Unexpected Family Member…

[Piggygumflette]

Hello! I’ve just returned home after receiving a frantic call from my friend “HELP! There’s a snake in my bathroom!!” Armed with a shovel & expecting to confront a giant king brown instead I was met with, er… There’s no snake in here?? “There!! There!! On the vanity!!” Was the prettiest little snake I’d ever seen, gracefully wrapped around a toothbrush!! Apparently it belonged to her housemate & had escaped its enclosure several weeks ago. The housemate had been turfed out (for selling various household items that were not his items to sell) not long after his pet escaped, & he chose to leave numerous belongings behind, including the snakes enclosure. My friend intended me to release this dainty little ribbon into the bush over the road, but I was already head over heels in love & offered to adopt (her? I’ve already named her Penelope, & if it turns out to b male I honestly don’t think it will mind. Penelope is a reasonably versatile name where snakes are concerned I assume..) So anyway, now I have acquired a new friend, I’ve read all the material available on the internet but of course it has left me with a gazillion questions, so I’m seeking advice for the most immediately crucial. I believe her to be a Stimsons python. She’s about 40cm long & a diameter of 7-8mm at her thickest. Her head is about 10-12mm from ear to ear, & 18-20mm from base of skull to nostrils. I was given a bag of pinkies that were still in the freezer & instructed to feed her asap since she’d not been fed for a couple of weeks. So my first question, what size pinky should I be offering? They all appear way too large for her to swallow in one gulp. (*please excuse my ignorance, I have never considered keeping a pet snake, & have never held any interest in snakes, I assumed I would be terrified by the first snake I would personally encounter, I never expected it to be “love at first sight”. I’m a 44yr old single white lady = not your typical first time snake owner.)
I read that she would strike & immediately coil her body around the pinkie, & even tho the pinkies look way too large for her to swallow, they also don’t appear to be long enough for her to wrap herself around?? & is that all I can feed her? I found a tiny little black beetle & threw that in her enclosure, was that a big fat no no?? Can I feed her any live insects at all? A strict diet of defrosted rodent has me slightly concerned about malnutrition.
Environment- her enclosure is a basic rectangular aquarium with a Perspex lid. The lid has several minor indentations around the edges to allow for any cords/ventilation, but it was immediately obvious to me that she could easily slip through these little gaps, so I taped the lid down with masking tape & then ran a scalpel blade flush against the inner wall of the aquarium so there’s now a 1mm gap between the tank & the lid so I can get it on & off, but she can’t find any gap large enough to escape from, & hopefully provides enough ventilation between (my still very frequent) lid lifting. The enclosure came with a heat pad the exact size as it’s base, currently half on half off as the care sheets suggested, although I will go back & inspect that pad as I suspect that if it’s been purposely designed for that sized enclosure then you’d think the reptile heat pad manufacturer would have designed it such that it provides the correct 50/50 thermostat?? I heated some water in the kettle (tepid) then placed it in a mini soup/casserole dish & put it in the enclosure. It’s about 12cm diameter, 3cm deep, & I filled it 3/4 full. Is this way too much? & now I’m concerned about the humidity in the enclosure due to lack of ventilation, & the tank has fogged up like steam on a bathroom mirror. I read conflicting opinions on the various care sheets. Some say a humid environment is very beneficial, others suggest the humidity is extremely detrimental to her health, so dry or humid? I was also quite upset that her tank was so ‘unnatural’, the base was covered in 15mm2 aquarium gravel & didn’t think bare gravel would be the most ideal ground cover so I put in a couple of rocks that she could hide beneath or lounge on. I also covered the gravel with various barks which she seems to be extremely pleased about, but then read on one of the fact sheets that tree bark is a big fat no no?? Really?? That I should be using newspaper instead, which is saturated in toxic inks?!!
So those are my most pressing queries, in summary…
1: FOOD- May I provide her with live insects? If YES are there any that should be avoided?
2: FOOD- if her head is roughly 10mm wide & 18mm long what is the appropriate sized pinkie I should offer? & if they’re too large can I cut them in 1/2 or 1/3’s??
3: VENTILATION- humid or dry?
4: ENVIRONMENT- Can she have natural rocks, barks & sticks in her enclosure?
5: TEMPERATURE- some care sheets said her environment should vary between 25°c to 35°c, others stated a max temp of 31°c, & said 35°c could kill a snake in mere minutes?!! Like REALLY?? This is AUSTRALIA ferrchrissakes!!
Thanks guys! & yes, I’m fully aware that I should have a proper reptile keeping licence, but it’s currently 1:23am on a Saturday morning = not currently obtainable right this minute, but I felt that under the circumstances I should surely be offered a little leniency, so please mr wildlife ranger let me off just this once!!
Thanks again you guys!!
Kindest regards,
Piggygumflette

 

[Reptilechick]

First step and most important, Get yourself a license.
Second step: get the ex housemates license details and transfer the snake into your name.

