I suppose this is kind of like a "rescue" snake. A relative of a co-worker had a young ball python that she claimed was getting aggressive, and just wanted to find a home for it with someone that could handle it. I talked it over with my wife, and we agreed we could find some space for it.

The snake was brought down to Tucson this weekend, and I picked it up from my co-worker today. She's a pretty little normal colored ball, probably around 24" to 30" long (they never want to cooperate by laying straight when you want to measure them, do they?), and I'm guessing around a year old, as she's comparable to Phil and Magellan in size and that's how old the two boys are.

She came complete with her ten gallon terrarium set up, which I'm likely going to replace very soon with something more appropriate for her size. It was obvious her previous owner had been a bit intimidated by her, as she clearly had not been taken from the enclosure lately for any housecleaning. It looked like at least a couple of sheds worth of skin remained on the substrate, along with several excremental deposits.

She was no problem to take out and check over when I arrived at my co-worker's place. She needs a good soak, as she has some residual skin from a shed still stuck to her, but all in all she appears healthy. She explored my arm and my shirtsleeve extensively as I held her, and showed no signs of aggression or timidity.

When I got her home, I placed her in a Sterlite box for a while so I could give her terrarium a clean out. The old bark substrate went bye-bye, replaced by some clean newspaper. Her water dish got a good scrubbing, which I think she greatly appreciated, as the first thing she did when I placed her in the clean enclosure was to check out the water and take a drink.

She now joins Phil, Magellan, and Dixie in my collection of scaly legless friends. I'll watch her for a few days, and think of some good names that might fit her.

That, and look for a better enclosure to house her in.