

Great work, and well done keeping your temper under control when seeing those conditions. Ugh.

See, this was the hardest part. All I can say is the woman is lucky it was just myself and my friends, and not my husband. He's not as polite about these things as I am, and he basically said he would have punched her in her face, and taken all of the animals! (ok, he wouldn't really punch a lady, but you know).

The saddest part is she was super mean to her kids while we were there too. One wanted to be picked up and she said to her "Go away, I don't want you".