# Npws Ballot 'rescues'



## kittycat17 (May 11, 2017)

Hey guys I acquired 2 coastal Carpet pythons from the recent ballot 

The smaller one (a male) has mites the poor thing, he's had a shot of ivermectin at the vet and I'm treating his enclosure with mac mite and bathing him daily
I know all I can call him is a coastal but to me he looks a bit like a prossie x Darwin or prossie x 







Now the other one is about 6-7 ft long and sitting at a whooping 7.5kgs, she or he is getting vet checked tommorow but I'm already planning out a diet plan for it. Any suggestions on exercise and diet plans for an extremely overweight coastal (it can't even get Itself out of a tub with ease) 










And yes both snakes are getting tested for SV and are under extreme quarantine 


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## pinefamily (May 11, 2017)

He's a big boy (or girl, lol).


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## kittycat17 (May 11, 2017)

pinefamily said:


> He's a big boy (or girl, lol).



Been leaning towards female has the tiniest little spurs I've ever seen on a large snake (barely visible) 
Whilist the smaller male had huge spurs and the tail shape indicated male to me easily but the weight on the larger snake makes that difficult 


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## Wally (May 11, 2017)

Nice one kc. The NSW ballot has always intrigued me. I think it's a good thing in it's ability to provide good outcomes for the reptiles concerned. 

And I think as long as people adopt the quarantine attitude you have, it's win win.


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## kittycat17 (May 11, 2017)

Wally said:


> Nice one kc. The NSW ballot has always intrigued me. I think it's a good thing in it's ability to provide good outcomes for the reptiles concerned.
> 
> And I think as long as people adopt the quarantine attitude you have, it's win win.



Quarantine is 100% the best decision any keeper can make, and I don't think 2 yrs is long at all especially if your pets are at risk if you don't 
All my new animals (unless I know full history) get quarantined and tested twice preferably before I even allow them on the grass in my backyard 


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## pinefamily (May 11, 2017)

We have an auction style system here in SA run by National Parks.


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## alex.snaith (May 11, 2017)

kittycat17 said:


> Quarantine is 100% the best decision any keeper can make, and I don't think 2 yrs is long at all especially if your pets are at risk if you don't
> All my new animals (unless I know full history) get quarantined and tested twice preferably before I even allow them on the grass in my backyard
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Wow. That's a heavy quarantine - however, quite necessary for wild snakes (assuming that the ballot usually is from wild snakes - usually escaped pets)!

Good job!


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## kittycat17 (May 11, 2017)

pinefamily said:


> We have an auction style system here in SA run by National Parks.



Yup that's what happens in NSW, there all seized and police raid animals that they put in a ballot for keepers in the local community to put there name down for 
You usually only get 1 but I was one of the last ones there in the arvo and they had the huge snake in a bag and no one would take it coz it was so large, I felt sorry for it 
And it's a big puppy dog so far 


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## Wally (May 11, 2017)

pinefamily said:


> We have an auction style system here in SA run by National Parks.



I think Vic should get up to speed on something like this


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## kittycat17 (May 11, 2017)

alex.snaith said:


> Wow. That's a heavy quarantine - however, quite necessary for wild snakes (assuming that the ballot usually is from wild snakes - usually escaped pets)!
> 
> Good job!



It's recommended for 2-3 yrs for sunshine and borna virus 
I know for a fact that a snakes that tested positive for borna virus or sunshine virus 18 mths ago might still not have started showing symptoms yet 
Which is honestly scary 


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## pinefamily (May 11, 2017)

Here it's seized and also handed in animals, if people don't want their animals any more they can hand them into NPWS.


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## kittycat17 (May 11, 2017)

I honestly couldn't imagine not wanting my snakes!! 


