Adoption

[iHazSnake]

I Was at my local pet store picking up a lep gecko and i saw this poor bp for adoption for 40 bucks. He was neglected by his owner... he has a couple o healed wounds and a bad shed. The animal lover in me wanted to take him in and help him, but I'm a little strapped for cash and i have bills and things to pay for. But I can provide the essentials for him. Anything i could provide is better than what he is in now. The poor fella is about 2 and is in a 15 gal rite now I want to know if any of you guys have been in this situation, and what have you done. ANd should i get him?

[Southernshooter]

If you are a good customer and since the bp is in such bad shape you might be able to talk them out of it(Sometimes on rescues the pet stores don't pay anything for it the old owner just doesn't want it anymore). Or even if they will allow you to get it now and pay later so ou can start to care for it now. Neither of these might work. If you have any friends locally that keep snakes maybe they can get it to save it or get it and sell to you later for the amount. If you can get him and still pay your bills go ahead and do it. But if you can't afford both try the route of finding someone that will get it and take care of it.

[singingtothewheat]

The decision to get him is totally yours.
Here is my story of Izzabella. I'm a softy but not a stupid softy. So when I went for feeders and found this A.T.B. who just looked horrific. My first response was "there is no way this thing is going to make it" She was shiny looking all over. not like the powdery white you see with balls with a bad shed. She looked like someone had coated her repeatedly with polyurethane. They had her in a ten gallon aquarium with a dry water bowl, one stick and a big fat heat lamp. The picture does not do justice to how bad she looked and was in her enclosure once I got her home.



I talked to the manager and he agreed that she was not in good shape at all. I did my best to talk him down from the 99.00 price. The lowest he would go was 79.00 and a 24 hour guarantee!
Well I just could not justify 80 dollars for a snake I was certain would die. Probably not in 24 hours but I just didn't really see her making it. She was so weak she could barely strike.
I got home and my conscience just kept digging into me like a splinter. So back to the store we go.

I spent well over a week working on layer after layer of shed. She had, I think it was 3 layers of retained eye caps. God alone knows on layers of shed because it came of in tiny pieces for days and days and days as I gently soaked her then worked her through warm towels.

Her cloaca was so badly covered that she could not poop. There was a bulge and a partial prolapse. When I got that part uncovered she pooped and pooped and then she pooped some more.
That was May of this year. Izzabella is still with us and doing very well. She can definitely strike now, no problems what so ever in that respect and she is just as mean as heck and I just adore her.
Here are a few pics from about a month ago.



So, for me, it was definitely worth it. Every time I spray her I remember that I almost didn't give her that chance and she was so worth that chance. She will probably never be a "peaceful" snake but she's a beauty in my opinion and I'm glad she came into my life.

[withonor]

I love this snake.

Wonderful story.





Many people post here about tragic craigslist stories and they go way out of their way to get these animals. Read this thread. Great recount of a person taking in a snake who didn't have any previously. If you have the means to get it and care for this snake for potentially 20-30 years, I would take it in a second. If you think you can care for it for a couple years and truely offer it for adoption later, do it if you can.

[Kryptonian]

I too took in a female bp that was in a less than perfect living situation. Her cage was way too big for her with only one hide. She was heated with a red flood lamp that was too hot and made the enclosure way to dry. She was nearly blind from the build up od eyecaps and had old shed stuck. She also had scars from the way she was fed. They said they kepy her in a small plastic keeper with a live mouse overnight. So she was obviusly bit by mice alot. She was also small for her age. They said she was 3, she looked 1.
She is now on f/t mice, (took f/t first feeding) she has huge eyes that are now back to normal. her scars have faded and shes the nastiest bp Ive ever met. But that s ok I think she may be het pied and I hope that she thanks me with some whie patched babies.

[fishboyUK]

I Was at my local pet store picking up a lep gecko and i saw this poor bp for adoption for 40 bucks. He was neglected by his owner... he has a couple o healed wounds and a bad shed. The animal lover in me wanted to take him in and help him, but I'm a little strapped for cash and i have bills and things to pay for. But I can provide the essentials for him. Anything i could provide is better than what he is in now. The poor fella is about 2 and is in a 15 gal rite now I want to know if any of you guys have been in this situation, and what have you done. ANd should i get him?

If you can't afford the $40 how are you going to afford any potential vets bills? It's a good thing that it's priced up at $40 to put off people who might want to help but can't really afford to.........

[iHazSnake]

If you can't afford the $40 how are you going to afford any potential vets bills? It's a good thing that it's priced up at $40 to put off people who might want to help but can't really afford to.........

It wasnt the 40 bucks that was the problem, it was the actual supplies them selves. ANy wau i ended up getting it, ill put some pics up tomorrow

[joHtoD3]

I used to work in a pet store years ago when I was a freshman in college. It was a locally owned pet store so we had alot of animals you don't see everyday at the big chain stores. I always tried to let people know what they were getting into before they just came in and bought an animal on a whim. I was deathly affraid of snakes before my job at the pet store but the owner used a ball python to get me over my fear and I eventually fell in love with these magnificent creatures. I always hated to hear a customer come in asking us if we would take an animal or sell on consignment. So many people get an animal without realizing the time it takes to tend to them and care for them.

I admire anyone who IS familiar with these animals, who is willing to take an animal in whether permanately or give them a foster home till thier permanant home can be found. I have taken in many animals in the past and always found the funds somehow to take care of them till I could find them a home. I was not above showing a nicely taken picture of the animal and showing it to friends and family and asking for money to take of them and to spread the word to find a home. I found that many a time, as soon as people saw the "cute" picture they were more than willing to donate a couple of bucks. Anyone who did help me out was always thanked for thier kindness and got the satisfaction of knowing that thier money was used to buy food, bedding etc. and was not donated in vein. I would sometimes even take pictures of the animals in thier new homes and write a letter and enclose the pictures and send to my regular "financiers" who donated on a regular basis.

One story with a happy ending was with a one legged parakeet that the petstore owner was going to destroy because no one would buy him. I couldn't let her "destroy" him so I talked to her into "donating" a cage with the promise of finding him a good home. Two weeks later my best friend's mom fell in love with him and he had a permanent home. He later became a great imitator because he could imitate the garbled sounds of the "ham" radios next to his cage on the desk and could also whistle the Auburn University fight song.