Rescued young BP
Hi everyone. This past weekend myself and my kids rescued a young BP I am guessing to be about 5 months old. It is maybe 14 inches long or so and about 1 1/4 inch wide at its widest. The guy we got it from only had it a month and realized he couldn't properly take care of it. He had it in a 10 gallon glass tank with a screen top, wood shavings for substrate, a piece of wood that must weigh 10 pounds, and seriously a 100 watt red bulb. Pretty much everything was not in the snakes best interest. He gave us the tank and equipment as well. His parting comment was that he was really a fish guy.
The poor thing was obviously dehydrated as his skin felt loose and the top of his head looked very dry. We brought it home and re-did its tank and got the humidity up to 80+%. Within a few hours the snake was out checking it's new home which was a good sign.
Since then we have been giving it lukewarm bath for 30 minutes every other day and providing plenty of water to drink, although we have not seen it drink yet. As it has only been 5 days since we got him i am not expecting miraculous changes, although he does seem to have perked up quite a bit.
Checking him last night it looks as though he may be shedding soon. The head scales looked different (dryer around the edges) and his belly is a slight pink color. Haven't seen any change in the eyes yet.
My question is - should I be doing anything else to increase his hydration in preparation for a successful shed? I am concerned that he will have trouble getting the shed off easily due to the loose skin. Is there any topical stuff (mineral oil, etc) I could put on him? We are suspending the baths until he does shed so as not to wash away the natural oils.
I am hoping this rescue will be a positive experience for my kids (9 & 11) and show them the importance of taking proper care of your animals as well as being willing to put in some hard work to help those in need.
Thanks!
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