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## dragonlover1 (May 11, 2017)

I scored a big coastal in a ballot some months ago,she is about 7' and has been quarantined on the back verandah.Had her vet checked straight away but came up with a clean bill of health.
I am very surprised the NPWS gave you a snake with problems,they don't usually release them like that!
Although they don't always give you the facts,I asked the ranger who rang me how big the pythons were and was told "under 2 metres" . I would have taken the shinglebacks if I'd known how big she was but I thought oh well a small snake is fine.Anyway she turned out to be a beautiful placid snake,very easy to handle so it's turned out alright


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## kittycat17 (May 11, 2017)

dragonlover1 said:


> I scored a big coastal in a ballot some months ago,she is about 7' and has been quarantined on the back verandah.Had her vet checked straight away but came up with a clean bill of health.
> I am very surprised the NPWS gave you a snake with problems,they don't usually release them like that!
> Although they don't always give you the facts,I asked the ranger who rang me how big the pythons were and was told "under 2 metres" . I would have taken the shinglebacks if I'd known how big she was but I thought oh well a small snake is fine.Anyway she turned out to be a beautiful placid snake,very easy to handle so it's turned out alright



Yeah I got no details and all the rangers there where terrified to open the bag of the 'big snake' coz they didn't know what it was like (absolutely puppy dog) they made me do it lol 

I think they had been treating the one with mites as there wasn't that many on it but the eyes are still a bit puffy I'll never know unfortunately 


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## Sheldoncooper (May 11, 2017)

Wally said:


> I think Vic should get up to speed on something like this


Vic definitely needs to get up to speed. However it should be a national licensing system. Not a state by state thing

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## BredliFreak (May 12, 2017)

It's great how people like to rescue these guys and I am glad that NPWS holds these ballots, instead of euthanising the poor animals. Maybe one day they will conduct a similar thing for rescuing exotics seized on raids.


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## dragonlover1 (May 12, 2017)

kittycat17 said:


> Yeah I got no details and all the rangers there where terrified to open the bag of the 'big snake' coz they didn't know what it was like (absolutely puppy dog) they made me do it lol
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


the funny thing with mine was I didn't pickup in person,I had another driver who worked in that area to pick up for me and he had NO experience with reptiles at all and the rangers wouldn't touch it but luckily there was a lady who was into snakes there who put the coastal into my bag for him.Luckily I gave him a pillowslip not 1 of my normal bags as the girl was so big she wouldn't have fit in it.


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## Wally (May 13, 2017)

Sheldoncooper said:


> Vic definitely needs to get up to speed. However it should be a national licensing system. Not a state by state thing
> 
> Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk



Yeah and succesive federal governments have shown how equal they are when it comes to dividing revenue raised from the country as a whole.

sarcasm off/

I'll stick to a state based licence system thanks.


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## Sheldoncooper (May 13, 2017)

Wally said:


> Yeah and succesive federal governments have shown how equal they are when it comes to dividing revenue raised from the country as a whole.
> 
> sarcasm off/
> 
> I'll stick to a state based licence system thanks.


We give the other states money anyway whats a few more $$$$$. Just think of the stuff i could keep Wal.

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## kittycat17 (May 13, 2017)

Well big snake is officially a girl so 2/2 with visually sexing!! 
The vet absolutely loved her, we didn't get a single hiss out of her as she was probed and then swabbed for sunshine virus 
Such a gentle curious snake 

The male I can still see a mite or 2 under his chin so will continue his treatment 


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## dragonlover1 (May 13, 2017)

Hey kittycat,what vet do you see? I go to Terri at Canley Heights
also do you use detergent in the bath water ?


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## kittycat17 (May 13, 2017)

dragonlover1 said:


> Hey kittycat,what vet do you see? I go to Terri at Canley Heights
> also do you use detergent in the bath water ?



I use Robert Johnson at South Penrith vet there all amazing there  
And nah just warm water  


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## dragonlover1 (May 13, 2017)

kittycat17 said:


> I use Robert Johnson at South Penrith vet there all amazing there
> And nah just warm water
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


try detergent ,it drowns the mites  or else wipe the python down with olive oil,same result,
when I say detergent I'm talking about dishwashing liquid,it seems to get under the scales without leaving air gaps


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## kittycat17 (May 13, 2017)

dragonlover1 said:


> try detergent ,it drowns the mites  or else wipe the python down with olive oil,same result,
> when I say detergent I'm talking about dishwashing liquid,it seems to get under the scales without leaving air gaps



I've heard to not use both of those and my vet reccomended just water so I'll stick with that 


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## Scutellatus (May 13, 2017)

A good quality olive oil should be fine to use. It is safe to use in human ears to unclog a blocked ear drum so I assume it wouldn't be harmful to snakes either. You want something that will drown the mites and I don't think water is viscous enough for that.


