Conundrum

Hey folks, got a conundrum and would love to hear opinions etc.

There is a neighbor kid who did a favor for my husband by watering the garden while hubby was out of town. In return we were going to give him one of our hatchlings.

He did the favor and then wondered if we had any snakes he could have right away, instead of waiting for the babies to hatch. We had an Egyptian Ratsnake we had been going to give him before he changed his mind and decided on a hatchling. I mentioned this and he said, "That's right! That's perfect!" so instead of waiting for the hatchling, he decided on the egyptian ratsnake. He brought over his ten gallon aquarium in which I placed some aspen and gave him some pointers on how to care for the animal. It had just fed so I cautioned him to not hold the animal or bother him for a while.

The next day the kid came over to buy some mice and rats for his cousin (has been doing this for a number of months) so I didn't think anything about it. I told him the ratsnake wouldn't eat rats, would only eat mice, and should eat only hopper sized mice (it's a 2-year old). Later on that same day the kid came, panicked, to our house ... it seems one of the adult retired breeder mice I'd sold him accidentally got into the cage, and the ratsnake had constricted it, been bitten enough to bleed, and was trying to swallow this full grown mouse. I told him that since the snake was halfway down with the meal, he had to wait and see if the snake would finish the meal, and he should put some neosporin on the cut. The snake would have to be left alone to digest for at least ten days, no holding, no bothering, just digesting on its heating pad.

The next day the kid was telling me stories of how he'd only held it a couple of times since it swallowed the too-huge meal, and how it had only bitten his mother and not him.

This morning the kid drops by and tells me that the snake regurgitated the meal. His mother doesn't like it, because it's too mean, and could he bring it back to trade for something else?

Now whilst I would LIKE to foster a love of and caring for snakes in this young 14 year old boy, my patience and benevolence is starting to wear thin.

What I TOLD him was that we would have to wait and see! He could bring it to my house and I would keep it and see if it would recuperate. I told him we would wait ten days before feeding the snake and see if the wound got infected or if it healed nicely. After ten days I would feed it a small fuzzy mouse, and if he kept that down, and two more weekly meals, I would let him choose one of my normal cornsnake hatchlings to replace it.

Sasheena,

Here is my opinion on this one:

If you give this kid another snake, or if he winds up keeping this one, you probably should discuss the matter with his parents. They really need to realize that they have to play a part in the care of this animal - at least as much a part as to monitor the situation to make sure that junior does not screw up caring for it.

As for giving him a snake that had just eaten, that was probably a mistake, though well intentioned. If this was the kids first snake, you gotta figure on the 'hurry up cause I cannot wait' attitude of most teens especially a first time owner, but even in a kid with any new snake. Of course he would have wanted to handle it and feed it right away. Telling mom and dad what needs to be done may be a big help in that department, they can probably help control his eagerness.

Your making him wait a couple of weeks may also be quite helpful in that last regard. Either he will sour on the idea of a snake, or will keep coming over to check on the status of the snake hoping for the snake to turn out ok so he can get another. During that time you can accustom him to a hatchling and its care (although a yearling might be a better choice for a teen if you have one).

Of course it may be best to give him a more docile snake if that one was on the mean side. Of course, it just may have been grumpy or defensive due to over handling and barfing although a nice corn snake might be better and more docile; I really don't know much about Egyptian Rat Snakes.

As for patience wearing thin - heck he is 14 - you cannot expect too much from a 14 year old too maintain your patience at its best. That is no fault of yours as any parent could probably tell you. It is nice when they follow instructions, but lots of teens at that age need a bit of extra special guidance (a good swift kinder gentler kick in the pants from a parent kind of guidance sometimes) on getting things done the right way. {I hope that was PC enough.}

You seem to be doing the right thing so far. If you do this right, and if junior does his part right, you may wind up with an unexpected benefit of not only having shaped a future herper, but a future well trained (trained by you) employee as a helper for your herp projects.


Best regards,
Glenn B

Thanks for the well-thought-out reply!

He has had snakes and a cousin lives in the house who has any number of various and sundry snakes, ball pythons, pueblan milks, cal kings, etc. I actually met the kid by going to a garage sale as they had a good reptile enclosure for sale. When they found out I raised mice and rats for my own snakes, they thought they found a gold mine (instead of driving 75 miles round trip to the nearest feeder mouse place and paying $2/mouse regardless of size, they merely had to walk down three doors and get them for less than half the price). When I was at the garage sale the kid had a hatchling cornsnake from Petco, but I could tell at the very first glance that the animal was dying. Limp. Green belly. It died that day.

I do realize it was a mistake to give him the freshly fed animal, however with only one snake to choose from, that was what he got. He did have the option of waiting until the end of July when I would have offered him a choice of one of ten or more snakes. He did bring the enclosure over and I did discuss the proper husbandry, as I had done several times when he has come over and we've talked snakes. He has what the "yeah, I know" syndrome, same as with my slightly younger stepson.... you tell them something and they respond with "yeah, I know" and haven't heard a word you've said. I was very emphatic with him over this issue, however, and felt he was at the very least paying attention. I guess I did not realize exactly how slow he is.

He is also one of those unfortunate children with very very little parental input in his life. I do my best to give him some guidance.

He has decided to keep the egyptian ratsnake. Frankly I feel bad for that snake, because I'm not sure he has the patience to wait to feed it at the appropriate time.

I will continue to mentor this child as best I can, though making sure even more stringently of his understanding of the way to do things. I plan on allowing him to see the new hatchlings briefly once they begin to pip. and I hope that with some strong mentoring that he will grow into a responsible herp keeper. He has mentioned to my stepson that he has suffered brain damage, which sort of explains a lot of the difficulties I have had in explaining things to him, thinking he has actually understood, only to find that a few minutes later everything was gone. While I am an educator, I do not have a strong ability or even gift for teaching those with actual brain injuries. I can teach slow, learning disabled, and brilliant students, but I don't have even the slightest notion how to really deal with those who have a physical impairment. I had a student like that in my freshman math class last year, and I was going nuts because he just didn't fit any of the molds I knew how to deal with. I almost felt as bad as I would if one of the students wanted me to explain the civil war or how to conjugate a participle or whatever.

In any case, thanks for listening and responding and allowing me to at least get my feelings written down and therefore clarified. I will continue to help the kid, but be cautious in my estimations of his abilities.