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Tashan Dorrsett posted:so my female ball python hasn't eaten in 5 weeks, what should I do? at first I was told that it's a normal thing for them to not be as hungry during the winter/during a shed. But she's losing weight, her shed's over, and I'm getting concerned. at what point do i force feed? Moving a ball python to a separate feeding location isn't necessary or recommended, you're just adding stress to a shy derp-sausage.
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Mar 31, 2016 17:03
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EightBit posted:Moving a ball python to a separate feeding location isn't necessary or recommended, you're just adding stress to a shy derp-sausage. I know this is what everybody says, but some snakes just seem to be fuckin' weird and particular, and if they're regularly eating after being moved to a different location then I can't see why it's a problem. One of mine, Meg, eats in her viv every single time and drags her meal into her hide to eat in peace, cool that's just how she does it. But the other one, Marvel, is an absolute moron and if I feed her in the viv she will nearly always lose the rat after she uncoils. She's so stupid, she'll sit on top of it and look around like 'where'd it go?? oh well, gonna go back to the hide and hope it comes back someday' so what works for her is being moved to a completely empty tub to be fed, left with the lights low for about 30 minutes and usually when I come back she's eaten the rat. It seems to really help her to be put in a tub with no distractions and no hide to retreat back to after she 'loses' the food. @ Tashan Dorrsett: 5 weeks isn't long for a ball python to fast so I wouldn't worry too much, way too soon to be force feeding. Any change in feeding routine that might have put her off? Is this her first time fasting?
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Apr 4, 2016 03:24
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Holy poo poo I have had my first every ball, Alien, for 17 years come October. The gently caress does time go. I used to feed all my pythons out of their enclosures. Then came Luna, our first ever albino ball. and she refused. I tried to feed her in the cage. Refused. She went two months without eating, everything from rats to mice, all colors, all sizes short of pinkies, live, frozen, dipped in chicken broth...and then finally she got the chosen one, a just-killed black mouse, and that was how we've fed her ever since. Alien and some of the other balls are fine being moved before eating. Others, like our mojaves Bee and Wasp, track us through the glass and are poised to strike when they're hungry. And then there's loving V, the bumblebee (and I swear to every god ever I am DONE with spider morphs after her) who got the bad nerve shakes later in life and does a loving curly-q before she strikes at the mouse. As for five weeks, my albino and champagne females went off feed for about four months until the weather finally stopped going from cold to warm to warmer to freezing overnight. In comparison, Wasp will eat every day if I let him, and Bee recently ended her hunger strike of three months, taking a mouse every few days until recently, where she's taped off to once a week. Snakes are weird. But that said if your snake is losing weight, time for the vet.
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Apr 9, 2016 21:03
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Today has been a really weird and sad day for me. A few weeks ago, a.. sort of ex-friend contacted me, saying she had gotten a ball python for her son and he wasn't taking care of it, and she was trying to find a home for it. She remembered that I had told her I'd take her, and contacted me. So I agreed to take her. Drove almost an hour to pick her up, and she was in just awful shape. Poor thing looks like the past few sheds have been awful, she had at least three layers of shed stuck all over her. When I got there, there was not a water dish in the tank. There was not a heating pad on the tank. There is a HUGE hole in the side of the tank. Got her home, ran a little water in the bath tub to give her a little soak to see what I could do about the skin and dehydration issue. She promptly stuck her whole head under the water and was gulping water like crazy for a few minutes, then jerked her head up and thrashed around and then threw it ALL back up. Then she turned around and went and drank more. I had to let water out of the tub so there was only a bit so she couldn't drown herself because she was just shoving her whole head under the water to get to it. Finally she calmed down over the water and had (slowly) drank her fill, got her a little wipe down and most of the yuck came off of her... went to put her away and my husband wanted to carry her. He picked her up, and she promptly threw up all over him, again. Nothing but water, everywhere. Like.. I don't want to give her little water, but this snake is acting like she hasn't had water in weeks or longer. For now we've given her a massive tupperware she can crawl in, and the last time I looked in on her she's laying in it with her head popped out making a little happy face. And then.... After all that, I came into my office to find that my 4 year old hognose was dead. He was a bad eater and hadn't been doing well, he refused food all winter but he ate last week. I'm trying to not beat myself up over it too much because he was just... really not thriving. But it's still very sad and upsetting. I think the universe just doesn't want me to have more than 2 snakes. 
