My newest little acquisition!

[zantedeschia]

Yesterday I was in a Petco to pick up some frozen mice/rats. Was dismayed when I looked in their BP display. Had 5 or 6 babies in there, including one very unhappy, restless one looking for a way out.

I asked to see that one after watching it several minutes and he immediately wrapped around my wrist. And stayed there. And I'm like awwww, I have to save you from this awful place. Retained shed on his head and bad retained eyecaps.

They were really helpful about the entire sale. Gave me 20% off cause of the eyecaps, and a woman employee _gave_ me a 29gallon tank she had in the back of her SUV. This one guy said he thought it was the one that wasn't eating and he had to force feed it, and I'm lord if this thing isn't already stressed enough. I asked the cashier to weigh him, he's 34g.

Texted my daughter, who impulse bought her BP from a Petco (which I'm currently taking care of), told her about my buy, she told me I needed to stop buying snakes! (this is my fifth, and the second BP).

Staying with my naming scheme, named him/her Charade. Settled him into his tank, and he's a lot more chilled out. Well before that I soaked him and rubbed off the eyecaps, there is absolutely no excuse for leaving a snake in that condition.

Had him out this morning and he nipped me! My fault, I waggled my finger at him. I'm like, did he nip cause he thought I was prey and he wasn't eating cause he couldn't see? Wasn't planning on feeding for a couple days but I went ahead and thawed out a fuzzy. Offered it to him at the entrance of the hidebox he finally found and it took him all of about 5 seconds to come out and strike it.

Was about to take some pictures before I switched tack and fed, so I'm gonna wait a day or 2 for that now. He is the friendliest little thing, take him out he doesn't ball up but crawls all around. Gonna take him to the vet next week for a checkup, been meaning to take my boa, so I'll report back on that too.

------
BP - Paradox
BP - Charade
Nicaraguan Boa - Enigma
corn - Ember (1.0)
corn - Phoenix (0.1)

[singingtothewheat]

Wow, isn't that strange. The last time I went to one of those places they told me they don't sell feeders (yea, I know you got frozen) but my query then was...gosh, what exactly do you feed your snakes which got me a very ugly look.
I'm so glad you save this little one.

[steveboos]

Nice job, i hate it when too many snakes are in the same enclosure, its just not healthy for the snakes and too many bad things can happen over time. He will probably end up being one of the best snakes you have now that he is going to get fed all the time and hes going to get all the love and attention he could ask for!

[zantedeschia]

Checked on him, he has his head out of his hidebox. He wants more! I'm happy his appetite is good, but it would be a bad idea to feed him too much, huh?

[steveboos]

Wow, isn't that strange. The last time I went to one of those places they told me they don't sell feeders (yea, I know you got frozen) but my query then was...gosh, what exactly do you feed your snakes which got me a very ugly look.
I'm so glad you save this little one.

Well i can tell you that i Work at Petsmart and we ONLY feed frozen. Honestly some of the Milksnakes we have would destroy a live mouse, but we only can feed frozen. But the public doesn't want to know what you feed snakes and don't want to even think about it, but in reality everyone knows snakes eat mice and rats.

[mechnut450]

good going and I hope you listen to the person tellngiyou to stop buying snakes. I have been banned ( by family) from going to the petshops that have snakes lol. I will haveto make s ure I am broke in feb cause I hopnig to go to the reptile show that on this side of the bay ( first one on the eastern shore I ever seen)

[withonor]

Good save.

The Petsmart and Petco I go to never have more than one snake per enclosure so I suppose that's good, but the humidity is always really low which is funny because the label on the tank says 40-60% humidity and the gauge inside the enclosure is at ~20%.

[Kaorte]

I realize you are trying to help but honestly, buying an animal from a big box pet store just encourages them to continue buying and mistreating animals. I am glad that you took the time to take care of an obviously sick animal. That was very kind of you Next time if you are thinking about doing rescues, check if there is a local reptile rescue where you can adopt an animal in need of help.

All that aside, I think there are still a few things husbandry wise that you can do to make this snake even more comfortable. A 29g tank for a 35g ball python is not going to work. It is just way to large. Even if he is eating now, he could stop eating later and I bet you the big tank will have something to do with it. Ideally you should put him in a 6qt rubbermaid tub, but if you want to stick with tanks, a 10g would be better.

I don't know what you are using to heat, regulate temperature, or measure temperature but these are pretty important to know. Belly heat (with an under tank heater) is best for ball pythons. The catch with these is that they must be used with some kind of controlling device. A reptile thermostat would be best but a light dimmer or rheostat will also work in a pinch. Digital thermometers with probes or a temp gun are the best ways to get an accurate temperature reading. The accurite weather station from the home depot is a great little device for single setups.

Hides are also very very important. You should have two identical tight fitting hides for you little one. Half log hides will not cut it. They need the "rock cave" kind of hides that are low to the ground with a small opening.

You might have all this right already. I am just throwing this information out there because sometimes it can be very helpful to people who are new to ball pythons.

Good luck with that very tiny one!

[AMPearce]

I asked the cashier to weigh him, he's 34g.

34g, are you sure he didn't wrap aroung your little finger instead of your wrist. My girlfriens doesn't like it when I got into a petstore because she's afraid I'm going to do the same thing. I gues she doesn't realize that there's this thing called the internet and I can have snakes shipped directly to me. lol

[zantedeschia]

Thank you so much for your helpful advice. Wanted to let you know I've owned a ball python since last February. Paradox is my daughter's BP but I took her when the apts she was in had a fit when they saw it and told her she had to get rid of it. Paradox is now a healthy 400g yearling, doing very well.

I understand about not buying snakes from Petco and I do plan on sending negative feedback to their corporate division about the overcrowding and partial sheds in that particular store. I've previously found that they do take immediate action when they get negative feedback so it's worth a shot.

Here's a pic of Paradox:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...d&id=785733059

Rest of them sans Charade (pix soon, promise!) here too:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...9&l=f01fa215b0