I was weighing all the kiddos a few weeks ago, and couldn't understand why my scale kept erroring out when I'd put this girl on it, until I realized that it only weighs up to 3000 grams. So, weighing in at over 3000 grams is Ms. Hannah Banana!
Someone didn't want her any longer and dropped her off at my local pet store. She was there only a few days before I found her, popped and probed her and brought her home and set her up in Quarantine in early May.
Now for the sad story of my rescues. I saw a Craigslist ad, where the gentleman had two "beautiful and healthy" adult ball pythons that were 4 feet long and fed on large frozen/thawed rats. His ad also said that he would be quizzing anyone who replied to his ad, to ensure that they had experience with keeping ball pythons, as these were beloved pets and he wanted them placed together.
We e-mailed for about two weeks (he decided I'd be the perfect new "mommy" as he put it, for his snakes). I found out they had been housed together all their lives. I told him that they'd be individually housed with me, which he had no problem with. He said they ate great (they do - but more on that later), etc.
Finally, the day came for me to meet him and pick up these two unsexed snakes. He knew that if they were male, that I would find them new homes after they went through quarantine with me, and if female that they would likely become future breeders and he was fine with that.
I was SHOCKED when I saw these two snakes when he met me. I gave them a quick once over, and confirmed they were both females before popping them in their respective pillowcases for the short drive home. The first thing I asked him was "how often do you feed these girls?" He said "oh, I used to feed them once every two weeks, but lately it's about once every 2 or 3 months". I just got out of there, and got these ladies set up in their tubs in QT.
Bless their hearts, they are starving! I let them get settled in for a few days and gave them both 2 small rats (4-5 week old rats), which they struck and coiled and consumed with a frenzy I've never seen before with my established collection. They both are constantly in ambush hunt position and track any body heat that passes by their enclosure. I've had to cover their enclosures with towels, just to get them to "turn off" and relax and not constantly be in hunt mode.
Saturday will be their second feeding, they've keep last weeks' meal down - so I'll probably get them both a little bit larger smalls. The smalls I gave them didn't leave any lump in them, but I also didn't want to overtax their systems not knowing when the last time was that they had a meal.
Otherwise healthy, no mites, no RI's. When they actually have a defecation, I'll be taking fecal samples to the vet to test for internal parasites. A little stuck shed and some retained eycaps on the larger of the two, but she's going into shed now, so I'm not even stressing her with a soak to get off the previous shed. I'll assist with a soak if she doesn't get this shed off. This is her - she was 1200 grams when I brought her home:
And this girl is the one that breaks my heart. These girls are 4 years old. Purchased together, housed together all their lives. This one was clearly the dominated one of the pair, based on her size. She was 880 grams when I brought her home.
Here you can see just how thin she is, especially when you look at her tail
Hopefully, with a little TLC, and a lot of patience, these girls will be beautiful, healthy weight girls, enjoying their pampered lives, being housed properly and fed correctly.