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Apr 10, 2016 04:41
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Goddamn man, I'm sorry to hear about your hog. I will say your post made me want to wake my snake out of her post-feeding nap to hug her, though. Poor thing. How do you own a critter and not even water it? It makes no sense. Even as a freaking ten year old I knew the basics of snek were water + warms + hiding place at the absolute minimum. I hope she feels better soon, thanks for taking care of her.
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Apr 13, 2016 18:32
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Keep us updated on her status! So sorry about your hog... 
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Apr 13, 2016 18:50
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After a few days of settling in... Man, this snake. She's such a darling. I can't believe that brat mistreated her. She spent her first night like this. All night long I would hear a random thunk thunk as she readjusted and wobbled around checking stuff out, but she never really left her dish the whole night.  And, a slightly nicer outdoors photo after her first night of "freedom". She's friggin massive compared to my snakes - my hoggie that just passed was puny, and my corn snake is only around 220g. This bad girl weighed in at 1522g. Craaaaazy. 
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Apr 14, 2016 07:47
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Poor girl. She's looking lovely, though. I hope she continues gaining weight and regaining proper hydration!
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Apr 14, 2016 15:57
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Oh wow, look at her! I bet she's feeling like a million bucks now, at least compared to how she was living before. What a lucky girl. You're good people. Black blood python update: still tiny, under 100g. Doesn't know how to use hide boxes, hides under them or under paper towel and substrate. Loves having baths and sleeping on my shoulder while I lay down and internet. Makes this face for minutes at a time while eating:  Verdict: he's a cute little dingus, who will someday grow into a big dingus-sausage.
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Apr 14, 2016 17:02
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Chaosfeather posted:How do you own a critter and not even water it? It makes no sense. Even as a freaking ten year old I knew the basics of snek were water + warms + hiding place at the absolute minimum. I'm glad you took her in, That Damned Satyr. Did you find out what happened to your hognose? I still have my one eyed alligator lizard that I posted about here, oh, probably three+ years ago (she's probably going on six at least). She's doing mostly great* except for forgetting how to open mouth AND strike at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_wXZVn7Bb8  *Eats well, is about to shed again but isn't grumpy this time, is fat, smart, knows how to recognize people's voices (she will come to the top of one of her trees if we talk to her and she's in a good mood and wants to come out) and a pretty inquisitive lizard overall. Except.... I think she has a hemorrhoid and passes a bit of blood occasionally when she poops. It's always after the urates+feces, which look normal, and she's had it for a very long time. When I took her to the vet three years back she had it, but other than minor coccidia her stools looked ok. I spritz her cage every day and she has water available, and the occasional bath, which she hates. Is this dehydration? Food is too big (superworms often)? It's happened even when she has a lot of urine and seems well hydrated. Is there anything I can do to help? Anything it could be if her poop looks normal, she's active and eating regularly?
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Apr 19, 2016 02:49
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Today, my girlfriend and I rescued a ball python. She'd been kept in the basement, in a tiny tupperware container, with a pizza pops box to hide in. It was pretty foul. Also her heater was unplugged. https://goo.gl/photos/pjMwbS8jQz8SAk9n8 Here's what she's looking like at the moment: https://goo.gl/photos/4ddvdJc8DpuUHCnz5 So the first thing we did was run a warm bath, about 1" deep, and let her soak in it for a while. Some of the failed shed came off, thankfully, but she's still got a lot of crud on her. She's pretty active though, which is good? We've put her in a big bin for now, with towels as a substrate, a new larger hide, and clean water. She's got heat now, so I'm hoping she'll be a happy snek soon. She's only about 18 months. I'll be building a proper enclosure for her tonight.
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Apr 19, 2016 21:25
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Christ and I thought the toeless, what I thought would end up blind Leopard Gecko was in bad shape. But she is a fatty who can clearly now see and always comes running when she sees me loving with the roach bin. Gets around and climbs up and down her fake rock stairs pretty well for missing the first 2/3rds or so of all her toes.
