DaveDragon
Gray-bearded Member
Every day I check Pets & Free Stuff on CraigsList for anything that might be “interesting”. We got our female Blue Tegu & a 125G tank with stand for $200 in 2007. I’ve gotten a couple of computer monitors (21” & 19”) for free, our 6ft Coastal Carpet Python for $100, etc.
Last week I saw an ad for some snakes for adoption. I contacted them and found a woman who is between homes and her snakes were at a friend’s house. Their landlord said they have to go ASAP. She had 9 snakes with equipment for $100. (3) Corns, a pair of 100% het for Pied BP’s, (2) adults Rat snakes, a Children’s Python, and a wild caught African House snake. Some of the snakes were hers and others belonged to a herp friend in Florida who recently died.
On Sunday we drove up and picked up everything. They’re on the 4th floor and the elevator only went to the 3rd floor (4th floor broken), so we had to hoof it up and down the stairs to get everything to the 3rd floor. We moved as fast as possible to keep the snake’s exposure to cold air (30 degrees?) to a minimum. We then drove about a mile to a guy’s house I work with who’s son drove a “mini” female Blue Tegu back from Florida for us (another story).
All the tanks and tubs were cleaned with nolvasan. We set everything up in our 2 boy’s room. I bought a oil filled space heater and the room is heated to 82-84 degrees, because they had no means of keeping the snakes warm (they used a space heater too).
While we were cleaning we noticed the Children’s Python was gaping all the time, and sometimes popping and bubbling. A probable respiratory infection. The next day my wife took him to our herp vet and they confirmed. Baytril injections for a week and increased temps with a lamp.
We’ll give them a week to settle in before attempting to feed.
I want to get the BP’s probed soon to see if they actually are male & female. The tails and spurs look identical to me but that’s not supposed to be a good indicator of sex. Then we’ll have to wait another year or two to see if they prove out. One of them have very noticeable white banding between the brown & black patterns.
I have a few of pics of the boy’s room (at home) but no individual pics of the snakes yet.
Last week I saw an ad for some snakes for adoption. I contacted them and found a woman who is between homes and her snakes were at a friend’s house. Their landlord said they have to go ASAP. She had 9 snakes with equipment for $100. (3) Corns, a pair of 100% het for Pied BP’s, (2) adults Rat snakes, a Children’s Python, and a wild caught African House snake. Some of the snakes were hers and others belonged to a herp friend in Florida who recently died.
On Sunday we drove up and picked up everything. They’re on the 4th floor and the elevator only went to the 3rd floor (4th floor broken), so we had to hoof it up and down the stairs to get everything to the 3rd floor. We moved as fast as possible to keep the snake’s exposure to cold air (30 degrees?) to a minimum. We then drove about a mile to a guy’s house I work with who’s son drove a “mini” female Blue Tegu back from Florida for us (another story).
All the tanks and tubs were cleaned with nolvasan. We set everything up in our 2 boy’s room. I bought a oil filled space heater and the room is heated to 82-84 degrees, because they had no means of keeping the snakes warm (they used a space heater too).
While we were cleaning we noticed the Children’s Python was gaping all the time, and sometimes popping and bubbling. A probable respiratory infection. The next day my wife took him to our herp vet and they confirmed. Baytril injections for a week and increased temps with a lamp.
We’ll give them a week to settle in before attempting to feed.
I want to get the BP’s probed soon to see if they actually are male & female. The tails and spurs look identical to me but that’s not supposed to be a good indicator of sex. Then we’ll have to wait another year or two to see if they prove out. One of them have very noticeable white banding between the brown & black patterns.
I have a few of pics of the boy’s room (at home) but no individual pics of the snakes yet.
