Rescued pinny

[Ch^4]

I was selling some old aquariums on CL and was poking around to find "fair" market prices. I came across someone rehoming a pinstripe ball python and couldn't resist checking it out.

I met the guy and he pulled out a "7 month old" ball python; as you will see from the pics, Chigo is tiny...under 200g. Not only that, but Chigo's left eye looked disgusting. The guy mentioned that it was an injury from one of the snake's "battles" during feeding time. He then had the audacity to tell me that his other BP had just been "eaten in a battle." I wanted to punch him in the face, but he was packing heat...

I took the pinstripe off his hands despite the somewhat ridiculous rehoming fee knowing that the snake might lose his eye. In my experience, eye problems are not to be trifled with and *typically* need a vet visit. His vet happened to coincide with mine and they told me about his other snake that was "eaten in battle." The poor thing had over 40 mouse bites from head to tail. I am very glad I rescued Chigo (pinstripe) from this ignorant tool. I was also told that he asked about the eye injury 3 months ago, but he didn't do a d*mn thing about it.

Back to Chigo. The vet saw him and immediately thought he'd lose his eye. The pictures don't do the nastiness that was his eye justice. These pictures are after 2 days of a warm, diluted betadine compress. Daily compresses for the next 3-5 sheds should fix him right up. If it does not improve or gets infected, he will lose his eye. Hopefully we can save it. If not, he's a good looking snake regardless of eye count. WAY too small for 7 months old though. For comparison, my other 7 month old BPs are 3-4 times as large (by weight)! But he is full of life!

Side note: we are not sure if Chigo is male or female (hoping female). He's been probed twice and once he was a she, and the other time he was a he. I still need to learn how to pop.


Sorry for the novel!