A Thank You and a First Question

[Espeonage]

First off, I'd like to thank all of you who post here for helping me (though you haven't known about it) with taking care of my little Burmese.

Maybe a little background before I get to my question. I purchased him from a small pet store located in the mall here in the Cleveland area which specializes mostly in dogs and cats. I realize now how atrociously their reptiles/amphibians/fish are generally treated after reading posts off this site religiously and mimicking your advice to others to fit my own problems. Balls kept in very small cages, no hides, 5-6 to a cage, not being spot cleaned.. They even had a cage of extremely small green tree snakes where so many were kept in a 5 gallon cage that 4 had died and gone through rigor mortis and they hadn't realized (this was today). I was, however, generally lucky with my snake.

He's a little small for his age, my guess is around 3-4 months, but has shown great promise despite where I got him. He's a voracious eater, has never turned down a frozen pinkie/fuzzy, which I feed him weekly, and drinks in front of me when offered water. The cage I currently have him in has a coconut grind substrate, is small (a ten gallon for now), has an overhead light and an undertank heater which keep the tank from 90-92 on the basking side in the day and a general 80 at night. He's also very docile, and even while acclimating to his new home, never tried to tag me.

My first issue with him came about in his first shed. His eyes clouded, so I tried to leave him alone and give him his space, but then noticed after a few days that he was shedding in small pieces. I had a wire cover at that time and looked around on the site and found the tin foil/electrical tape treatment to that problem. It kept in the heat/humidity much better. It took him a few more days, but the rest of the skin came off (still in pieces), but I'm hoping that was only because of how he had been before.

Now to my problem. I took him out today as I would any other day to do a full clean of his cage. He came out gently, wrapped around my fingers and I layed him down on my bed while I unplugged the heater and pulled out his hide, water dish, and the little things I keep suction cupped to the walls. I took them to the bathroom to soak, came back to check on him, right where I left him. Took the cage to the bathroom, emptied the substrate, washed it, came back and was going to play with him while the water dish and things soaked. I walked back to the bed, sat down, and noticed a small spider running away from him. I reached down to pick him up and WHAM!, he got my thumb. I was shocked, he'd never done that before. I don't know if he was startled by me or if the spider got him and scared him, but he was ticked. He flattened out and snapped at me four or five more times.

Eventually, I covered him up with a towel to calm down and finished cleaning his things. I went back a few times to check on him and got the same response. He lashed out every time I got near. Grabbing a pair of gloves, I picked him up, causing him to move faster than I've ever seen him, and struggling, finally got him back in the cage. The second he hit the bottom, his tongue started flicking and he unflattened and started moving around. The second I moved again though, he stopped and didn't move again for an hour or so. I covered the cage with an old shirt and stuck a sock of mine in with him.

So that's my question/rant. I'd just like to know if he was just startled or if any of you have had any problems with small insects freaking out your fearsome serpents.

I'd also like to thank you again for all the help you've unknowingly given me and say hello, because I'll have this guy for quite a while and I'd like to become more active on the forums. So whatever responses you have, thank you in advance!

[recycling goddess]

hmmm i have no idea but i can tell you from experience. snakes can move fast when they want to. never and i mean NEVER leave your snake unattended sitting on your bed. it can take hours or even weeks to finally find them again and sometimes... it's not a live snake you find.

always keep them in a closed secure container unless they are on your body or your eyes are on them!

[Espeonage]

Yeah, definitely good advice. I usually have my girlfriend watching him if I have to leave the room. I probably should have just waited for her to get home before I cleaned. Thanks a lot, and I haven't caught up with your other thread, did you get your snakes yet?

[Shadowspider]

I don't know about the spider; it might have bitten him or maybe not. Keeping an eye on him for a few days wouldn't hurt none, just to make sure there are no changes in his movements and whatnot.
I don't suppose you know what kind of spider it was?

Just a thought, if you have to clean or just feel like cleaning and no one is around to keep an eye on him, yes, either put him in a secure container or snake bag or.... in your shirt!
That's what I do with my MBK and bullsnake when I'm cleaning their containers. I tuck in my shirt and in they go.... to tickle me to death while I clean.

Oh, um, and just in case anyone asks, when I put them in my shirt, no, I don't put them both in at the same time nor on the same day, especially seeing as how my MBK would love to eat my bullsnake... or me if I smelled like him.

P.S.
Welcome to BP.net!

[Espeonage]

Thanks for the reply! A snake in the shirt, eh? Might give that a shot hehe. And as for the spider, we have some nasty wolf spiders around here. I saw one earlier when I got home from work. But this was small. It looked like one of those jumping spiders you see on the wall all the time, probably way too small to get through a snake's skin.

I probably just scared him walking in so fast. I know they hate having things hover high over them. I'm giving him some cool off time and I'll see how he does in a few days.

Glad to be here. ;D

[frankykeno]

What no pics LOL. Just to double check but when you mention fuzzy/pinky you do mean rats...right? I'm not sure of the feeding requirements of a very young Burmese Python but since they grow so quickly in their first few years I would imagine you'll be upping the prey size quite frequently.

I seem to remember hearing about a very poor pet store/breeder type thing in Cleveland, I wonder if it's the same place you got this poor snake out of. I'd encourage you to get a fecal float done on his next feces. Considering the mess of a place he came out of, it's probably best to make sure there aren't any internal parasites to deal with.

You might want to get one of these. Most dollar stores and department stores have them, melt in some vent holes and you have a fantastic carrier/temporary holding area for your snake. A burm will outgrow this pretty quickly but for now it's a safe place for your snake while you do cage maintenance. If you do need a vet visit, it's a good safe way to transport your scaley buddy.

[Thunder Kat]

your snake might be aracnaphobic (sp)

[Shadowspider]

A snake in the shirt, eh?

That actually started last year when we had a ton of power outages and no backup heat. The only way I could think of to keep them warm was to keep them next to our bodies so that's what my husband and I did and it just sort of became "the thing" after that.

your snake might be aracnaphobic (sp)

There ya go!

[Espeonage]

Yeah, I started him out on Pinkie/Fuzzy mice when I first got him, he's on small mice now and having no problems with them, never regurged, so it's looking good. I've been keeping an eye on him and he's been pacing his cage. Seems like there's some factor there stressing him out. Heat and humidity are fine, his water's clean. Definitely gonna grab his next evacuation for a Vet check. Only problem with that is, I dunno if I'll get another one unless I feed him again, he pooped out his last meal already and that was a couple days ago. Hopefully he'll eat.

And yeah, Shadow, that seems like an awesome idea. Especially a hoodie or something like that, it'd be like a built-in snake carrier. Hehe

[Espeonage]

Well, I gave him a day or so to cool off and he's back to his usual docile/active nature, so I guess whatever spooked him has been pushed out of his mind. He's still been pacing his cage, so I'm monitoring the cage vitals, but no signs of problems yet. I'll just keep watching and hopefully get some pic up for you guys soon.