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Apr 20, 2016 01:31
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From what I understand, the people renting the basement from a friend of ours moved out, and had no place to take her, and left her and some "bird eating" tarantula behind. They came in now and then to feed them, and I think water was provided, but man, it was grim. I recommended that we call the local rescue for the tarantula, as neither of us have any idea how to even care for it. We both have some experience with snakes at least, and know what we're getting into. Edit: So, here's what I built for an enclosure: https://goo.gl/photos/Pu9AZDAqi5P28hfi8 The walls are lexan, and the cover is a solid steel mesh, made from the door of an old server rack.  it's nice having access to a hackerspace with all kinds of surplus - it cost me all of 3 hours of time to build.
TwystNeko fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Apr 20, 2016 |
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Apr 20, 2016 02:26
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TwystNeko posted:So, here's what I built for an enclosure:
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Apr 20, 2016 18:30
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Yea, it's just 2x2 boards, with a groove ripped down 2 sides. I could have made it possible to break down, but eh. It's glued and nailed at all corners. Since that pic, I added a hinge and a chest latch, and ran silicone around the bottom edge. Total cost: $20. I made it to fit what I had for materials, so the overall size is 16x32x18. Should be big enough for her, I think. There was no real plan, so it turned out super good for an off-the-cuff build.
TwystNeko fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Apr 20, 2016 |
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Apr 20, 2016 19:59
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Our 3 year old female beardie has fibrous sarcoma. Any tips/anecdotes? (I'm used to cancer in rodents which is swift and brutal.)
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Apr 20, 2016 20:08
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Noricae posted:And how can you be a parent and watch this? This is really sad Regarding passing blood, whenever I've tried to use superworms or even small mealworms as the main food item with my collared lizards I've run into problems. I never saw blood, but they'd start getting impacted or start passing undigested worms. Something about the worms' exoskeleton makeup just didn't seem to work well with their digestive systems, which is weird since most other lizards don't seem to have a problem with them, and collared lizards are pretty notoriously voracious in eating whatever they can fit down their throats in the wild. I could potentially see a jagged exoskeleton piece drawing blood on the way out. Collared lizards aren't particularly closely related to alligator lizards, but they do both come from western North America and occupy similar parts in the lizard food chain, so maybe they have a similar gut makeup? I'd try switching to crickets, waxworms, and other softer prey for a few weeks and see if the blood stops. But again, if it's been happening for years and doesn't seem to have any negative impact on her health it's clearly not a big problem.
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Apr 21, 2016 07:58
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Knormal posted:Does she have some kind of jaw deformity, maybe from whatever caused her to lose an eye? Her lower jaw looked kind of weirdly gappy at times in that video. If she has some kind of deformity it might be causing her jaw joint to catch when she tries make an instinctive strike. I have no idea if that's actually a thing, I've just never seen a lizard fail to open its mouth like that before. Either way, as long as she's eating enough to keep weight on it wouldn't think it'd be an issue.  That's interesting about the collared lizards! I was wondering if it was related to the superworm skeleton. I try and feed her white/just shed worms as much as possible, but it's not always possible. Mealworms are no go. They must taste disgusting or be too small to bother with. Crickets are really difficult to feed and sometimes my finger gets caught instead, and they drop dead so fast. Waxworms I haven't tried, but I did try phoenix worms, which she spat out. Someone is spoiled maybe... I'll try waxworms and see how they go. I've never tried roaches because I was worried about the exoskeleton issue there (? is this a valid concern). Recent pics from this year:  and (Think the jaw looks similar? Possibly muscle disuse on right side. She's pretty numb on the entire side and if a superworm ends up on the right side of her face, she basically thinks she's done eating it and ignores it.) Basically, rescue lizards are pretty great animals to interact with and get to figure out. Noricae fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Apr 22, 2016 |
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Apr 22, 2016 00:55
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Yeah if you have to hand-feed her crickets would be a pain in the rear end. Waxworms generally aren't suitable for a permanent main food item because they're basically reptile candy, with a lot of fat and not many nutrients, but they should be fine for a while to flush her system out and see what happens. From what I've read roach exoskeletons are supposed to be fairly easy to digest, but I've never tried them myself. I live in an apartment and I'm paranoid about the management freaking out over me bringing roaches in, since they won't see the difference between dubia and pest species.
