will the torture ever stop?

[ScorpZion]

hello all well my big heart has landed another abused and severly neglected reptile in my care. this lil thing i rescued from a complete moron who had it on sand and in a tank that had not been cleaned for quite some time. anyway he says it is three years old, it looks like it ocular scales are stuck their from past moults. is there anything i can do to get them off? anyway here it is poor thing.

 

[bugmankeith]

You can let it soak in warm water for a few minutes, then gently rub it with a towel. That will help a little for the time being. If it was in a small cage then let it slither around, im sure it's happy to be able to spread its body out! What is the orange stuff on its head?

 

[bugmankeith]

Do you have any other questions about caring for it? I have friends who know alot about various reptiles and amphibians. I can ask them for their help.

 

[ScorpZion]

as i said the stupid wanker had him on sand.... so all his heat pitts have sand in them i am reall concerned for it eyes, he cant see a thing it look s like alot of old scales over his eyes,

 

[bugmankeith]

After some soaking,proper housing,nutrition, and the next shed, he should look and feel better.

 

[beetleman]

yeah, definitly soak him/her in a large container airholes ofcourse,about 1" water and lots of papertowels on the bottom,leave the snake in there overnite trust me it will be fine.soaking for that long will soften that skin and the eyecaps also,i work in a reptile store and i get snakes like that all the time,you would'nt believe the shape of some of them,but that tactic works,sometimes a few soakings but it will soften up,i just don't understand people like those they say he's been shedding for weeks,they don't shed that way,they shed in one shot skin off that's it,and sand that's another story,but it should be fine,alttle time,just be very careful about the eyecaps that skin is very sensitive around that area.good luck with him/her

 

[ScorpZion]

ok will do i moistened the carefresh and put a towel over the enclosure. to make things better i just noticed after haveing it in the tub that one of its nostrils is completly blocked with sand and he is having trouble exhaling almost a hissing sound because of the blocked nostrill. oh man i think i want to go and see this guy and tell him never to have another animal again.

 

[bugmankeith]

I'll see what I can find out about the nostril, but a vet trip may be needed.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

I'll see what I can find out about the nostril, but a vet trip may be needed.

I would say a vet trip is almost definitely needed. If he was kept on dry sand, he's bound to have a WHOPPER of a respiratory infection from the total lack of humidity, which is possibly the real reason for the wheezing (are you sure that's sand in there and not mucous(sp?) of some sort?).

Leaving him to soak overnight is not a good idea, unless the room is at 80 degrees. A cold ball python is a sicker ball python. It's possible he may have permanent eye damage, depending on how many bad sheds have left the eyecaps on.

Don't even try to feed him for a while, depending on how fat he is right now. He will probably refuse food of any kind until his poor nerves settle and some of the health issues are resolved. Lots and LOTS of peace and quiet is in order for that little guy once the old shed mess is cleared up.

...and there is no WAY that thing is three years old, by the way. It's hard to be sure from the picture, of course, but he looks smaller than my year-old male.

 

[bugmankeith]

For now try to get some sand out by gently putting tape on the nostril for a second, it may pull out some of the sand, but a vet visit is needed, the nostril looks pretty filled.

 

[ScorpZion]

ok i will get to my vet. i am positive that it is sand becasue he had it on the calci orange sand...... i have tried the tape methid to no avail. my room is always 85-90 degrees so he should be nice and warm, the eye caps dont look that bad i can see his normal eye move behind the caps.

 

[The Snark]

He doesn't appear to be healthy in general. I have been told that time and good food will help clear up the eye problem with subsequent sheds.

Will you please keep us informed of his progress?


I thought a success story might help cheer you up.
My cousin lived at the edge of the national forest in the Australian outback. One of his ongoing projects was capturing pythons and moving them a few miles away from his chickens. One evening he saw a massive specimen lying on the side of the road. She had apparently been hit by a car. She was still alive so he took her home. (His wife was none too pleased. He went to get rid of 2 young ones and came home with a 14 foot monster).
She lay unmoving for about two weeks then one day raised her head and followed his movement. He gave her a baby rat and after a while the rat became a python bulge.
A carefully isolated and trimmed tree became 'Lucy's' home. Culled chickens, trapped rats and mice, her board of fare. Apparently she had some permanent damage and never tried to move rapidly and much preferred to remain stationary.
Finally, he took to raising rabbits. First immature ones, then full grown went onto Lucy's dinner plate.
I visited my cousin some years later. His house was an open beam open air tropical dwelling. A few moments after I sat, a huge loop of python dangled down from the rafters. His wife walked up and gave it a poke with her finger along with an admonishing warning, "LUCY!" The coils slowly moved back up above head height.
I have no idea how large Lucy was. She was draped all over the rafters and beams. She had four rabbit bulges along her length. It was still difficult for her to get around and she had become so laconic rats had taken nibbles out of her a couple of times so they had moved her into the house. To the best of my knowledge, Lucy is still draped in their upstairs, perhaps looking forward to becoming a world record holder.

