Today I picked up a pinstripe banana for 80 AND a giant computer case for a total of zero dollars! Unfortunately the BP I picked up today is criminally underweight (hardly passing as 200g at about 207g) for being around 3 years old, although he isn’t quite an adult my half year old male is already almost 400g and I haven’t even been pushing it with feedings. Little guy is a real cutie but he’s definitely going to be put into a diet to be fed a bit more often with heftier food than he was being fed to aim for about 500g. Otherwise today I got my hands on a giant computer case that I got for free I’m converting into reptile enclosures! Even though it’s a bit unconventional and I’ll have to figure out how to install hinges on one pane to the metal frame and install a shelf midway along with dirt traps but I have most the supplies and almost everything planned out, it even has a plug strip running through the bottom cabinet that I can use for heat lamps!
As of tonight I have all of the hardware taken out and soaking to get the rust off of them before I replace them down the road, and I have the acrylic panes completely cleaned and sanitized, mostly just working on cleaning off the body of it so I can cut and paint the shelf tomorrow and possibly install it and start shopping for plants for a bioactive enclosure. Super long post but adding two (reused) new 100 gallon enclosures to the collection is a big step up for me, my other 100 gallons are still empty but unfortunately I’m unable to use them for my snakes at the house I keep most of mine at but thankfully I’ve had plenty of opportunities to build and reuse old terrariums
The case was originally used for some computers at a Google building until somebody took it since the building was getting torn down, then it was turned into a sand blasting chamber and sold again, then I got it for free and it’s finally being put to use for the first time in a couple years for snake vivariums. Also some pics of new little guy exploring his new quarantine cage, hoping to get the enclosures done by this week so I can start buying tropical plants and collecting wood to set them up fully and add snakes
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Good luck with the attempt at a terrarium build!
For the baby, he looks super cute and alert otherwise!
As a heads up, some animals who haven’t eaten the proper sized meals for a long period like that can have some…issues with food. For one, If he was being fed something too small like mouse pinkies… I would definitely start out on the smaller side of meals. Just a little above what the previous owner was feeding. Get 2 good meals in at least and then slowly work up little by little every couple of weeks to the size that he should be eating. if any regurge happens, wait two weeks and go back to the smaller size.
Chronically malnourished little guys can also have very easy to tear skin, so if you notice and spots that look like a paper cut and some sticky seepage, get him on clean slightly damp paper towels and take out anything with rough edges immediately. I’d consider a vet visit if that starts happening as well because the skin can get worse when they start to shed and they may need antibiotics or vitamin supplementing.
Hopefully none of that ends up being an issue though and he settles in well for you!
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For sure, most of mine are rescues I take in so I’ve dealt with a malnourished or two but definitely not a case with a guy this small, for now I’m just giving him small but more frequent pup rat meals (which neck to rat comparison I believe he can handle) but I’m definitely holding my breath on him being able to take anything even slightly bigger than that and I’m waiting for a first shed and a bit of good weight gain where he doesn’t have problems, apparently he almost never misses meals, just the average ball python not wanting food then craving a rat the next day or it was the wrong temp or something, but definitely hoping to get his weight up to at least healthy, give him some months to stabilize and then possibly consider breeding him since I’ve been looking into getting a pin banana for a long while. For now he’s just in a paper towel cage with some fake plants and plastic hides for his first couple meals to be completely safe but I definitely have hope for him since he seems pretty plump around the midsection and pretty alert
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