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Apr 22, 2016 03:49
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Hello, thread. I asked a while back about getting a tortoise for a friend, and long story short she rescued a Russian tortoise with apparent calcium deficiency (according to her because of some white, chalky-looking depressions in his shell IIRC) from PetSmart in January. She has named him Ivan and she is very attached. Her cat is afraid of him. Initially he was reluctant to eat kale and the other fresh, leafy things she feeds him (she suspects because he was probably raised on pellet food), but with some coaxing he has started eating it regularly. We got this cage for him and put several inches of substrate at the bottom which was a mix of sand and that mulch made for tortoise cages. We also got this heat lamp I believe, and he has a basking rock, a hidey hole in the form of a half-buried flower pot, and water and food dishes. I believe she has done everything right, and she certainly knows a lot more than me about tortoise care at this point, but feel free to mention it if you see any glaring issues. Here are some pictures!   
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Apr 22, 2016 19:24
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Cute!! Looks good to me. How many hides does he have? Has she tried giving him dandelions (from a lawn she sure doesn't get pesticides or fertilizer)? A friend's russian goes nuts for them. Have they been to the vet (a lot are wild caught)?Knormal posted:I live in an apartment and I'm paranoid about the management freaking out over me bringing roaches in, since they won't see the difference between dubia and pest species. Noricae fucked around with this message at 09:04 on Apr 23, 2016 |
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Apr 23, 2016 09:01
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dovetaile posted:Our 3 year old female beardie has fibrous sarcoma. Any tips/anecdotes? (I'm used to cancer in rodents which is swift and brutal.) When I asked before I didn't get a response, so here's one for you: My 17-year old ball python was diagnosed from a mass removal (not a clean cut, so she's still got some in her) this last December. She SEEMS to be doing alright, and a recent shed revealed that her scar tissue healed slowly but it still closed the site okay. I'm sorry to hear your young critter has it so it may progress differently, but I'll let you know if Sparky takes a turn for the worse. If nothing else it may give you an estimated period of how long you have with your beardie. If it helps at all, the specialist I went to was of the opinion that it wouldn't significantly shorten her lifespan if it does at all. That may be because she's kinda aged already for a petco snake, though. Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Apr 23, 2016 |
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Apr 23, 2016 15:09
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Noricae posted:Cute!! Looks good to me. How many hides does he have? Has she tried giving him dandelions (from a lawn she sure doesn't get pesticides or fertilizer)? A friend's russian goes nuts for them. Have they been to the vet (a lot are wild caught)? I believe he only has one hidey-hole at the moment. Should he have more? She talked about where to get dandelion greens, but I don't think she's actually found any yet. I don't think she was aware it was okay to just get stuff from outside. She mentioned going to the vet but I don't know if she actually did it. Or if there are any vets around here that do reptiles. Do all vets do reptiles?
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Apr 23, 2016 17:05
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Not all vets do reptiles. I go to a vet clinic that only does dogs and cats. If you call a clinic and they don't have a doc that sees reptiles, they might be able to refer you to one that knows. A referral from someone who has the same type of pet is my preferred method for choosing a vet.
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Apr 24, 2016 05:07
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gently caress. My reptile vets my side of town have retired. And my matriarch leopard tortoise Jamoca (we've had here close to 20 years or slightly over) has a runny nose. The weather's been off in AZ for a bit, but it is warming up now and shouldn't have any more cold spells. I just hope I don't need to haul her across town or do injections. It was bad enough doing injections in a drat ball python.
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Apr 24, 2016 05:30
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Zandorv posted:I believe he only has one hidey-hole at the moment. Should he have more? I asked about the hides because the more the better I think, and I think it's a good idea to have one on the warm side and one the cool side of the cage for any reptile.I wish all vets did reptiles, or even were half trained in them. A pain to find outside major cities.
