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Where Has Sparta Been? AKA: Why Researching Animals Is Impor
7 years ago
Find me elsewhere!
https://vicekillx.carrd.co/
Email: vicekillx@gmail.com WARNING: This post contains photos of animal neglect. Viewer discretion advised.
I apologize for the slowdown in productivity this past week or so. If any of you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, you probably already know. For those who don't, the short version: I took in some new animals and between them and my day job, I haven't had a ton of time to devote to art.
The long version:
Someone was selling these two and their cages on Craigslist. As soon as I saw them I had to take them.
The first one is, admittedly, not in the worst possible shape. It has some stuck eyecaps, and maybe slightly underweight, but ultimately pretty okay condition.
The second is a goddamn trainwreck. It’s extremely dehydrated, covered in stuck shed, and underweight bordering on emaciated. According to the previous owner, this snake is 5 years old and weighs 500-600 grams. For reference, when Ramses was 5 years old, she was starting to approach 1800 g.
http://tinyurl.com/yxtvg3lt
http://tinyurl.com/y49oaeqa
http://tinyurl.com/y2t2v87z
It’s clear the owner did no research whatsoever when buying these snakes. They were in 18x18x24 ExoTerra/Zilla vivariums, which are great tanks - for arboreal species. Ball pythons are completely terrestrial. And even if they weren’t, there were no sticks or climbing perches allowing them to make use of that space. Their existence was limited to an 18 inch square covered in their own feces and shed skin with only one hide box that basically took up the entire floor. The water bowls were bone dry, and I know he didn’t just empty them out for the drive because there was dried poop and shed stuck to the bottom of them. It took me two days of intense scrubbing with hot water, Dawn, bleach, and steel wool to get rid of the layers and layers of caked on grime, and even then it's not completely gone.
Heat was provided through ceramic heat emitters in dome lamps, which in itself is fine....except they’re 2 ft above the snakes. There was no temperature gradient, and at that height, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ground temperature barely broke 80F, nevermind the 90-95F hot spot that ball pythons need. And that's when they were functioning. He told me when I picked them up that one of them was not working. I decided to try putting one on my future tarantula cage because I've had a hard time keeping temps up. It raised the temperatures up a whopping 4 degrees Fahrenheit. In a 10 gal aquarium, with 6 inches of substrate. And this was 2 feet above the snakes.
When I asked what size food they were taking, the answer was “white mice”. He claimed one of them is "farsighted" because it wouldn't react to things right in front of it, but apparently "watched cars go by on the street". I would bet $10 it's just because the poor thing has like 3 layers of retained eye caps from bad sheds.
http://tinyurl.com/y4yt88ye
http://tinyurl.com/y4626y95
The sad thing is that ball pythons are one of the easiest reptiles to care for. They’re easier than fish or any bird or mammal. They require absolutely minimum effort, with the right setup.
There is absolutely no excuse for this. You have a limitless library of collective knowledge at your fingertips. If you take on the responsibility of caring for a living creature, you owe it to the animal to know at the very least the bare minimum of its requirements and meet them. If you’re not willing to spend a couple hours googling, you’re a fucking moron and you don’t deserve to have animals.
They are now in proper quarantine tubs with two hide boxes, a water bowl, and a heat mat regulated on a thermostat. Once they're back up to par, I'll most likely rehome them. I don't really want more balls, but I had to get them out.
The night I took them home, I posted about them on Twitter and Facebook and a huge number of people wanted to help. Overnight I had $145 to get them to a vet, and I booked an appointment for that afternoon.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the smaller one had shed a lot on her own overnight. All it took was a misting on an absorbent substrate.
http://tinyurl.com/y5sj77xv
I tried a new reptile vet with them as well. The last one was wonderful, but after moving, it's much farther away. This one is about half the distance and right by my job and my doctor, so it's super convenient. And I'm in love with them. The staff was all very enthusiastic about having reptiles in while the previous ones were intrigued but nervous. In the exam room, they even brought in a space heater and some heated cushions to keep the snakes comfortable. Excellent first impression, so shout out to [url=https://www.facebook.com/WillowRiverVet/]Willow River Veterinary Services.[/b]
The vet visit went very well. No signs of internal parasites, mites, mouth rot, or plugged heat pits. The larger one did have a slightly plugged vent, but that was easily removed and resulted in a nice big (and very dark, dehydrated) pee on the vet's hand lol. He determined they're both probable females, though I might want a second opinion on that before I'm convinced. He didn't seem completely convinced lol
In any case, he advised me to just keep doing what I'm doing. Keep them hydrated and misted, give the small one a soak and start her on fuzzies so as not to shock her system. So that's the plan.
http://tinyurl.com/y6qwyejv
And today we got all that nasty crap off!
http://tinyurl.com/yy9t3j4x
I did also get their old cages clean. They'll never be in them again, but they're really nice tanks, so I'm gonna keep them for future animals.
http://tinyurl.com/y43mupdw
So that's where we're at. I'll try feeding them soon, and hopefully that will go well, and then they can get back on track.
And that's been my week. How's yours?
I apologize for the slowdown in productivity this past week or so. If any of you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, you probably already know. For those who don't, the short version: I took in some new animals and between them and my day job, I haven't had a ton of time to devote to art.
The long version:
Someone was selling these two and their cages on Craigslist. As soon as I saw them I had to take them.
The first one is, admittedly, not in the worst possible shape. It has some stuck eyecaps, and maybe slightly underweight, but ultimately pretty okay condition.
