Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have just adopted a healed over severly injured ball pythion, i have plenty of experiience in their care and husbandry.(humidity/temps are fine)
but my experience is only with healthy snakes.
this one had severe rat bites all along its back and head, some very deep.
it has visibly lost weight since i first saw it in this petshop.
i am a bit concerned for it.
i am planning on waiting a week till it settles in to its new cage( large opaque rubermaide)before i plan to feed it. the 36 " snake was in a 10 gallon aquarium with a small water bowl, and no hides.
it now has a bowl it can curl up in, and a good sized hide.
it may be afraid of rats, so i am planning on mice and gerbils

is there anything else i should worry about?

for those that feed live i wish you could see this snake(my cam doesnt work for this site)
i gave it no chance for survival, but i guess i was wrong ( sometimes i like being wrong)

it probably lost about 50% of its skin on its back, some bite areas were over 1/4 in deep( to the backbone)

what i was told had happened, was they put in a live rat, and it started to attack the snake, when the employee realized this, he was afraid to be bitten so he left it with the snake.
first mistake , it was live, 2nd mistake, it was unattended, so to all of you that feed live, take heed

(steps off his soapbox)

I have always been "for" feeding frozen thawed or pre killed prey but some BP's take awhile to switch over. In this case it wasn't so much that they were feeding a live rodent that caused this situation but GROSS NEGLIGENCE on the part of the pet store employees and management. I feed some of my balls live but you can bet your ass i always have hold of the mouse or rats tail or my eyes on them the entire time. If there is a problem I have the proper equipment to remove the prey item without putting myself at risk and you can bet your ass I would be getting bit up before my snaek was injured as bad as this one.

Good luck with the recovery. Clean the wounds and apply Betadine daily. I would use a paper towel substrate until it is fully healed. It would also greatly benefit from a course of antibiotics as well.
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Jeff West

This is why I ALWAYS monitor the feeding. If the snake doesn't kill it within 5 minutes, I give it a good slam against a wall and leave it.
So far Eve has not turned down a live or prekilled meal.

I know, you're going to ask why I even bother with feeding live if she takes prekilled.
I do it to keep her alert.
Plus, it's a good muscle workout for her to constrict the live prey, so it keeps her healthy.
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-Man fears the beast in the Wolf because he does not understand the beast within himself.

I've owned BPs, but only two, for fifteen years and feed live. I own other snakes, but it's a small collection. I've never had a rodent bite one of my snakes. I'll give em 15-20 minutes in the tank and if they are still there I remove them and try again next week. I realize this can't work for someone who owns many snakes. But for the ones that only own a few, how hard is it to monitor feedings? The above scenario was certainly gross negligence on the part of the pet shop people, one and all. Personally I feel, if you are afraid of snakes and rats you got no business sellin' em .

Quig