Alright. I've never kept rat snakes before, I've always kept/keep Burmese pythons (and I've not been doing this for years and years).

Anyway, I browse Craigslist a lot, and these people had this rat snake for sale for months and months, and in each post they talked about this snake that was never handled anymore, and how it was tame, but aggressive towards the now pregnant wife? (Whatever that means).

Anyway, one day they are finally giving this snake away for free. SO I spent a few hours reading different sites about the temperatures required, and anything I could find on rat snakes in general, and then I searched for "Gray Rat Snake" since that is what this is.

So I pick up the snake, and it looks to be in a 20 gallon - long cage. This snake (I've had about a week now), looks to be 5 to 1/2 feet. (I'm 6'3, and it's long and stringy and all over the place when I handle it). Ontop of that, there was feces all over the place. The guy tells me, "You might want to clean the cage." And I said "No ." turned around and walked to my truck with the cage.

ANYWAY - Onto the problem (sorry for the details).

So I get it home, and see some weird smudge on the side of the glass, didn't pay much attention to it, I put the snake in a tub and bleach cleaned the cage she (they say it's a she) was in. Put some new bedding, it's stuff back in once it was dry, et cetera.

Anyway, this 'smudge' of stuff has appeared again, and on the hiderock. It looks either like a long booger, or what I call a "porno finish"

With that being said, I've taken some pictures.

This concerns me because, I've no idea what it is. None of my Burmese snakes have ever had a RI infection, but it resembles snot, so I thought it possible. I looked up all the symptoms (And looked up youtube videos of people filming snakes with RI infections).

As far as I can tell she(he?) has none.

In other news, I want to buy her a bigger enclosure, or build her once. What would be ideal?

And in other, other news, they told me they'd been feeding her one "adult" mouse from the pet store here each week for the two years they've had her. I know that can't be near enough, but I wasn't sure if I should slowly up her -feeding- over time, and to how much?

I've also read about rat snakes sometimes brumating?

---

Okay, this thread has gotten very large, and has way too many questions. Hopefully one of you can give me advice, I feel very awful for not knowing all this, but when I picked up the free snake, I also had no idea that it was in these conditions...they didn't say.

[ Show Entire Thread ]