And then there was 12

GyGbeetle · 02-23-17, 09:26 AM

Picked up snake #12 last night. Didn't mean to. My husband really wants our 9 year old boa to not be a virgin, so he looks for people with snakes that are willing to breed, and then finds these "rescues". Hennessy is rescue #2. She's beautiful, pretty skinny, has some facial anomalies, but most importantly, we not have 12 snakes

I'm crying! Where are we going to put them all? She's in quarantine now, with a huge enclosure she came with.

I'll try and post pics later. She's a doll, but we have 12 snakes. 12! OMG!!!!

afsgr88 · 02-23-17, 09:28 AM

Wow, I wish I had the space to own 12 snakes

Waiting for pictures

**Minkness** · 02-23-17, 10:12 AM

Think about how I feel with 21 snakes! Ihave over 30 reptiles in total lol. And yes...still plan on getting a few more.

GyGbeetle · 02-23-17, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minkness

Think about how I feel with 21 snakes! Ihave over 30 reptiles in total lol. And yes...still plan on getting a few more.

I see your signature. It makes me chuckle every time I see it. My husband keeps joking we're going to be at 30 by the end of the year. Now I'm scared that he may be right.

GyGbeetle · 02-23-17, 10:40 AM

My pic taking skills are pretty bad. But here are 2 pics with her in the enclosure. I'm trying not to handle her too much; on the ride home last night she was ALL over the place. I don't believe she was being handled at all. We spent a good hour cleaning out her enclosure too. It had caked on poop, and substrate, on the floor. It's all wood, with laminate flooring on the bottom; we sprayed it liberally with Nix, but I don't have much experience with wood enclosures so I'm praying she doesn't have any mites. Our other snakes are just finishing up a mite infestation, but we have glass/plastic/plexiglass enclosures, so it was super easy to clean everything.

She's underweight, but her skin looks amazing, so I'm not going to sweat the weight part. She's with us now, so feeding will be regular. She has no outward signs of any other issues, like RI or anything else. The place we picked her up at was FILTHY, and they were heavy pot smokers, so maybe she was stoned last night and that's why she was so active. She's just such a curious baby.

We bought her a hide; they didn't have a hide that she could even fit her head under. It was pathetic! They kept saying that she wouldn't sit underneath the warm side of the enclosure, and she was super cold when we picked her up. The second we put her down to sleep last night, she went straight into her hide, which is underneath the heat lamp, and that's where she was this morning when I said hello.

The water dish was horrible. Poop and substrate caked onto the bottom. I mean, how hard is it to clean out 1 water dish once a week? It's not that hard. I just don't get how people leave a water dish that dirty and think it's ok. In the wild, the water sources are aerated, so there is less of a risk for bacterial growth, but in captivity, you need to clean that stuff out often! So I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed her water dish. It still has caked on dirt on the bottom, and I may just go behind my husband's back and buy her a new one, but at least she has clean water now.

She's pretty friendly. She sits in my office as we have another snake in quarantine so I can't put her there. We're waiting for the mite infestation to be done before we introduce the other snake to the herd. This little girl gets to stay in my office for at least 2 months

(no wait, 12 snakes, I am not supposed to be happy about this!)

**EL Ziggy** · 02-23-17, 10:42 AM

Congrats on the pretty new addition GyG. Looking forward to more pics. I know what you mean about acquiring multiple animals quickly. I've averaged 2 new snakes a year for the last 4 years. We have to be careful not to get overly enthusiastic and/or overwhelmed. I've finally gotten to know and respect my limits when it comes to keeping snakes. With the amount of time I spend cleaning and feeding I think I'm at maximum capacity right now with just 8 snakes even though 10 is a nice round number too (bad Ziggy

). I really enjoy all of my critters but I want to make sure it stays fun for me and doesn't become too much like work. But as long as you can feed, house, and care for them properly then the more the merrier.

GyGbeetle · 02-23-17, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by afsgr88

Wow, I wish I had the space to own 12 snakes

Waiting for pictures

We actually don't have the room. If we didn't have 3 human kids, we would have a snake room and be able to have more.

All of our snakes are on big storage bins, as we don't have a shelving system setup yet. It's pretty comical. It looks terrible, but the snakes seem pretty content; they don't care that they are sitting on big grey storage bins. They only care that they are properly taken care of.

We have an albino burmese too (I saw your signature). She's a pretty girl, has such a cute personality.

richardhind · 02-23-17, 11:24 AM

great new pick up there gyg,she looks loverly
some people shouldn't be allowed to keep reptiles when you see the state there vivs are in,at least she is in great caring hands now
ive got 8 and a litter of boas due next month just hope she dont have loads and any decent hold backs of course, oh and an hypo img im collecting in march

GyGbeetle · 02-23-17, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EL Ziggy

Congrats on the pretty new addition GyG. Looking forward to more pics. I know what you mean about acquiring multiple animals quickly. I've averaged 2 new snakes a year for the last 4 years. We have to be careful not to get overly enthusiastic and/or overwhelmed. I've finally gotten to know and respect my limits when it comes to keeping snakes. With the amount of time I spend cleaning and feeding I think I'm at maximum capacity right now with just 8 snakes even though 10 is a nice round number too (bad Ziggy

). I really enjoy all of my critters but I want to make sure it stays fun for me and doesn't become too much like work. But as long as you can feed, house, and care for them properly then the more the merrier.