 

[ScorpZion]

well i gave a baby rat which the thing devored, it is palin for me to see that the poor thing had not eaten in quite some time. so im going to leave it be. i have a 100wat infrared bulb ontop of its enclosure to keep the temps up, have to try and keep the humidity up as well.

so at least it ate, and now is coiled up in the corner under the heat. i will keep everyone posted.


Gui

 

[Mina]

The poor baby!!!! I'm glad you have him or her now!!!! I have a ball python too. If you need some help you just someone to talk to, either pm me or get on BP net, they are just like everyone here, just really BP crazy, and very helpful.

 

[angelarachnid]

A quick easy and painless way to remove stuck scale caps on eyes is to wrap a piece of sellotape / clear packing tape around your finger sticky side out, then gently roll the tape over the scalecap, eventually the scale cap gets stuck onto the tape and comes of, this may take a few attempts but it works and is much cheaper than a vet. Also you may find there is more than one under the first cap.

The other thing you could do is give her a large water down to soak in when she pleases and wait for her next shed, old scale caps often come of this way as the new one is made underneath the old ones.

From the look of the snake in your pic i would say it is in not bad condition (better than some of the Royals i have taken in). Some of the Royals i have had have been so underweight, that they are triangular in cross section.

As for keeping it on sand...well that is probably the crap he was told when he bought it from the pet store. I bet he was also told that they are a very friendly snake that loved being held.

I used to keep all my royals on newspaper, in very small dark vivs, and even in these vivs they had a hide box. They were only handled when removed from the vivs for cleaning. each viv also had a small washing up bowl as a water dish so thet the snakes could soak when they wanted.

Being kept dark (a red lightbulb for night time heating and a white lightbulb for daytime heating) my royals eventually reverted back to thier wild state and would strike for thier food and the hand (and on one occasion the nose) that fed them.

Contrary to popular belief (ok i had one exception) Royals do not like being handeled and are a very timid/shy snake (which is why they ball up giving them thier American common name). to much handeling can also put them of thier feed. Keeping more than one together, especially with other snake species, is also not a good idea unless for breeding.

Ray

 

[Mushroom Spore]

i have a 100wat infrared bulb ontop of its enclosure to keep the temps up, have to try and keep the humidity up as well.

You'll never be able to keep humidity up with a bulb, I don't think. Can you get hold of an undertank heating pad?

 

[ScorpZion]

yes i can but will that be enought heat for it? plus its still on carefresh ultra. im broke untill the 29th so i cant get aspen/cypress.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

yes i can but will that be enought heat for it? plus its still on carefresh ultra. im broke untill the 29th so i cant get aspen/cypress.

It should be, it just takes an hour or two to fully fire up and warm through the substrate. I have an Exo-Terra "heat wave" that does it perfect for my ball's 20L. You'll just need to put the "cool end" hide wherever the floor ends up being about 80, which might be closer to the middle than the far end of the tank. I use the far end for the water bowl since the floor's too cool for snakey time anyway.

I don't know anything about carefresh or cypress, but I do know that a thick layer of aspen plus a towel over most of the screen lid keeps the humidity pretty well about 60% or so. For an additional boost, fold a thick square of paper towels, get it wet (but not dripping) and slip it on top of the screen but under the towel. Humidity will SKYROCKET for a while.

Aspen's pretty cheap, I got a HUGE bag of scent-free for like ten bucks from PetCo (it's the only thing I can bring myself to buy there, ugh).

 

[David_F]

yes i can but will that be enought heat for it? plus its still on carefresh ultra. im broke untill the 29th so i cant get aspen/cypress.

If you do get a heat mat get a dimmer switch or thermostat to go along with it. Last time I cleaned my BP tank I forgot to reattach the dimmer and when I checked the temp later in the evening it was well over 100F. Not sure how I forgot to attach it.

 

[bugmankeith]

How's the snake's progress going?