Problems with reptile show animals

[AzJohn]

I've purchased 4 snakes from trade shows over the last two months. Two of the snakes had issues with shedding. One, a young female woma, ate(go figure) then shed the day after I got her home. The second, a female ball python, had major issues that went unnoticed. She needed help getting the entire shed off including eye caps, nostrils, vent, everything. The scariest part was the all python went two months without eating and was showing signs of malnutrition. Once I got her feeding fine and she started putting on weight. Her old skin started splitting and I went ahead and took it off. She instantly went into blue and shed days later on her own.

Now my rant. I can recognize when any of my snakes are about to enter shed, weeks before they start. I can't really tell with a snake new to me unless the eyes are cloudy. Neither of these snakes had cloudy eyes at the show. Neither had cloudy eyes when I got them home. I know the eyes clear up shortly before the shedding process actually starts. So, the vendors took a snake that was days away from a shed, put it in a small show container where it didn't have room to shed. Then they didn't mention it to me.

 

[Cherri]

I'm sure you already know this, but add humidity boxes.

 

[SonsofArachne]

So, the vendors took a snake that was days away from a shed, put it in a small show container where it didn't have room to shed. Then they didn't mention it to me

From what I've seen while there are many good vendors, there are also the reptile equivalent of puppy mill breeders - the only thing they care about is making a buck.

 

[Vanessa]

This comes up on a regular basis in Toronto - especially considering that we have almost monthly reptile expos.
Animals who have mites. Animals who are almost starving to death. Animals who are clearly suffering from the beginnings of a respiratory infection. Animals being sold as months old when they are practically newly hatched (this happened to me personally). And it is always the beginners to the hobby that are targeted with these scenarios, which make it that much worse.
Report them to the expo organizers. And not just after the fact, because it has affected you personally. Take photos, because there is bound to be someone getting online afterwards saying they got a sick animal and the breeder, along with all their buddies, are going to crucify that person online.
And most importantly - stop giving them your money.
This has just happened in the last 24 hours on our BOI group in Canada. Someone ends up spending hundreds in vet bills for a snake with a respiratory infection only a few days after buying them at an expo. And the breeder says that he will gladly take the animal back and only reimburse the person partially for the animal and vet bills. And he makes it sound as if he is doing the buyer the favour - the guy has gone to all this effort for the animal, still has a vet bill to pay off, and the breeder is doing him a favour by taking away the animal so he has nothing to show for all of this tragedy. And this is considered the 'norm'?
If the buyers are going to set the bar this low, then what do you expect from the sellers?

 

[GarField000]

About the snake ..... not sure how cold it is, but here they tell buyers to use a isolatebox to transfer the snakes.
In the middle of winter we see stupid people taking their snake just in a snake bag with no protection from the cold.
No surprise if they get sick .....

As for the unhealty, mites animals. The reptile show orginizer should check these animals and sent the bad ones home.
Than they will learn soon enough. I host a very big snakeshow here in holland, and every animal is checked before it gets sold.
Yes it's a lot off work as atleast 20 volunteers have to check all 600 tables before the show opens. But bad or sick looking animals will be banned.
If a vendor has all bad animals he can go home and never have a table again.

So I think the showorginizer should check the animals.

 

[14pokies]

Check for mites... When a snake has that much trouble shedding it's usually do to dehydration.. You can raise the humidity in the enclosure to 100% and it won't help. The snake needs to be hydrated properly in order for it to shed it could take a month sometimes 2-3 for sheds to start coming off normally after a snake has been chronically dehydrated.. Either the snake has/had a bad mite problem or the old keeper just didn't give it water.. Even a "dry" shed should come off relatively easy if the snake itself was well hydrated.. Givem lots of water and time.. If the shed is hindering the snake in any way you can place the snake in a sealed container for 20mins w room temp water going a little less than halfway up yhe snakes body and then once it has had the opportunity to drink add just a drop of dawn dish soap it allows the water to penetrate the old skin.. This is the hard part.. Keep the snake in the ESCAPE PROOF BIN in a warm place for 3-7 days checking on it atleast 2Xs a day.. Once the shed is mushy you can either peel it off or gently rub it off with a damp cloth..

 

[GarField000]

I've purchased 4 snakes from trade shows over the last two months. Two of the snakes had issues with shedding. One, a young female woma, ate(go figure) then shed the day after I got her home. The second, a female ball python, had major issues that went unnoticed. She needed help getting the entire shed off including eye caps, nostrils, vent, everything. The scariest part was the all python went two months without eating and was showing signs of malnutrition. Once I got her feeding fine and she started putting on weight. Her old skin started splitting and I went ahead and took it off. She instantly went into blue and shed days later on her own.

I have noticed that many snakes have problems shedding if they go to a new home because the difference in humidity.
By the second time the snake is used to 'your' humidity and all goes well. When I still bought snakes atleast half off them had problems the first time.
I even mention it when people buy a snake from me.