The second is a goddamn trainwreck. It’s extremely dehydrated, covered in stuck shed, and underweight bordering on emaciated. According to the previous owner, this snake is 5 years old and weighs 500-600 grams. For reference, when Ramses was 5 years old, she was starting to approach 1800 g.
http://tinyurl.com/yxtvg3lt
http://tinyurl.com/y49oaeqa
http://tinyurl.com/y2t2v87z
It’s clear the owner did no research whatsoever when buying these snakes. They were in 18x18x24 ExoTerra/Zilla vivariums, which are great tanks - for arboreal species. Ball pythons are completely terrestrial. And even if they weren’t, there were no sticks or climbing perches allowing them to make use of that space. Their existence was limited to an 18 inch square covered in their own feces and shed skin with only one hide box that basically took up the entire floor. The water bowls were bone dry, and I know he didn’t just empty them out for the drive because there was dried poop and shed stuck to the bottom of them. It took me two days of intense scrubbing with hot water, Dawn, bleach, and steel wool to get rid of the layers and layers of caked on grime, and even then it's not completely gone.
Heat was provided through ceramic heat emitters in dome lamps, which in itself is fine....except they’re 2 ft above the snakes. There was no temperature gradient, and at that height, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ground temperature barely broke 80F, nevermind the 90-95F hot spot that ball pythons need. And that's when they were functioning. He told me when I picked them up that one of them was not working. I decided to try putting one on my future tarantula cage because I've had a hard time keeping temps up. It raised the temperatures up a whopping 4 degrees Fahrenheit. In a 10 gal aquarium, with 6 inches of substrate. And this was 2 feet above the snakes.
When I asked what size food they were taking, the answer was “white mice”. He claimed one of them is "farsighted" because it wouldn't react to things right in front of it, but apparently "watched cars go by on the street". I would bet $10 it's just because the poor thing has like 3 layers of retained eye caps from bad sheds.
http://tinyurl.com/y4yt88ye
http://tinyurl.com/y4626y95
The sad thing is that ball pythons are one of the easiest reptiles to care for. They’re easier than fish or any bird or mammal. They require absolutely minimum effort, with the right setup.
There is absolutely no excuse for this. You have a limitless library of collective knowledge at your fingertips. If you take on the responsibility of caring for a living creature, you owe it to the animal to know at the very least the bare minimum of its requirements and meet them. If you’re not willing to spend a couple hours googling, you’re a fucking moron and you don’t deserve to have animals.
They are now in proper quarantine tubs with two hide boxes, a water bowl, and a heat mat regulated on a thermostat. Once they're back up to par, I'll most likely rehome them. I don't really want more balls, but I had to get them out.
The night I took them home, I posted about them on Twitter and Facebook and a huge number of people wanted to help. Overnight I had $145 to get them to a vet, and I booked an appointment for that afternoon.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the smaller one had shed a lot on her own overnight. All it took was a misting on an absorbent substrate.
http://tinyurl.com/y5sj77xv
I tried a new reptile vet with them as well. The last one was wonderful, but after moving, it's much farther away. This one is about half the distance and right by my job and my doctor, so it's super convenient. And I'm in love with them. The staff was all very enthusiastic about having reptiles in while the previous ones were intrigued but nervous. In the exam room, they even brought in a space heater and some heated cushions to keep the snakes comfortable. Excellent first impression, so shout out to [url=https://www.facebook.com/WillowRiverVet/]Willow River Veterinary Services.[/b]
The vet visit went very well. No signs of internal parasites, mites, mouth rot, or plugged heat pits. The larger one did have a slightly plugged vent, but that was easily removed and resulted in a nice big (and very dark, dehydrated) pee on the vet's hand lol. He determined they're both probable females, though I might want a second opinion on that before I'm convinced. He didn't seem completely convinced lol
In any case, he advised me to just keep doing what I'm doing. Keep them hydrated and misted, give the small one a soak and start her on fuzzies so as not to shock her system. So that's the plan.
http://tinyurl.com/y6qwyejv
And today we got all that nasty crap off!
http://tinyurl.com/yy9t3j4x
I did also get their old cages clean. They'll never be in them again, but they're really nice tanks, so I'm gonna keep them for future animals.
http://tinyurl.com/y43mupdw
So that's where we're at. I'll try feeding them soon, and hopefully that will go well, and then they can get back on track.
And that's been my week. How's yours?
You did a good thing for helping them out of that situation!
Glad you got them!
I would love some snakes but i am not 100% convinced in myself if i can give them the best home available. And no one to take care of them when i go for a week or two visit 30km north to my mother. She has 4 cats cant really take with me on the bus >_>
And my week... I've soon been ill for a whole week and my ear is bleeding lmao. I'm well medicated and will go to a control in a week tho :'')
Thank you so so much for saving them, even if they're going to be someone else's babies in the long run! These snakes deserve love and proper care!
Those cages they were housed in before can at least be used for future animals that can thrive in the more vertical tanks. (The one in the back of the picture displaying them looks like the kind that they used for 4 of the snakes at a nature center I used to volunteer at a few years back, which each one housed one snake each and had plenty of room to be snakes and all that. XD It's been a while since I've been up north and even been at that nature center, but maybe one day I'll visit again and see the animals, especially the common snapping turtles they have!)
I'm so glad you saved these gorgeous snakes from such terrible conditions. More people like you need to exist in the world.
I’d love a ball myself but their potential for going off f/t causes me far too much concern. So i’ll just admire those gorgeous lucy morphs from afar. With my cornsnake for reptilian company :)