Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Somehow this month I became a snake rescue~ well.....not really! But I did rescue 4 snakes this month~ 2 BPs and a corn from the humane society and 1 BP from the nieghbor.

This one from the neighbor is really amazing! (or probably more like something is rotten in the story!)

I moved into this house in Sept 02. At that time the nieghbor told me her teenage son had a BP. I breed rats~ so I was nice enough to just give the boy a rat anytime he asked me for one. He didn't come over often~ maybe 6-10 times in the entire 3 1/2 years we've been here. I figured he was getting rats from the petstore and only asking me when he was broke.

Well~ this month the neighbors sold thier house and the mother told me the son had moved out and would I take his BP? Well......I try not to bring strange snakes in~ but okay (I'm a sap, which is why I now have 4 rescues here). So I go fetch this snake~ and it's HUNGRY. Bit me first thing looking for a meal. I said....."Wow, this is the smallest 3 year old I have ever seen!" to which the woman told me "No, that snake is 6 years old"!!

It's a good thing I rescued it. It is dehydrated, has stuck sheds and possibly some mouth rot......but do you think this is a 6 year old BP? Or did the original BP die and the boy replaced it and never told his mother?? (This pic and weight were taken after I have fed it THREE times and soaked it once)

-----
Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons~ for you are Crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

I rescued 3, which the gentleman claimed to be almost 3 years old, and the biggest one is barely 2 feet. One has a LARGE kink in its tail, which is indicative of someone pulling on the tail, like trying to get it off a branch. The guy claimed it got caught between the tank and the screen lid.

It could be, but again, something's probably fishy...

Chances are it is a 6 year old ball that was just not taken care of. Before the big ball craze it was never uncommon for us to get adult ball pythons from people that has them as pet and fed them a mouse a month, to find out they are 4 or 5 years old and the size of a yearling.It really depends on the snake, I would say it is entirily possible for a snake to be small at any age. If you look at some of the 05 balls some of the big importers are selling they are the size of a hatchling still at almost a year old. A hopper mouse every 2 weeks to keep them alive is usually all they get.These snakes will be small like that forever unless they are fed more.

Just my 2 cents