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Apr 24, 2016 06:26
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Well, with the loss of my hoggy , I had planned to get a third snake as three snakes was my ideal number... But then, after seeing all of my posts on FB of the ball I just took in and have been nursing back to health, I got a message a few days after I first took Lucy in from a friend asking if I was interested in taking in another snake. I had to give it some time to think about, but today we went and got her. The story is that my friend got this snake but then just kind of got fearful of it and couldn't bring herself to handle him, so he hasn't really been worked with or really taken out of his tank in a year. She said when they cleaned it they scooped him into a box, even. We go over there and she's got him in a tupperware bin and I just reach in and grab him and she's got this look of absolute horror on her face as he wobbles his way up my arm adorkably. So... another snake. Finally the Haus of Satyr is once again at it's capacity of three sneks, and life is good again.  Also... I am kind of clueless on ball morphs. I think this gal is just a lesser ball morph. Thoughts?
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Apr 24, 2016 22:15
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My little Buttercup is growing up so fast. She wants to eat him, but I won't let her.  Nom Nom  His/her lights turn on at about 6:30am and within a few minutes of that Buttercup will pop his head out go check things. You know see if anybody is around to give him food that isn't the small bowl of dry dog food i leave in for him or let him out so he can poo poo/piss on my bed again. Skinks are cool guys and really low maintenance beyond the whole large tank thing. Cless Alvein fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Apr 26, 2016 |
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Apr 26, 2016 03:21
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Omg we got new baby corn snakes in at work and I'm amazed that my Spaghetti was ever that tiny. I attempted to make him a leash the other day, but it didn't work out so great. Hopefully, he had fun crawling around outside.
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Apr 26, 2016 06:07
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What would be a good snake for a 45 gallon tall tank, measurements: 36 1/4" tall 12 5/8" deep 23 3/4" wide? Something that won't outgrow it and likes the height.
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Apr 29, 2016 03:13
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Desert Bus posted:What would be a good snake for a 45 gallon tall tank, measurements: 36 1/4" tall 12 5/8" deep 23 3/4" wide? Something that won't outgrow it and likes the height. I'm going avoid saying "cornsnake" and instead suggest a Baird's ratsnake. Like most ratsnakes, they enjoy climbing.
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Apr 29, 2016 04:18
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I accidentally left the lid open on my gecko tank over Saturday night, and by the morning, Ginger was gone. She was nowhere to be found. Then, later in the day, she's just sitting on the floor like "what's up." Totally chill, totally unharmed and unhurt despite the cat in the room, totally still with her tail. She's a feisty little thing I think.
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May 2, 2016 14:59
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I once found my created gecko outside on my porch door frame, having wiggled open a loose cage top I forgot to pin, far from the front door. Led me on quite the merry chase too once I saw him.
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May 2, 2016 15:49
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I found my Tokay Gecko under the fridge once.
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May 2, 2016 17:07
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Whereas I accidentally left my gargoyle geckos lid off for three days and found him sitting happily on the same branch inside his tank.
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May 2, 2016 19:56
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When an amphibian gets out of its cage, most species are dead within fifteen minutes. In happier amphibian news, I found these eggs in my arboreal salamander tank:  Pretty sweet - they're a really neat species to work with, and I had eleven babies just back in November, so they're really going at it. In a month or so, I should have some more of these guys: 
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May 2, 2016 20:18
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Cleaned the enclosure last night and took the opportunity to weigh my little buddy - 850 grams and still growing.
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May 9, 2016 12:53
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So, my girlfriend just called me. She found the snake dead today, belly up and rigid. I had handled her Sunday evening, and had noticed her wheezing a bit, but thought it was because she still had a lot of leftover shed on her head. I guess I should have found a herp vet in town and gotten her looked at.
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May 10, 2016 23:11
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TwystNeko posted:So, my girlfriend just called me. She found the snake dead today, belly up and rigid. Sorry to hear this. Don't feel bad, you did your best. Snakes are notorious for hiding illness until it is too late. At least the snake lived the last of its days in relative comfort.
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May 11, 2016 01:43
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TwystNeko posted:So, my girlfriend just called me. She found the snake dead today, belly up and rigid. So sorry about that.
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May 14, 2016 20:21
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