novice...do I rescue DESPERATE BP?

[FearlessLeader]

Hello all, Vlad's mom again.


Been doing really well. Vlad got out of the rest of his shed and has been eating. He's a feisty thing.

I was tagged in a post on facebook- someone I went to school with is trying to get rid of their BP. When i clicked the photos I felt sick. This is a male BP around 2 ft long, seems to be pretty girthy, being kept in a 40 gallon tank with no blackout on any sides. It sits beside a window with CARPET as "substrate" and a heating pad beneath this. One measly hide the snake doesnt even look like he fits into, a water bowl and a branch. In the photos this snake is out on a branch in broad daylight. He is dry, he is discolored...I cant believe someone could treat an animal this way, not to research before owning one.

Ive got vlad in my bedroom and Im confident in my ability to run a healthy environment for my BP. I would need a bigger humidifier and another surface for his tank but are there problems I could encounter here? Should I not have these two in the same room? Ive got another tank here I could move (his name is Thumper) into. I feel sick and angry, I pride my snake's well being and I don't know if I should jump on this before another uneducated fool "rescues" him!

[SDA]

Ask yourself this "Can I afford a vet visit in case something is wrong". If the answer is no then you really can't take on a rescue because you never know how bad it is until you get it.

[FearlessLeader]

Right. I would be breaking my back, I feel he's unhealthy if his owners are letting him be housed this way while he waits for a new home. I'm sure he's not had maximum levels of care. I wish so much that I could take him.

[bcr229]

Short term any new snake would have to be quarantined for at least 90 days, and one with health issues for longer than that. So, it would have to be kept in a room as far from your current snake as possible, and you would need a separate set of equipment for it (feeding tongs, spray bottle, etc) to ensure there's no cross-contamination between them during the quarantine period.

[Momokahn]

Hello all, Vlad's mom again.


Been doing really well. Vlad got out of the rest of his shed and has been eating. He's a feisty thing.

I was tagged in a post on facebook- someone I went to school with is trying to get rid of their BP. When i clicked the photos I felt sick. This is a male BP around 2 ft long, seems to be pretty girthy, being kept in a 40 gallon tank with no blackout on any sides. It sits beside a window with CARPET as "substrate" and a heating pad beneath this. One measly hide the snake doesnt even look like he fits into, a water bowl and a branch. In the photos this snake is out on a branch in broad daylight. He is dry, he is discolored...I cant believe someone could treat an animal this way, not to research before owning one.

Ive got vlad in my bedroom and Im confident in my ability to run a healthy environment for my BP. I would need a bigger humidifier and another surface for his tank but are there problems I could encounter here? Should I not have these two in the same room? Ive got another tank here I could move (his name is Thumper) into. I feel sick and angry, I pride my snake's well being and I don't know if I should jump on this before another uneducated fool "rescues" him!

Feel sick? I have 3, 40 gallon tanks with a BP in each one. I have used CARPET for the last 30 plus years and my tanks are checked each morning at 0430 and again when I get home from work. None of my tanks have any blacked out sides. UTH heat pads on each one. Hides in two tanks, no hide in the third. No sticks and a single water bowl in each tank.

Just because a BP is kept in an enclosure without Reptile Prime, RHP's, Herpistats, and black construction paper glued to the side doesn't call for a post to alledge abuse. Discolored? At last count, there are about 1000 colors of BP's and snakes have also been known to shed.

My snakes are so severly abused they eat each Saturday during the daylight hours all the while there cage temperature is being monitored with no heat gun and dial type temperature gauges.

It's bad enough people get beat up on this forum when they ask honest questions or they fall for the "post a picture" so we can judge you. To flame a classmate of yours to members on this forum because he is "abusing" a snake because it sleeps on carpet or is being subjected to daylight is pretty sad. Make sure you let your classmate know of your post on this forum.

Signed,

Another fool.

[dr del]

Can we dial back the accusations in this thread please?

We all have the animals best interests at heart but there needs to be more tolerance and an understanding that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

If it works for your snakes... fine, don't change it. But if it doesn't? thinking about the alternatives is not only sensible but the only decent thing to do.

A lot of these recommendations depend on people being able to tell if it is working for their snakes or not. We all judge posters experience level based on the posts they make and the actions they describe their snake as carrying out. But there is a way of raising questions without making the other person feel attacked or belittled.

And it's a way we need to practice more quite frankly.

What if I told you there are breeders who disagree with our temperatures and, unless the snake is gravid, do not provide at hot spot at all?

Would your initial reply change if I told you they run VPI and are both eminent biologists who know more about the animals than we are ever likely too and can tell if that routine does not fit the animal under their care?

Be humble and realise there are as many ways as there are individual snake preferences. If it's not working for somebodies animals but they do not recognise it then by all means try and help. But if their pet shows every sign of thriving ask how they do it instead of trying to change it.


dr del

[wolfy-hound]

The snake is eating and obviously chose to climb on the branch, I'd say he's in little need of rescue. Sure, they aren't keeping him in what the "standard" method says is ideal, but calling it abuse that they don't have the sides blacked out or that he's on carpet? That's extremism.

Your own snake recently had shedding issues. How would you feel if some friend of your posted on here claiming abuse of your pet because he had a bad shed? Not all people keep their pets in the same methods as the 'gold standard' advocated by the majority.

I've known folks who owned a ball python for a decade without blacking out the sides, without hides, with a heat lamp and green carpet. The snake ate, slithered about, shed cleanly and in all aspects appeared to be a unstressed, healthy animal. Who would I be to say they "abused" it?

[PitOnTheProwl]

There are many ways to keep our animals. What works in one house might not in another.

To "rescue" is the real question......
For you? No. You have had your ball python almost two months. You are not the best option for the animal.
Are you capable of proper quarantine to protect your animal? Can you afford a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars worth of potential medical bills? Again, no.

For me? Nope. Don't do rescues anymore. I smartened up real quick and still have two of them (had the for 7 or 8 years).
It sounds kind of hypocritical on my part because I will buy a new animal for my collection but not take in a free rescue........
When I purchase an animal, I have already researched the BREEDER. I also do have another room that currently has an empty quarantine rack and supplies in it.
See, the health and wellbeing of my animals comes above all others, period.
Not to mention I could not afford to replace all of my snakes should the worst thing ever happen.