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## dragonlover1 (May 13, 2017)

kittycat17 said:


> I've heard to not use both of those and my vet reccomended just water so I'll stick with that


you might have been led astray,we followed advice from an OLD snake keeper and it works a treat.
Unfortunately we had mites on 2 occasions and bombed the house with reptile removed of course and bathed the snake in warm water with a little detergent which gets under the scales and problem solved.


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## Wally (May 13, 2017)

Repetition is the key to eliminating the scourge of mites! When you think you've knocked them on the head give your reptile one more treatment to be sure to break the egg cycle. This should include the reptiles enclosure as well.


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## dragonlover1 (May 13, 2017)

100% Wally.my son bombed the house 3 times and bathed the coastal each time;she is very happy now!Previously she was in the water bowl all the time.


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## kittycat17 (May 13, 2017)

The male is in a tub with paper towel, he's getting a 15 min soak daily and enclosure sprayed with mac mite whiles he's soaking plus he got a shot of ivermectin on monday


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## diamonds (May 26, 2017)

where can you register for the ballot ?


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## kittycat17 (May 26, 2017)

diamonds said:


> where can you register for the ballot ?



Here in NSW you contact your local branch I suppose... lol I just started getting the emails 


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## diamonds (May 27, 2017)

ok thanks


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## pythoninfinite (May 27, 2017)

I never recommend oil of any sort on snakes - it makes the skin very water-repellent and can cause difficulty in shedding if the snake is dehydrated. It certainly suffocates mites, but a few drops of dishwashing detergent in the soaking water is essential if you want to drown all mites using this method, otherwise they will survive in trapped air bubbles under and between the scales, and may also have a layer of air over their bodies, like spiders have when underwater. Detergent acts as a wetting agent and the mites will drown very quickly, you don't need much, just 4 or 5 drops in two or three litres of lukewarm water is enough. Hasn't hurt any of my snakes in 40-odd years.

Jamie


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## kittycat17 (May 27, 2017)

pythoninfinite said:


> I never recommend oil of any sort on snakes - it makes the skin very water-repellent and can cause difficulty in shedding if the snake is dehydrated. It certainly suffocates mites, but a few drops of dishwashing detergent in the soaking water is essential if you want to drown all mites using this method, otherwise they will survive in trapped air bubbles under and between the scales, and may also have a layer of air over their bodies, like spiders have when underwater. Detergent acts as a wetting agent and the mites will drown very quickly, you don't need much, just 4 or 5 drops in two or three litres of lukewarm water is enough. Hasn't hurt any of my snakes in 40-odd years.
> 
> Jamie



He seems to be clean at the moment  but will be treating him again soon


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## dragonlover1 (May 27, 2017)

diamonds said:


> where can you register for the ballot ?


you don't register for the ballot,if you hold a license you will be automatically entered if you are in the area where the held animals are.I have only been offered twice in more than 10 years of holding a license.


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## kittycat17 (May 27, 2017)

dragonlover1 said:


> you don't register for the ballot,if you hold a license you will be automatically entered if you are in the area where the held animals are.I have only been offered twice in more than 10 years of holding a license.



My friend lived near me and never got an email (and yes she is licenced  ) she emailed them and got herself on the list and has been emailed twice since  


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## dragonlover1 (May 27, 2017)

kittycat17 said:


> My friend lived near me and never got an email (and yes she is licenced  ) she emailed them and got herself on the list and has been emailed twice since
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


must be pretty random then,maybe they draw your name out of a hat? I have never asked to be put in a ballot but am happy to have been included


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## reen08 (May 31, 2017)

Would be nice if the RSPCA in Vic had an adoption system like Qld does.


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## kittycat17 (Jun 1, 2017)

**** UPDATE GUYS*****

Both snakes tested negative for SV yay!!!! I will retest in 6 mths though!! 


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