Rescues

[reptile_lover07]

Ok. A guy I work with wanted me to take his 2 ball pythons and all their stuff so he doesn't get in more trouble with his landlord. They're both underweight. He feed them a mouse every other week or so. The cage was dirty and full of broken peices of sheds. The male seems alright other then a slight burn on his belly. The female has some scars on her tail. Also we found just one tick on her.. We pulled it off and treated it with neosporin(w/o painkiller). My questions are.. Any ideas on how she had just one tick and we didn't see anymore? And also.. He told me they were 4-5 years old. I don't think they're even a year. Can anyone give me a rough estimate on age? Thanks.

The male:




The female:

[shadow120]

if theyve been underfed it could have stunted there growth but they sure dont look 4-5 years old i'd guess 1-2 but idk. good job on the rescue hopefully they do good now that they will be better cared for

[blushingball419]

Well, if they were that severely underfed their growth could have been stunted. So they could be 4 to 5, although I'd tend more toward 2 or 3... but you never know, the most important thing is to make sure they get fed well now that you have them

As far as the ticks, it's probably just one of those weird things. One lucky tick just happened to find her I guess. As long as you cleaned her enclosure really well (ie empty out all of the old bedding, use a diluted bleach solution, etc) and you don't notice any more of them, then it's nothing to worry about.

Good for you for rescuing these guys, and just be sure to quarantine away from your other snakes (as I'm sure you already know)

[steveboos]

Yeah as far the the tick is concerned, if he lived in the woods or anywhere near them, ticks are pretty common and can find there way into the house. I would make sure there aren't any mites that show up in the tank after a couple days. If so i would pick up a can of PAM (Provent-A-Mite).

I see the female is soaking, pure sign of low humidity. I would make sure to mist their tank very often with some nice warm water, but their skin looks pretty good and shiny, so they look good overall. A few scars isn't anything to worry about, those scars are minimal to the rescues i have had, especially the male i have right now, hes burned down about half of his spine.

The best thing you can do is keep feeding them a lot to plump them up and they will get a good bit larger with the correct feeding schedule. I don't see them being 4-5 years, but being under fed DEFINITELY stunts growth. My first BP was a 3 year old female and only weighed 1095 grams. Well over a year later she has packed on over 500 grams and is approaching 1600 grams and breedable weight!!!

Good job, rescues make you feel all fuzzy and warm inside when you she them get fatter and nice and plump!

[reptile_lover07]

Yea I cleaned the cage and put the on newspapers (I'm out of snake bedding) and I treated it with a mite spray just to be safe.

Yeah as far the the tick is concerned, if he lived in the woods or anywhere near them, ticks are pretty common and can find there way into the house. I would make sure there aren't any mites that show up in the tank after a couple days. If so i would pick up a can of PAM (Provent-A-Mite).

I see the female is soaking, pure sign of low humidity. I would make sure to mist their tank very often with some nice warm water, but their skin looks pretty good and shiny, so they look good overall. A few scars isn't anything to worry about, those scars are minimal to the rescues i have had, especially the male i have right now, hes burned down about half of his spine.

The best thing you can do is keep feeding them a lot to plump them up and they will get a good bit larger with the correct feeding schedule. I don't see them being 4-5 years, but being under fed DEFINITELY stunts growth. My first BP was a 3 year old female and only weighed 1095 grams. Well over a year later she has packed on over 500 grams and is approaching 1600 grams and breedable weight!!!

Good job, rescues make you feel all fuzzy and warm inside when you she them get fatter and nice and plump!

He didn't live near any woods but I'm not too concerned as long as there's no more. She actually wasn't soaking it's a house that the top lifts off of. (It was the only way she would hold still for a picture). And I'm planning to start them on something small first and also switch them to f/t mice. I'll post new pictures when I get them all plumped up. Thanks for all the advice!

[steveboos]

Oh ok, well i wouldn't worry about one little tick unless you see anything else.

I would definitely give them some rats, they are too big for measly mice, unless they are breeder female mice that are huge. I would feed them live for a few weeks and slowly switch over to frozen thawed, having some live just in case they don't take to it as quickly.

[reptile_lover07]

I don't have a choice this time. I feed on Sundays and only have f/t. The pet store I go to is closed Sundays. And this was all so short notice I was mostly concerened with getting them home and in a clean cage. I gave them a very basic setup for now but it's better then where they were. If they don't eat I'll try live next week at least to get something in them.