• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Post-transport questions, and mites

B

Bright Scale

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As mentioned in the "feeding problems" thread, I just took my ball python on the only drive he's ever been on since he was shipped to me in August. It was an hour and a half, in a warm car, in a deli cup/bowl full of paper towels that was then put inside a nice dark tote bag. Going to and from the car, I had the deli thing inside my zipped-up coat. And it was three and a half days since he last ate anything (one hopper on the morning of the 14th, two on the 11th, I'm trying to switch him to bigger but there you go).

In other words, it's December and all but I think the actual trip wasn't too hard on him. The tote bag was in my lap the whole way to my dad's house in Nashville. :)

But I want to make sure I'm handling the post-trip stuff properly. We set up his tank here, the UTH got the warm end back up to proper standards right quick, and I have the house heat turned up until the heat can seep into the other end of the floor and get the cool end up from 70-75 to 80+. He got a big bowl of fresh water, which he promptly shoved his whole head into and has been in and out of it all night.

My main concern is that he's still climbing the walls, even quite a few hours later. I'd gotten the impression that they'd be more likely to hide right away, and I don't remember *what* he did after he was shipped in August, only that I didn't bother him for a few days. I plan to not bother him now, either, except to change the water, and I'm probably going to swap his current reptile carpet for the spare in the morning. There's a very faint smell like he might have peed a little (post-trip panic I guess, I've noticed what seems like actual liquid pee instead of/along with urates sometimes) on the one in there now, but the spare is still drying from being washed. :ack2: Hopefully it won't be a problem just for one night if he DID, as he has been sleeping on top of his hides and between the water bowl and the glass most of the time since winter started for some reason anyway.

How long should I wait before feeding him? He's been a dodgy feeder recently as the other thread discusses, so I'd rather not wait the long stretches of time that most people do. Should a week be alright?

Lastly, can anyone show me a picture of a ball python with mites? I can't imagine where he could have gotten them from if he has them, and these smudgy bits aren't moving or anything so it may just be a weird part of his natural coloration that grew in after the shed (only on the light brown "saddle" parts, and in the same place on each one, so it *looks* natural), but I want to be sure. The only possible way he could have gotten them was if the frozen adult mouse the local pet shop sold me a little while back was cruddy, but they told me it came from a distributor. Pure arse if it gave my baby mites. :( I know for a fact that the bulk orders I've fed every other meal from couldn't have given him any bugs, they're vacuum-packed from Big Cheese Rodent Factory which is a good place.

So...yeah. Can someone get photographic evidence to either assure me he's fine on that last thing or prove I need to do something here? Thanks. :) I would just get a picture of him myself and have people tell me yes or no, but he's too wiggly and stressed and there's no digital camera here at dad's anyhow.
 
Bright,

Make sure he has a good hide spot where he can feel safe. “Safeness” for bal pythons means a place where his body is nearly in touch with every wall. With babies I usually use just a flat board with a dowel nailed in one extreme so it will be slanted towards one end. They will crawl under it and fit snuggly where they feel the pressure of the wood on top of them. For ball pythons this is a natural way of protecting themselves in a crevice the wild. If a predator (or human) tries to take them out of their den they will exert pressure with their bodies against the walls of the den and it’s very difficult to remove them. Babies also love the cardboard roll left after the bathroom tissue paper is finished. The beauty is that it’s disposable! As far as mites goes what I would suggest is to put him in a white bag for some time. If he has any you will notice them crawling in the bag. For treatment you can just use the “Equate” spray for bed lice that WalMart sells. It’s exactly the same ingredient as in Prevent-a-Mite, at the same concentration, and at a fraction of the price.

Regards.
 
He's got hides, I mentioned 'em. :) Two granite cave thingies, one at each end of the temperature range. I think it may actually be time to buy bigger ones--sometimes he feels like sprawling loosely, or wiggling, and they get lifted and moved all over the place. If he actually cares about fitting all of himself tightly in there, though, he does. :)

I hadn't thought of the white bag trick, I'll be sure and do that once he's settled. I'm wary of chemicals, though, particularly anything not specifically labeled for pets (and even then, look at the pets killed by Hartz products). It's irrational, I know, but I'll probably get the stuff that's officially for animals even if it costs more.
 
Bright,

Do as you wish but check the active ingredient and the concentration, they are exactly the same. Needless to say products that are labeled for human use go through extremely strict safety regulations too.

Regards.
 
I had forgotten that he made the whole car trip in a deli cup lined with white paper towels. I looked at them and saw no crawly things. That's a good sign at least, maybe it's just his natural markings. :)
 
sorry to bring this thread up again, but I had a question for Boid. Have you ever used the Equate spray before. If so, how did it work? I've been seeing a few mites on my ball python lately, and am looking for a good, but fairly cheap product to get rid of them.
 
Brandon,

Any animal that’s incorporated to my collection goes through strict quarantine and preventive parasite treatment, regardless of their origin. In the past I used to spray the paper substrate of their temporary enclosure with Prevent-a-mite. The problem was that the product was relatively expensive, each can didn’t last too long, and on top of that I had to add shipping. The “Equate” brand for human use has exactly the same active ingredient at the exact same concentration and, although the cans are slightly smaller, it is way cheaper on a per ounce basis. From then on I have been using it on a regular basis whenever a new animal comes in. I don’t see why they should not have the same effect (unless the color of the can matters! :) as they have EXACTLY the same active ingredient at the same concentration.

Regards
 
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