Snake as a donation

[Talae]

First off, I am fairly new to this site and also being a ball python owner. I have only owned Fibonacci for about two months, but being a science teacher (and now the snake owning science teacher) has led me to owning a second ball python. An ad on Craigslist was brought to my attention about a couple that just had a baby and the Mom refused to allow the Father to keep his six month to a year old BP. This was one of those "sell it by tonight or we are going to euthanize it" kind of situations. I contacted them and let them know a little bit about myself and said that I could take the snake but was not in a position to purchase it since the end of summer is a tight time as a teacher.

Long story short: I now own my second ball python and it is rather thin.

I don't have a scale here at home, but this one is rather skinny (more of a triangular shaped body). There is no UTH or heating device of any kind and it is in a 20g long tank. There is one hide, two climbing branches and two water containers (one large and one small glass bowls). Both water containers were dry as a bone and one was filled with substrate that had been wet and one point and dried in one clump the form of the bowl. There were two shed skins that seemed fairly intact, but were crumpled and dried. There were more than half a dozen pieces of waste strung about the cage. There was also one pretty dried up f/t medium mouse that I was told to having been in there for three days.

As soon as I got him home, I rearranged the tank slightly so that the hide was functioning and not flipped upside-down. I also filled blew out and filled both water dishes. I will be purchasing what is needed tomorrow, but I want to make sure I am not missing something. Thanks in advance for any help.

[KMG]

Good save! Just get it setup right and let it settle in for about a week. If it was me I would try to feed in about five days. If it doesn't eat a f/t I would try live about 3 or 4 days after. If it is that thin it needs some food and I would not want to waste time with multiple f/t attempts. Good luck.

[Talae]

I was going to try and take a picture, but it went right into the hide once I got it set up. If it comes out I will, but I am going to try and leave him alone as much as possible.

[JaGv]

good save there hope you keep that bp healty im sure it's in good hands

[Talae]

The odd thing is that the guy said he held the snake often. He liked to watch TV with him. The snake seemed very tame. It was all about interacting with me and wasn't jumpy at all. I guess the guy just didn't feed/water/clean the cage.

[JaGv]

he was probably misinformed about feeding. a couple years back we were told that bps ate 1 every 2 weeks and could go up to a month without having to feed.

[heathers*bps]

I'm glad to hear that you saved this snake. Just keep an eye out for mites and RI symptoms. I also agree on trying a f/t but if it doesn't work, offer live. Good luck with the new one, and I good to see pics of him/her soon

[Talae]

I will make sure and keep this one QT from the other one. I am thinking one in the Lab (this one) and one in my classroom at school. The rooms are down the hall from each other and the Lab doesn't get much traffic. It came out for a drink so I took a few pictures. The tank glass isn't exactly clean, but I did my best:

Head poking out for some water:


Not a great shot, but was trying to show how thin:

[Talae]

Looks like my list of stuff to buy for this new snake is:
Hydrofarm Thermostat
UTH
Acurite Thermometer (can't seem to find it on Amazon) This?
Aspen Substrate
Two identical Hides
Water Dish

Thoughts? Should I switch out the bedding? Soap and water to clean the tank or something else? Am I buying anything that isn't required based on what is already in the tank? I wasn't exactly planning on spending $90.

[I-KandyReptiles]

I'd use bleach and water to clean the tank. But you'll have to rinse it to the point where there is absolutely no bleach smell!

That looks like an accurite that would work. Essentially what you need is an indoor/outdoor thermometer with probe that also lists the humidity.