Long story…bleak future to beautiful thriving girls. I think that with all the chaos in the world currently it might be nice to share this story about hope and perseverance prevailing in the end.
So I had an internal back and forth with myself on whether or not to share this bit of a sad, sort of “rescue” situation that was really scary at first because I thought I’d lose at leasr 1 of these girls that has a positive outcome, better than I ever expected.
In April I had a chance (fate?) interaction with a complete stranger who had 3 mid-priced beauties and a nice lower-end ball python. This keeper was ashamed and distraught about a sudden career change that required their parents (elderly) to try to take care of them and the snakes’ health had declined so much that he made the rough decision to search for a better home so that they could be cared for by someone with experience with bps. After a video call for introductions and to see my setups, temps, current snakes, etc. he decided to hand over these 4 girls to me for free with the only conditions being that I keep in regular contact with updates on them, which I have consistently done. And if they were ever bred by me that one offspring go to him.
I should also mention that 3 of the snakes were bought from MM with proof of sale/receipt to corroborate.
I was shocked when we finally met in a neutral place for me to take them home with me (well, us). They looked, in my opinion, like they were close to dying. So, knowing they really should have the strict no-handling time, I went against what best practice is and immediately started soaks, getting supplies, contacting our reptile vet, and got to work on these sick girls. I was afraid if I gave them the no-touch period they would be way worse off. So after many months of holding on to hope yet uncertainty about their future, I’d like to post these girls’ glow-ups. I cut down on size and frequency of feeding almost 2 months ago when I felt their weight was bordering on obesity. Thanks for reading.
Um my house is a mess, yep. Pictures are in sort of a progression order from worst up through to a few weeks ago at their recent photo shoot.
I will take some updated pics on deep clean/handle/weigh day and post here. The look great compared to near obesity. I think they are at a pretty good body condition now. And it sure saves a lot of money!
