Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A friend of mine's roommate bought a baby burm a few months ago, under the false impression if she kept it in a small cage it'd stay small (I want to beat up the person who sold her the snake and told her that). I've been visiting their house pretty regularly, and I'm just depressed every time I see the poor animal.
It's in a not-too-shabby cage, looks like about a 30 gallon, and at first glance looks like it's nicely set up. However, the bedding is bone dry bark/forest bedding mix and the water bowl is too small, and constantly empty (as in, I'M filling it up when I visit every weekend). My friend says her roommate feeds the snake a couple mice about every week to every other week, and it doesn't look horribly skinny, but it also seems rather small for a baby burm that's at least 4 months old. The heat light is always on, which isn't such a bad thing on it's own, but there's no clue as to the temperature INSIDE the tank, since she's mounted the thermometer gauge on the OUTSIDE. There's no clue as to the humidity inside, but the tank sits right in a direct breezy path from the front door, and it's been so dry here lately that my lips are chapping even with chapstick on. (the gauge in our kitchen says 35%)
I know the snake is getting dehydrated, because every time I visit I soak it, and it just sits in the water bowl not moving for half an hour, after drinking for five minutes straight.

My question is: I can't convince the roommate to let me find another home for the snake, and she refuses to do anything to treat the mites, or put any effort into properly caring for it. I can't keep driving 45 minutes to take care of this person's snake for them, nor do I have room at my house for a burm to grow properly.
What can I do? What are some good rescue agencies for a baby burm in Southern California, should I try calling the humane society or ASPCA? I'm just worried that with either the humane society or ASPCA is that they'll be used to furred animals and will see the "pretty" set up the snake's in and think I'm off my rocker. To anyone who's never owned snakes the snake looks fine, if you ignore stuck sheds and a few mites.
It's a gorgeous animal and it kills me to see it neglected the way it is. Any help would be enormously appreciated!

~Jenny
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1.1 normal ball pythons (Cindy and Darwin)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
2.1 betta fishes (Vicious, Killer, and Butters)
3.1 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
2.25 chickens (Jacques the rooster and his harem)

but what I really want is more ball pythons!

"she refuses to do anything to treat the mites, or put any effort into properly caring for it." I think this is pretty good grounds for a snake heist. They don't deserve to have it.

there isn't alot you can do. Unfortunately most animal control and spca staff aren't as knowledgeable about snakes. I find alot of times that I'll visit a friend who's actually owned a snake for awhile and end up educating them as well. I'm by far no expert, but I like to think my baby is in a great habitat. He's got the extras, not just what it takes to survive. But even I can make mistakes. Try bringing a book to back up your words, explain to the room mate that what she is doing to her animal is abuse, plain and simple. It's not a question of oh well this is what someone told me, that's not a good enough excuse. Being that the snake has mites, you can see those crawling around on a snake with a naked eye, so she's blatantly ignoring tiny critters crawling around on her animal. She also knows for certain that a burmese is a natural rain forest snake, not just a critter that lives in the woods. They are from an entirely different country where it's heavily watered. She needs to see you soaking her animal and notice for herself how sick her animal is becoming. If she doesn't listen, go to the animal control agency, show them pictures from your cell phone, show them proof of what you know is right. The local humane society will more than likely side in with you and go give her a warning, but if you have a decent human society of animal cruelty patrol, they will continue to check on her progress concerning that animal. I remember having several animals and a neighbor called the humane society on me and they came out and did their walk threws, everything checked out fine, I am the type that keeps a record of every single meal given to my snakes and whether they passed it fine or regurged, etc. But even though I checked out outstanding, they still had to return as it was their policy. They came out two other times and after that, a couple of them started coming to me to find out what rescues I had. It was amazing, but it was a great raport to have with animal control. Anyway, like I said, educate her, show her the proof, if that doesn't work, go to spca and file a complaint, if all else fails, steal it. But stealing it puts you in an entirely different situation. The day you take control of the animal, you must take it to a vet to prove that it's got these health problems and you took it as a way to save the animal, not just out and steal it. Good luck with her.

I have actually repeatedly sent her sites on the internet to check out and get information, breeders sites, this site, just anything so that she sees what's going on. When I told her that her snake had mites, she said, "I know" and ignored me when I tried to ask her what she was doing to treat them. It's a touchy situation - my friend is only going to be living there a couple more weeks, and the roommate...is not exactly the nicest person around. She's seen me soaking the animal, just sat and watched from the couch as I filled the water bowl, dampened the bedding, soaked the snake, or just handled it because it's a beautiful animal. I have not seen her handle her own snake since she got it at least three or four months ago.
I've already seriously considered stealing it, but I don't have the money or space to treat it properly, and I don't want the mites it has spreading to my snakes.
I'll give the humane society a call, now that it's monday, and see if I can get my friend to take pictures of the snake and its cage. My celly doesn't take pictures, unfortunately.
Thanks for the advice!
~jenny
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1.1 normal ball pythons (Cindy and Darwin)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
2.1 betta fishes (Vicious, Killer, and Butters)
3.1 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
2.25 chickens (Jacques the rooster and his harem)

but what I really want is more ball pythons!