I hear you on not getting overwhelmed. I work from home and my husband doesn't work, so we have lots of time.

The only time it's get overwhelming is during mite infestation. We are on our first. Fortunately the one we have in quarantine is mite free, but we have 10 in the room where we found a few mites. So every week for the past month all 10 go through the mite treatments. I'm so over it. I can deal with poop, and water changes, and feeds, anything else but the mites.

**EL Ziggy** · 02-23-17, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GyGbeetle

I hear you on not getting overwhelmed. I work from home and my husband doesn't work, so we have lots of time.

The only time it's get overwhelming is during mite infestation. We are on our first. Fortunately the one we have in quarantine is mite free, but we have 10 in the room where we found a few mites. So every week for the past month all 10 go through the mite treatments. I'm so over it. I can deal with poop, and water changes, and feeds, anything else but the mites.

Grrrr mites, my worst fear! Best wishes with your treatment.

**Andy_G** · 02-23-17, 03:03 PM

I am certain your thoughts are well intended, but if you don't have room for an animal, should you really be taking it in? I'd also say that you should really refrain from taking anything new in until you're certain you are rid of mites...if this new one has mites and you don't know it, you may mistake finding further mites as the original infestation, and if this new one has other things to deal with and the mites you are battling transfer something from this new snake into your personal collection, it could make quite the mess. I truly don't mean to be a drag or offend anyone, just putting some things out there to possibly consider going forward.

GyGbeetle · 02-23-17, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_G

I am certain your thoughts are well intended, but if you don't have room for an animal, should you really be taking it in? I'd also say that you should really refrain from taking anything new in until you're certain you are rid of mites...if this new one has mites and you don't know it, you may mistake finding further mites as the original infestation, and if this new one has other things to deal with and the mites you are battling transfer something from this new snake into your personal collection, it could make quite the mess. I truly don't mean to be a drag or offend anyone, just putting some things out there to possibly consider going forward.

That's always the case with anyone bringing in a new animal to a collection, room or no room. This is why we quarantine for 2 months. Doesn't matter if I have 1 snake or 100 snakes; if the newcomer isn't adequately quarantined it's all for not.

We have 2 wings of the house; 1 for quarantine, 1 for mainstay. So we do have "room". It certainly doesn't look like a professional breeder's or keeper's house would, as we have wall-to-wall snakes at the moment in our mainstay room.

I am an adult and do very much understand when something is not best for the animal. I've been an animal rescuer for over 20 years. If it's not space, it's ensuring there's enough financing for both maintenance and vet costs, so nothing is done haphazardly.

GyGbeetle · 02-23-17, 03:28 PM

I'd like to add too that regardless of whether we see the mites or not, we have taken the stance that ALL newcomers have mites, so they are treated in quarantine. Very low risk of commuting viruses if the mites cannot thrive. In the future I will probably also have blood tests done on all newcomers, which includes an IBD test if it's a boa/Python. An even lower risk of commutability. This is the stance I've taken with mammal rescues and I believe it's appropriate for snake rescues and too. Average blood panel + IBD is $600

**Andy_G** · 02-23-17, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GyGbeetle

That's always the case with anyone bringing in a new animal to a collection, room or no room. This is why we quarantine for 2 months. Doesn't matter if I have 1 snake or 100 snakes; if the newcomer isn't adequately quarantined it's all for not.

We have 2 wings of the house; 1 for quarantine, 1 for mainstay. So we do have "room". It certainly doesn't look like a professional breeder's or keeper's house would, as we have wall-to-wall snakes at the moment in our mainstay room.

I am an adult and do very much understand when something is not best for the animal. I've been an animal rescuer for over 20 years. If it's not space, it's ensuring there's enough financing for both maintenance and vet costs, so nothing is done haphazardly.

I' ve learned not to assume good or bad...especially with adults, and also unfortunately I have learned that years of experience can mean very little sometimes, but that's not the case here. I'm certain they're in good hands and it sounds like you have a great handle on everything. Don't shoot the messenger.

akane · 02-23-17, 05:33 PM

I'm closer to a snake a month lol I have no plans now until fall natives are ready though. There are a few odd things I'm just keeping an eye out for but it can't cost much. If I get the money that overweight red blood is still sitting there. It's unlikely. Really want a pair of nicely colored garter snakes or similar which already have a place to go and I'm wavering on banded water snakes but that would take a new setup.