Ridgeway Reptiles, Bad Guy!

I was gonna say that you waited a month so too bad too sad.

But with you saying that they admitted to the snake probably getting sick at their place kinda throws a wrench into my usual way of thinking.

Maybe you can give them a link to your post?

I contacted Zelph Ridgeway on Friday. Sept. 19, and he was happy to discuss this with me. He suggested I give her flagyl, and then gave me a crucial piece of info that I didn't know about before.

Zelph said that she probably got sick at his place. He told me that he had 2 everglades rat snakes that were sick and he had to treat with flagyl. My albino southern pine was in the same rack system as they were, and he suggested that she got sick and had contracted her sickness from those two snakes. He said I could call him back if I need to talk again.

Billy,

So you contacted them two days after the purchase, they admitted to the possibility of the snake getting sick at their place, and even suggested you the treatment. That in itself was reason enough to ship the snake back immediately for a full refund. You were putting your whole collection at risk of contracting a protozoal infection.

After I got home and 2 feedings later, the worst happened with the albino southern pine puking both times. Then....the nastiest crap I had ever seen came from her. It reminded me of the slime in Ghostbusters.

From what you have stated it is very clear thus far that you received a sick snake. No ifs or buts.

Please take this as a useful tip for the future. The moment you see the "unusual" feces, collect them for a complete fecal analysis (not just round worms, but also "ghiardia", a protozoa oftentimes responsible for regurgitations/diarrhea).

You offered feed twice in the first 48 h after the trip, and the animal regurgitated both meals. Attempting to feed the animal in that situation might even be worse as the animal will loose more fluids with each regurgitating. After the first episode of regurgitation (and particularly having previously seen the weird feces) it's better to stop right there, and try to determine the cause.

Well.....I made arrangements to get flagyl. By this time, Sept. 19th, the snake was supposed to be shedding and never did. She was very weak and didn't move much.

Given the proper environmental conditions (humidity, objects on which to rub against, etc.) shedding in a healthy snake goes without a problem. Nevertheless, it is not advisable to offer food to a snake which is about to shed. In this case, she was more than likely too debilitated/dehydrated after the regurgs/diarrhea to even attempt to shed. Again when you dosed her with Flagyl she was probably past the "point of no return". The stress of grabbing and dosing her combined with the heavy protozal infestation was too much for her system to handle.

Again these are just husbandry tips that you shouldn't have had to deal with as it is pretty clear the snake was sick upon arrival. In my opinion you deserve a full refund.

Good luck

Hey Alvaro!

Thanks for your great post!

Just to clarify, it wasn't two days after purchase that I contacted Zelph like you stated. It was a month.

The albino southern pine was quarantined in another room the whole time I had her. I decided that was best, and it proved to be a good decision.

The hypo bull Shannon Brown bought lasted longer than my snake, but had AND died of the same thing.

I never had a problem like this with any snake until this time. I agree with all your advice and thank you for posting it! You hit the nail on the head on what happened my friend.

Take care!
Billy Fraser

Billy,

Sorry, my fault. I read 9/17 and not August 8/17.

Anyways, hope everything gets resolved!

Regards.

I have had *mostly* good experiences with Zelph from Ridgeway.

At the Tampa fall '06 show, I purchased 1.1 tricolor hognoses (Lystrophis pulcher) from him - they are notoriously hard to feed as hatchlings - and - sadly, for unknown reasons, one was dead by the time I brought them home.

We went back to the show the next day with the dead snake and Zelph gave us our pick of another, no questions asked. The two remaining snakes not only lived, but thrived - started eating uncented pinks almost immediately - and are growing like weeds.

They are high color, high quality Lystrophis, and the one we purchased from him in '04
has retained its bright colors (sometimes Lystrophis dull down as they age.)

What I take out of all of this (it has to make sense somehow) is that - maybe Ridgeway had a bad run and is now trying to improve their reputation.

I would buy from them again in a heartbeat.