An ethics question, Help

Today I rescued a red-tail boa from a storage unit.  My brother runs a self storage place and was checking out open rooms when he came upon this room without a lock.  He opened to see if it was empty and there was the snake sitting on top of some other stuff.  He calls me and I go up to the place to take a look and help out.  When I arrive I find her in an aquarium, no substrate, and about 3/4 inch of water from where she knocked over her water bowl.  The water was full of feces.  Myself and a friend carried her and the tank to the office where I removed her, washed her off, washed out the tank and put her in a bag.  During this time, my brother has contacted the person the room belongs to.  I call him when I get done and tell him what I found and what I have done.  He meets me there and apparently has fallen on hard times, l lives in a motel and put her in the storage room last night.  I offer to take her home, he wants to get her back in a couple of weeks or sell her if possible.  I told him to call me when he gets everything together and he takes my number.  She is about 5 years old, he got her when she was 2-3 months, she looks pretty healthy, no scars, mites, ticks, and is pretty fat.  She was very active and alert when I got her.  My question is, should I give her back to him when he gets it together?  She looks pretty well taken care of and he was thanking me left and right for helping her.  I just don't know about giving her back to someone who would leave her in a storage unit.  And I know I can't get what he wants for her($250).  Any opinions or suggestions welcome.

Well first off. GREAT RESCUE ! &nbsp;<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>
A few things come to mind also. First.. Doesn't the storage facility have a rule, as do most the ones I know of myself, that you may NOT store anything live in the storage unit ? I would think that is a basic part of the contract for the storage unit even. If so.. Then he violated the rules/regs for utilizing the unit.
That beside.. I understand what you are saying about the guy in regards to his &quot;situation&quot; atm..living in a hotel etc.. Still is absolutely no excuse for having placed the snake in that unit as he did though. he jeopardized the health of that snake by doing such for one thing. Second.. I do a lot of traveling in regards to rescues myself. So I do spend a bit of time in hotels/motels at times AND usually have reptiles with me IN the rooms also. Ya just don't announce such to mgmt when checking in is all. You also leave the room at ALL times with that lil sign that says do not disturb also. Wouldn't want any maids coming in and freaking out at what they found ya know..lol. I have had all types reptiles in motel with me from lil ole baby snakes, turts up through HUGE burms and even the occasional crocodilian too. I have never had a problem associated with doing such either. One just has to take the precautions to insure that the reptile is indeed safe and taken care of properly is all when doing such too.
So therefore , the owner had the ability to properly take care of the snake's needs , yet just blatantly ignored to is all IMHO. If he indeed truly cared for the health and safetly of the snake he would have taken further measures to make sure such were the case. That snake would have either died or come down with some major health impairments had your brother not discovered it at all when he did. Speaking if.. umm.. wtf was your brother doing going into someone elses storage unit anyway ? nm, that's besides the point and not the topic anyway.

As for your ethics question in relation to whether or not the snake should be turned over to the guy who left it in that unit again.
Here's a question for you. What are your thoughts in relation to handing a reptile over to someone that has already proven themselves to not be of a responsible enough level to properly see to the health and safety of the reptile ? Are you willing to just &quot;hand&quot; the snake back to someone who may further jeopardize the animal's health etc..possibly to the extent that the animal dies ? This is not an issue where the person hasn't a clue on the proper husbandry of the reptile concerned here at all , yet is an adult [ i assume due to the motel use] that did not take enough consideration or thought into the area of this snake's health etc at all.
Personally , I would NOT turn the reptile over to the person at all. If it was a mistake in husbandry.. I may try to educate the person further in such venue, but would hold the animal until such time that the person was educated and could prove to me that they could, would and are willing to insure the health of the animal and properly take care of it also.
Just my .02 on the matter.

BTW.. I do rescue/rehab/adoption of reptiles and deal with situations like such all the time. Each one has to be dealt with on an individual stance also.

Ok I reread your post and it appears as though this person either abandoned the snake in the unit or just didn't even insure further that the unit was locked against any possible venues of harm which could come to it either by being in that unit.. Either way.. my answer still stands as i gave it &nbsp;<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Oh.. How is the snake healthwise at this point also ? Does it have any scale problems due to being in the soaked substrate at all ? Where was this anyway.. city/state ?

Snake looks healthy (didn't get that way overnight) and it seems this guy didn't know what else to do.

I would think from the basics of his situation that you gave he probably has a million high stress items on his mind and probably is having a hard time thinking in a clear logical manner (the whole not knowing where you are going to live and eat thing can do that to you).

While Lori may be correct in that this guy is a schmuck, that's not a judgement I feel qualified to make via a post on a message board.

