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It's three Jameson's this time. The one I just finished examining and debrieding under anesthesia was a major mess, totally shattered lower jaw. The first one wasn't bad at all, just a torn jaw ligament and exposed bone ends. Number three has just been premedicated and I'm taking a break to let the meds take effect. Don't know what I'll see inside that mouth but it looked fairly scary from the outside. This one will have to be examined under general anesthesia also as the involvement is just too extensive.

Pics to follow over the weeks of their treatment. #2 will almost certainly need reconstructive surgery. I'm guessing #3 is a pretty good candidate too. Expensive, that's gonna be. Hopefully I can offload them for something close to the cost of vet bills when the vet pronounces them healthy again.

A slide show featuring the last batch of rescues is at http://www.snakegetters.com/demo/mamba/

The really sad thing is that this appears to be the norm for an annoyingly large number of WC imports that come in like this. Most importers euthanize these animals, but some are nice enough to hand them over to a rescue group where they can get veterinary care.

you are doing the most noble thing in the states. being from Africa I know where these animals are coming from. I know that the treatment that is afforded to them is incredibly poor, but it is better than being beaten to death.I wish that the whole of Africa could see our way of rationalizing the life of snakes. when the average life expectancy of a human is 33 years, it is hard to make a person understand why we should preserve snakes.. I love snakes and am studying to become a vet, but you must understand that if you are facing starvation, and someone tells you that you can not kill an animal because it is endangered that that suddenly becomes insignificant.I am a vet tech and would kill to help you. But you must remember what the rational behind these animals are.TT, you are a legend and i will do anything to help you,n Africa, you need help, give a shout,

much love,
don

Thanks Donald. Mostly I wish they would just stop importing some species like Jameson's. It doesn't make sense, because too many of them do not survive either because of the tremendous physical trauma they go through during capture or because the people who buy them are not able to give appropriate care and medication. It can't even be profitable for the importers given the mortality rate.

Almost any freshly imported snake is a darn good candidate for immediate veterinary support care, and Jameson's mambas in paticular seem to come in with a huge number of mouth injuries and rostral trauma. They're high strung and flighty and tend to rub their own noses off when confined, especially if they already have a mouth injury. Keeping them calm during the healing process is difficult. In one case I kept a female Jameson's on low dose sedation along with her antibiotics and pain meds for nearly a month so she could have time for her stitches to heal without re-traumatizing the area. I'll do it again with this batch if need be.

I know very few people who still have any surviving Jameson's mambas from the hundreds that were imported a few years back. These snakes would be better off staying in the wild than for so many of them to die horribly so that so few can survive in captivity. Most people only see what gets shipped out or taken to shows. But if you are there when the importer opens the boxes, the real percentage of severely damaged animals becomes apparent. Noose wounds, broken ribs and torn, swollen mouths are immediately apparent. Look closer under the microscope and the other problems come to light, massive parasite loads causing internal damage and opportunistic bacterial overgrowth.

What to do about it? I don't know what the ultimate answer is. I don't think that the wildlife import trade is inherently evil or bad, but the way it is being conducted with some species in particular has pretty horrible results.

MsTT: Page thirteen of the latest Fauna has a picture taken by Tedd Greenwald. It is a magnificent O. hannah (mis-labeled Naja hannah) that looks a lot like your pumpkin colored animal. Is it the same snake, or are there more out there?

~~Greg~~

There are more out there. It's a locality color variant. I've seen photos of other specimens that are still in Malaysia.

Sunkist is a remarkably horrible animal to work with, photo wise, and consequently has only been photographed casually a couple of times. I would like to build an enclosed indoor set of suitable size to do a really good quality shoot, but that's a fairly major project.

He's not a "stander", he leaps around and chases people open mouthed around the room. I can handle that behavior, but it takes 100% of my attention and it does not make for a very good photo op. What I really need is a large set and a photographer who can take the pics while I wrangle the animal. Dealing with this guy while half my attention and my hands are on a camera would not be a safe situation.

I'm glad to see him so confident and strong and healthy. He was a bit of a wreck when he was first imported. But his, er, robust health and equally robust disposition do not make for easy photo shoots.

John Tashjian will be staying with me this month and I expect that with his expert skills in the mix there will be some really fine professional shots forthcoming of this animal.