What should I do...?

[starquakes]

My cousin has a ball python, but his mother is beyond stupid. She won't let him feet his snake anything larger than fuzzies (frozen/thawed) and won't let the snake eat more than once a month. This pisses me off to no end. His snake is a good two and a half years old, but is only maybe 2 feet and incredibly skinny. I tried to talk to her and ask her why she does it, she said she "doesn't want it getting big." The poor thing just looks sickly, has stuck shed all over, and scabs on it's head from stuck shed, I'm assuming. His water dish is filling with green algae.

They won't surrender the snake to me, and I don't know what to do about it. Should I call animal authorities and inform them of the mistreatment? Or should I try again to get them to give him to me again? I'm so lost and I hate seeing that poor snake like that.

[MikeV]

My cousin has a ball python, but his mother is beyond stupid. She won't let him feet his snake anything larger than fuzzies (frozen/thawed) and won't let the snake eat more than once a month. This pisses me off to no end. His snake is a good two and a half years old, but is only maybe 2 feet and incredibly skinny. I tried to talk to her and ask her why she does it, she said she "doesn't want it getting big." The poor thing just looks sickly, has stuck shed all over, and scabs on it's head from stuck shed, I'm assuming. His water dish is filling with green algae.

They won't surrender the snake to me, and I don't know what to do about it. Should I call animal authorities and inform them of the mistreatment? Or should I try again to get them to give him to me again? I'm so lost and I hate seeing that poor snake like that.

You may have to threaten them

Tell them that if they dont give you the snake, for free, within the next few days that you will contact the authorities.

I have heard of people selling mistreated and very sick snakes on things like craigslist, instead of somebody buying the animal, they will threaten to notify the authorities and thats usually all it takes for them to give the animal away for free

Dont do it unless they refuse to give the animal to you. for now just threaten it and see what they do.

good luck and I want to say, thank you for thinking about the animals welfare so much

[glk832]

Yep do your best to get the snake of the bad situation....my buddy lost his job and couldnt afford to feed his snake so I started buying him rats and I ended up liking snakes alot and ended up with my own.....

[zina10]

What a cruel woman. I can understand if she would simply forbid any snakes in her house. Some people just want it that way, and I can respect that. Her son can get all the snakes he wants when he moves out.

BUT to allow the snake, only to let it be starved and mistreated ??? Once the snake is in her house, it is her responsibility as well. The animals can't take care of themself. How can her "motherly" instinct not kick in ?

So you have made it clear to her what she is doing, and she still won't budge ? And shame shame SHAME on your cousin. He could have simply gave the snake to you. What would his mother have done about it ? Nothing, thats what. If she had been mad, you could have said it was that or call the ASPC. She would have let it go then.

Tell your cousin to surrender the snake to you. If he won't, tell him and that woman that you will call the authorities. Just because its a coldblooded animal does NOT give them the right to slowly starve it to death and mistreat it like that. That is just wrong. The snake would be better off dead then.

Please don't let this go until you get that snake out of there, better now then later...

[starquakes]

Yep do your best to get the snake of the bad situation....my buddy lost his job and couldnt afford to feed his snake so I started buying him rats and I ended up liking snakes alot and ended up with my own.....

I offered to pick up his snake on the day I fed my snakes to feed them to, but his mom won't let me.

[zina10]

And if you get it out, SLOWLY start feeding it more, don't overdo it right away, its organs won't be able to handle that, sad as it is Feed small meals, just more often then once the month. Slowly work your way up to a more appropriate schedule.

Thanks for trying.

[glk832]

I offered to pick up his snake on the day I fed my snakes to feed them to, but his mom won't let me.

Its time to get the ASPCA involved... Man so sad....

[MikeV]

Its time to get the ASPCA involved... Man so sad....

Gonna have to agree. They dont seem like they are going to accept help or give the snake up

best to contact the ASPCA

[JLC]

How old is your cousin?? I am NOT the sort of person that would normally advise to go against parental authority...but when that authority is being abused, sometimes it can't be helped. If your cousin is just a little kid, then he's really powerless in this situation. But if he's an older teen, he is plenty old enough to take responsibility for his own pet. IF the kid is old enough to be aware of the consequences of his choices and the responsibilities he bears himself, have HIM give you the snake behind his mother's back.

He can tell his mother the snake died (or escaped) or whatever...maybe she wouldn't even notice it was gone if no one mentioned it? Don't worry about trying to sneak out some fish tank....if you want to rescue the snake, buy your own setup for him and have the cousin sneak just the animal out of the house in a small, secure bag.

[starquakes]

How old is your cousin?? I am NOT the sort of person that would normally advise to go against parental authority...but when that authority is being abused, sometimes it can't be helped. If your cousin is just a little kid, then he's really powerless in this situation. But if he's an older teen, he is plenty old enough to take responsibility for his own pet. IF the kid is old enough to be aware of the consequences of his choices and the responsibilities he bears himself, have HIM give you the snake behind his mother's back.

He's 14 or 15. I can't remember. But he does know he should take responsibility. The thing is, he's not allowed to be home alone. So it would be hard to explain me showing up out of the blue to visit him. :\