I think you need to decide from talking with him if this is a temporary situation for him or just a sob story.

all the above is IMHO

First, about my brother being in the room. &nbsp;They do walk throughs and check all the rooms that have no lock on them because people move out and don't tell anyone. &nbsp;Lucky this guy didn't lock his unit, nor did he have any clips on the top, he did have a weight but I think she could have pushed it off anyway. &nbsp;She was in there since last night, I got the call about 12:30 this afternoon. &nbsp;She looks really healthy, no visual signs anyway. &nbsp;She maybe sat in the water overnight, or could have been today she knocked over the water. &nbsp;This is in Richmond, Va. It's about 100 degrees outside today, and in those aluminum buildings it has been known to get close to 150, I used to work for the same company and I know how hot they get. &nbsp;I don't know about his story, he has had the unit for a month and he had a lock on it up until last night when he put more stuff in and forgot to lock it up. &nbsp;I wouldn't hestitate to keep her, I have a reptile room with some space and I can afford to keep her. &nbsp;The only reason I consider giving her back is the amount of time he has had her and her physical appearance is pretty good. &nbsp;He did seem to want the best for her, he didn't hesitate to let me take her home with me with nothing but a phone number to reach me. &nbsp;My brother will not be working there after this week, so he pretty much let her go with someone he didn't know and could not be sure he would be able to reach in the future because he knew I could care for her better than he could right now. &nbsp;I'm still stuck and I have no idea how long she will be here. &nbsp;It's and investment on my part to take care of her now, I can't adopt her out, I won't be able to sell her, and I can't afford to pay him what he wants. &nbsp;I have no problem doing it, I can't let her suffer, but I'd rather be investing in her because she was staying. &nbsp;Not to sound selfish or anything, but it takes my money, my time away from my family and other animals, and I have no clue as to what she is going to be facing if she goes back. &nbsp;I don't want to feel like I wasted the effort and money for her to end up like that. &nbsp;I know that's how it goes, that's why I don't do rescue normally. &nbsp;I'll take in animals, or get animals from other rescues but they stay here with me. &nbsp;Just to add that to the equation, keep on reponding please.

Lori,

Yes he did violate the contract with the company. There was no substrate in the tank, just the snake and a plastic bowl for water. &nbsp;The motel he is staying at is one where the managers can see everything going on, he walked from there to meet me today. &nbsp;It's one of those motels that used to charge by the hour before they outlawed it here.

I feel you have no right to keep the snake. You are takeing the snake and takeing care of it for him. He took good care of the snake up till now. You said yourself the snake is in good condition. I don't feel he needs a lesson in snake keeping. This is a fellow herper who has fallen on bad times. Yes, he made a mistake by putting the snake in the storage unit. You may like the snake and want to keep it but that would not be right. Out of the goodness of your heart help this fellow herper out. When he gets his life back inorder and comes looking for is snake, please give it back to its rightful owner. Lets not be so quick to pass judgement. Lets not be so quick to be so harsh to a fellow herper who has fallen on hard times.
If the cost of feeders will be a problem to you or the owner I will gladly paypal some funds to you to help with the costs while this fellow herper gets his feet back on the ground.

Scott Cook

I knew that last post would come across wrong. &nbsp;I talked to the guy for maybe 5 minutes. &nbsp;He was just as quick to sell her as keep her. &nbsp;Yes he was thankful, but I can't be sure if it was because I took care of the situation or saved him some trouble. &nbsp;All the info I have on her is from him. &nbsp;I understand why he couldn't take her to the motel with him, but there is no reason he couldn't call an animal shelter here. &nbsp;There are rescues in the area that they refer reptiles to. &nbsp;All the rescues have gotten together divided up the different locales and are all listed with shelters, spca, animal control and police. &nbsp;If he had called she could've gone somewhere. &nbsp;He moved here from out of the area and has been here a month. &nbsp;That's the thing that's bugging me, how long has she been in the unit? I don't know him from Adam, it could all be b.s. &nbsp;He didn't come across as someone who seemed very responsible. &nbsp;Like I said, I wasn't trying to seem selfish or kick him while he is down. &nbsp;I would gladly give him the 250 he wants for her, he wants it to &quot;get back on his feet&quot;, if I had it. &nbsp;My concern is the future of this animal, if I could take care of it, or adopt it out to someone who could either would be fine. &nbsp;My brother talked with him after I left and said he seemed kind of weird, I don't know.All I know is I pulled a snake that was soaking in it's own feces out of a 130-150 degree building today. &nbsp;And if my brother hadn't decided to walk around the lot today, she would still be there. &nbsp;By the way, his response when they called him and told him was, and I quote &quot;You mean you can't keep live animals in there&quot; &nbsp;I left that out earlier.

If he wants to sell it that bad, just buy the snake. You seem like you can give it a better home than he can at this time. He is under hard times right now and the snake is not his biggest concern. So offer him what you feel is a fair price, taking into consideration what you have already done for him he would probably feel better selling it to you, then selling it to someone he has no idea how they are going do with it.

The posts about him breaking the contract with the storage place, it really a mute point. The main point of his post is to get a feel for what is the right thing to do in this situation.

Thanks