Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hubby made a mistake and bought a bunch of wild caught ball pythons. We got them just before going on vacation and pulled a good fifty or sixty ticks off the ten snakes. They were in rubbermade containers, with water, and unfed (except one who ate right away) when we left on vacation. We returned home after two weeks to find that 4 of the ten pythons were dead. Including the only one who had fed. The one that fed was the most "gruesomely" dead of the bunch. It seemed to have died while on the heating pad (the house reeked!) and probably shortly after our departure. It had a lot of dried blood around it's mouth, but no obvious regurged mouse. The others that died had no strong cause of death.

I was hoping that someone here could give me an idea of how to medicate these guys best to get rid of the ticks and any other inner bugaboos they might have. I've been removing the ticks with tweezers but at least one of them appears to have a new batch of ticks (probably small ticks that I missed the first three times looking them over that grew up while we were away). Is there any medicine I can get for these guys via the internet? I just want to relieve these guys of any parasites to give the remaining six a chance at life. five of the remaining six snakes appear very alert and bright. I plan on trying to feed them tomorrow with some mice that I have right now in some used gerbil bedding. But I want to help these guys...

I know that some will say that of course it was wrong to get wild caught Ball Pythons, and I do know that, and so does my husband. I know that we will never get another wild caught animal of any sort, but in the meantime we have these six who need care and TLC to make sure they survive.

I just purchased a breeding group of three gerbils and hope to use some of their offspring to tempt the snakes later on, if gerbil scented mice and rats don't do the trick.

Well anyway, any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for any help tendered.
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~Sasheena

Try any of the large dealers on the net but I have heard allot of good stuff about this product.

Bryan

Thank you Bryan, I will locate and purchase this product, and in the meantime continue to remove all the external parasites I can.

>>Try any of the large dealers on the net but I have heard allot of good stuff about this product.
>>
>>Bryan
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~Sasheena

Bryan

In addition to getting "reptile relief," you need to locate a reptile vet. These wild caught probably have internal parasites and need the help of a professional. If you want the ones still alive to have a chance of surviving, get them to a vet.

I'm afraid you need a vet Sasheena. I've brought in several WC's this year, and learned a lot on the way. They rarely just roll over and die, even with internal parasites. They have a very slow matabalism, and they very slowly shrink before your eyes. (2 WC babies last summer did this, Panacur and Flagyl solved that problem with the other babies) The blood around the mouth is another factor, I have not seen this at all.

4 of them is 40%. Thats a pretty high attrition rate. I think you need to see a vet, and keep these guys as far from your collection as physically possible.

Good luck!
Happy new year!

I'll see how willing my husband is to get them to a vet. I looked over four of the six remaining snakes this morning and they are all still very plump (as were the ones who died). Hubby wanted to put them in with our single ball python that is (I think) captive bred (it was given to us by a student who didn't like it because it scared him so we really know little to none of the history of the snake). I convinced hubby to keep the newbies separate, which is a very good thing. I'm super glad I did that. Most of the ten balls had their own enclosure. Four of the smallest one were in one large enclosure, and two of the medium ones were in an enclosure, and in both of those cases, there were deaths in those multiple enclosures. (one each in each cage). The other two were kept separately and were the two males in the shipment.

I knew that getting wild caught was getting a whole boatload of troubles, but I also knew that hubby wouldn't really understand the problems until he saw them for himself. Now he knows and vows never to get wild caught again, which is a good thing. Once we've disinfected the two cages that had the dead snakes in them, we'll move the remaining balls so they each have their own enclosure.

Again I appreciate everyone's help here. I know that the best solution is to go to a vet, but as I've mentioned, hubby has to figure some things out for himself. It will be up to him if we take these guys to the vet. Every time he wants snakes of his own he has the WORST luck. Last year we got a snake that was supposedly captive bred, and it was mite ridden and deformed and died within a couple of months of getting it. These balls were received only two weeks before Christmas and as you pointed out, we've already lost 40% of them.
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~Sasheena

If you knew you were "getting into a boatload of trouble" by getting wildcaught ball pythons, then you need to take the responsibility to take care of them properly. If "hubby" is not willing to then you should. Just because it looks plump does not mean that it is healthy. Please take them to a vet, find one that will give your a quantity discount, or something, but don't just think that all is well, because what is out of sight and out of mind can kill your snakes. I really have the best intentions for you and the snakes, and please don't be offended by my being insistent about getting a vet involved.

nm

Thank you and I appreciate your "best intentions" I'm going to be getting them seen to. I do understand that my previoius message sounded callous. They will be well taken care of. They are now fully separated, and are being treated both outside and in. Hopefully they will be able to overcome their troubles and acclimatize well. Once they are free of parasites, inside and out, they will then have to be fed and accustomed to the food we have available here. To that end I have a couple of breeding pairs of gerbils so that I can use there offspring as a last resort if necessary, before that I can try their soiled bedding, etc. I am not giving up on them, I'm just doing the best I can.

>>If you knew you were "getting into a boatload of trouble" by getting wildcaught ball pythons, then you need to take the responsibility to take care of them properly. If "hubby" is not willing to then you should. Just because it looks plump does not mean that it is healthy. Please take them to a vet, find one that will give your a quantity discount, or something, but don't just think that all is well, because what is out of sight and out of mind can kill your snakes. I really have the best intentions for you and the snakes, and please don't be offended by my being insistent about getting a vet involved.
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~Sasheena