Provided you are able to achieve the above:
You are about to embark on a journey of the unexpected as reptiles are absolutely nothing like any other domestic animal, their needs are completely different.

Enclosure set up, glass style enclosures are not the best at retaining heat but if you live in a warmer climate such as qld or northern nsw, it should be ok, if you are in a cooler state such as Vic, you may need to use a different style of home or cover the glass in some type of insulation to retain heat.

The heat mat should cover around 1/3rd of the base and the water should be place on the opposite side.

Substrate material, a great easy to maintain cheap option is paper kitty litter, it will help to retain heat from the heat pad, is easy to clean, and won't hurt if ingested.
Put a thin-ish layer on the base of the Enclosure, enough to cover but not enough to prevent heat. (Hope this makes sense).

Penelope will need some type of hide, anything you can find will work fine but she will want to squish herself in, so don't worry if you think it's too small for her, as long as she fits inside, she will be happy, I place mine on both hot and cold sides.

Give her something to climb on such as a dried stick from the garden or anything you like the look of, she won't care about appearance, we do.

Feeding..... reptiles are nothing like a domestic cat for example, she will need to be fed every 7-10 days, feed her an appropriate size mouse, ie: pinky, fuzzy, etc, approx 1-1.5x the size of the thickest part of her body. Pythons can open their mouth enormously and can easily eat a meal 10x the size of their head, if it is too big, she won't even try so you can't go wrong
Stick to feeding mice with her as these provide her all the nutrients she requires and continue to up the sizes are required.

Humidity- the way i judge Humidity is by my snakes shed, we are looking for a clean one piece full shed, this would imply a healthy animal, (with exceptions), however a dry, brittle, flaky shed would imply a dry environment so we would need to look at our water bowl to control the Humidity, bigger bowl - more moisture in air, too much moisture- foggy glass and can cause health issues, so good ventilation all round is important.

Environment - its completely up to you, whst ever you like is fine but avoid sand and small stones are she may accidentally swallow them and this can cause issues,
I like to use coco husk coir from bunnings as a base as it's great for controlling Humidity and gives a great look, plus some snakes like to burrow in too.

If you get an appropriate size heat mat, you shouldn't have to worry about temps too much, just make sure you install a thermostat to ensure we don't over heat, you are looking for an overall ambient temp of around 26-28 degrees and a cool spot of around 24. But with the heat mat on one end, don't be too concerned.
Her eating habits will help teach you about her temps.
If she doesn't eat, most likely the ambient temp I'd too cold and if she is in the water bowl or always on the cool side, it's prob too hot.

If she doesn't eat for a few weeks that is OK, it takes time to adjust everything and they can go quite a while without food.
My adult pythons only eat about 4-6 times a year maximum and they are very healthy.

I think you are going to be a great mum, and Penelope is going to be a very lucky "girl".
And in time when you really understand her, you will question why you ever thought a shovel was a good idea. This girl will show you how gentle even the most deadly of snake can be provided you respect each other.

Any further questions, ask away.
(Ps: this is only my personal opinion, others may have different views so you need to assess your own situation and learn what works best for you).

 

[dragonlover1]

nice work and congratulations on your love.
1:- no insects, snakes eat small mammals and small lizards or birds
2:- pinkies should be fine they can stretch their head to eat things bigger than their head but yes you can cut them (do it frozen to avoid the mess) try 1 and see how you go
3:- some humidity is good to help shed the skin , you don't need to heat the water but you can fill that bowl about 3/4
4:- natural is the go, paper is used by lazy people mainly as it is easier to clean but it looks ugly
5:- maximum temp for Stimmies is about 32C,
Good luck with your new hobby

 

[Africa RD]

Loved reading this post... sure you got all you need from other replies...keep us posted!

 

[Delilah]

I know this post is a little old but I enjoyed reading it so much! It was so entertaining but totally honest, and beautiful that you instantly loved the little snake How is she going? Do you still have her?