Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My local nature center got in a large 5-footer female BP yesterday, that was unwanted by its former owner. This owner only had it for about a week, and it is assumedly wildcaught, since it was bought at a local, smarmy pet shop. I volunteered to care for it. I setup a rubbermaid that's long enough for her to stretch out in, with a hide at both ends, heatpad at the proper temps, and it's in a temperature-appropriate room. Newspaper substrate.
The first night (which was last night) I cared for her, I put her in a half-sized rubebrmaid with a bunch of sphagnum moss and some water, since she appeared VERY dehydrated. No retained eyecaps, thank god, but a few small retained scales on her body that were gone this morning!
Soon after I put her in there, she began sipping water like there was no tomorrow. This morning, I looked in on her descreetly and she appears much less dehydrated. I'm putting her into the larger rubbermaid today, with less humidity, perhaps just a humid hide for now.
How long should I acclimate her before attempting feeding? The former owner said she had not eaten in his week of "caring" for her. He had her in a PATHETIC 10-g tank with an empty waterbowl and paper towel upon delivering her to the center. Transferring her to the r-maid, she was VERY skittish, understandably, unballed and trying to get away. The only reason I think she has no mites, is there were no signs of them in the p-towel.
I know that this is an animal that was plucked from the wild. What are my chances of making her happy and feeding in captivity? Also, any advice regarding parasite eradication would be very appreciated.
Would i be meaningful to take her to the vet without a fecal sample? Is there any parasite-detecting that can be done without fecal?
I snapped a piccy of her...

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"One man's pet is another man's feeder."

If she is a WC adult, she almost surely has parasites. Check her completely for ticks, and I personally like to treat with provent-a-mite as well. Once a week hold her down and check for ticks ~pull with tweezers, try to get the heads~ she may develop a swelling where the tick was~ this usually clears up after the next shed~ if she is WC adult she will probably become snippy during this. Clean cage~ spray with provent-a-mite and put the snake back. Do this every week until you can go at least 3-4 weeks without finding any ticks.

Take her to the vet. If she is a WC adult then she needs to be wormed. Flagyl and panacur. Vet may recomend more. The pet store may have already done this~ you may want to ask.

She may not eat for a very long time. A WC adult is extremely stressed and doesn't *usually* recognise our rats and mice as food items. Be patient, keep offering food and don't give into the temptation to "Force feed" unless a vet recomends it. If she has good body weight she can go a VERY long time without eating. (One of mine did 10 months and still looked great when she began to feed)
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Thanks, good advice! I definately am going to get her to the vet this coming week, and I'll call the pet store and wring it outta them, whether they used any kind of dewormer on her.
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"One man's pet is another man's feeder."

what did she look like when she was dehydrated? I have never seen a dehydrated snake.
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0.1 Albino Leopard gecko
1.1 feral cats (we adopted them)
Coming Soon
0.0.1 ball python

I don't think she was dangerously dehydrated, but her skin had scattered remaining scales from a prior shed. She felt rough overall, and had been kept in a bone-dry aquarium with a screen lid!
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"One man's pet is another man's feeder."

>>what did she look like when she was dehydrated? I have never seen a dehydrated snake.
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A badly dehydrated ball python will have loose skin, poor muscle tone, and sometimes a "dented" appearance to the eyes, as well as typically having small pieces of shed still attached here and there. Additionally, she'll be lethargic, possibly to the point of appearing not to be head-shy, and may exhibit neuro symptoms such as failing to right herself when turned upside down.

All of this applies to a badly dehydrated ball python, though, and hopefully you'll never see a ball in that bad of shape. I recently nursed one back that had all of those symptoms but the "dented" eye appearance, and now she looks great!

I have had a couple of adult wc given to me and I have learned to get them set up and leave them the heck alone for a month. Fresh water, damp hide, clean. No anything else. Then I offer a f/t rat, overnight, no peeking. If that is a no go and or you are worried about weight you can try gerbils or gerbil scenting or russian dwarf hamsters. F/T seems to work better than prekilled.....go fig. Washing the rat will help.
I would also treat the enclosure...or the paper for the cage for the next change with Provent a mite.
I had had my female vet checked, on paper and visually checked often and didn't find anything for well over a year. Then last season she bred and there were TICKS on the eggs. That was when I learned to use Provent a mite.
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Sonya

Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with the software.