OMG Craigslist has snake-for-sale horrors, too *UPDATE #46: Yeah, I took her home :D

[Lauruffian]

I have learned via my snake forums that false water cobras are not members of the cobra family, and their venom is nowhere near as potent. As it is, they kind of have to chew on you to inject the venom. It’s questionable whether they’re legal in California, though.

HOWEVER, you CAN buy this quite venomous albino western diamondback rattlesnake completely legally without permit. :eek: Weird fact I’ve learned: you can own a native WDB without a permit, but can’t sell it…unless it’s albino. Huh?? And again–WHY?

Meanwhile, the owner of the skinny snow corn got back to me. They claim she’s a female, but honestly, they also say she’s albino so, meh. I can figure it out for myself one s/he’s in my own hands. I’m mostly making conversation before scheduling a possible pick up. It’s a bit of a drive, but I sold a saddle at a consignment shop out that way and they don’t mail checks–I have to pick up payment in person. Gives me an excuse to be out that way, but I’m not ready to pull the trigger jusssst yet. I’m getting advice from the herp boards first.

[jumpsnake]

[QUOTE=Lauruffian;7782463]
I have learned via my snake forums that false water cobras are not members of the cobra family, and their venom is nowhere near as potent. As it is, they kind of have to chew on you to inject the venom. It’s questionable whether they’re legal in California, though.

HOWEVER, you CAN buy this quite venomous albino western diamondback rattlesnake completely legally without permit. :eek: Weird fact I’ve learned: you can own a native WDB without a permit, but can’t sell it…unless it’s albino. Huh?? And again–WHY?

Meanwhile, the owner of the skinny snow corn got back to me. They claim she’s a female, but honestly, they also say she’s albino so, meh. I can figure it out for myself one s/he’s in my own hands. I’m mostly making conversation before scheduling a possible pick up. It’s a bit of a drive, but I sold a saddle at a consignment shop out that way and they don’t mail checks–I have to pick up payment in person. Gives me an excuse to be out that way, but I’m not ready to pull the trigger jusssst yet. I’m getting advice from the herp boards first. :)[/QUOTE]

Please be very careful! Keep Skinny far far away from your other snakes! Just underfed might be all-- but equally likely is crypto, or parasites, or something else. Clean everything this snake touches with a bleach solution, and then with ammonia- not both together though. I also think a bad impaction is likely seeing as it looks like it is on sand in that photo. We have had some luck with electrolyte soaks but if it is too much or too damaged it will not recover. If the back end feels firm that would be my first thought.

Good on you for trying to help the poor thing, just be careful with your healthy ones. And make sure the new one gets worked last!

[RacetrackReject]

I cruised our local Craigslist just to see what was posted. It’s mostly all corn snakes and ball pythons with the exception of a gorgeous black and white California king. Most of the snakes looked in decent weight, but one ball python ad said that it “only eats one mouse a month”, which doesn’t quite sound right to me. Maybe that is normal? Idk.

[Lauruffian]

jumpsnake, I absolutely intend to quarantine skinny for a good long while–I do NOT want anything happening to my others! The impaction thought is a good reminder–I knew the sand was wholly inappropriate, but the thought of them feeding the snake in the tank and on that sand had not occurred to me. Gah.

I’m asking a few more questions of the seller to get a feel for the snake’s health. If she is impacted, it’s a bit beyond my scope of helping her at this time. I’m treating this a bit like a Craigslist horse rescue–I don’t want the seller to feel judged and then have the animal disappear (or at least all contact with seller stop), so I’m being careful in my interactions.

RacetrackReject, ball pythons are notoriously finicky eaters. Mine just recently decided frozen/thawed meals were no longer for him. He only wants live–never mind he’s eaten f/t many, many times in the past. That said, you’re right, a mouse once a month for an adult ball is a bit on the lean side. I try to get my guy to eat a medium rat at least once a month–that’s about quadruple the meal of a single mouse. Reminds me, I need to go get a rat for Picky McPickypants.

[Belmont]

This breaks my heart. I’m terrified of snakes, but I feel like one day I will get ballsy enough to get one. I think they are gorgeous. I’ve always liked Sand Boa’s… I had a neat run-in with one at a zoo field trip when I was a kind in school.

MY CL has a ton of snakes. All types of Boas, Pythons, Milks, Kings, and Corns. There is even a Sand Boa with his little nubby tail. UGH. So cute. San Antonio has pythons and snakes going from 20-250 with enclosure! It’s crazy.

This is my favorite ad:
http://killeen.craigslist.org/pet/4680070109.html

Please keep us posted on this one.

[Simkie]

Laura, you’ve got everyone looking at snakes on CL now! :lol:

The stripy corns in this ad are pretty cool looking!

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/pet/4682162932.html

But why is this guy selling pairs? They don’t like to live together, do they?

And wow–this is just a whole pile of snakes!

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/pet/4687846295.html

I didn’t realize people kept bull snakes as pets:

http://denver.craigslist.org/pet/4647131905.html

[Alagirl]

[QUOTE=mvp;7781229]

Can’t you rationalize this as “too many frozen dead mice clogging up the freezer, gotta get a snake to eat 'em up”?[/QUOTE]

hehehe

[Alagirl]

[QUOTE=Lauruffian;7782899]

Reminds me, I need to go get a rat for Picky McPickypants.[/QUOTE]

I can lend you my cat…he’s been good about bringing in rats…dead though (thankfully). Chipmunks seem to be out of season at this time…

I think I will stick with tossing pencil thin brown snake back out in the yard in terms of snake care…although I would not mind getting an outdoor only rat snake at this point…(see above statement)

Keep us posted on the CL thing
(yep I can enable here, too! :D)

[Lauruffian]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7783388]
Laura, you’ve got everyone looking at snakes on CL now! :lol:

The stripy corns in this ad are pretty cool looking!

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/pet/4682162932.html

But why is this guy selling pairs? They don’t like to live together, do they?

And wow–this is just a whole pile of snakes!

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/pet/4687846295.html

I didn’t realize people kept bull snakes as pets:

http://denver.craigslist.org/pet/4647131905.html[/QUOTE]

:lol:
The stripe corns ARE cool–with my new pairing, a bunch of what you see there are possible phenotypes to appear in the clutch and I’m so excited to see. Hypo (meaning very minimal black, but not amelanistic), lavender, normal, stipe, motley, motley-stripe…all kinds of cool combos. The seller is offering them in pairs for possible future breeding projects. No, they shouldn’t live together, but a breeder will have a set up where they’d be housed separately.

If I haven’t explained it before–“het” is short for heterozygous and is very useful knowledge for breeding. Cleo is 100% het amel, meaning there is a 100% chance she carries the recessive amelanistic gene, so breeding her to an amel male means each hatchling will have a 50/50 chance of being amel. The COTH snake babies from my clutch this year are amels that are 100% het motley, meaning they carry the recessive motley pattern gene. If they are ever bred in the future to a mate with the motley or stripe pattern, their young will have a 50/50 chance of having that pattern. Cleo clearly is not het for that pattern as none of her young have ever been motley.

The pile o’ snakes is a popular way to show off a clutch–we call those “baby piles.” That seller appears to have a nice clutch of red tail boas of various colors and patterns and is showing off everyone at once. These types of pictures are typically photo ops, not permanent housing. The babies are separated after the baby pile pic is taken.

Herp hobbyists will keep almost ANYTHING they can legally catch (and obviously illegally as well) and feed. I’m just happy with my corns, but there is a HUGE number of species that call herp houses their homes.

No word from the seller yet–looks like they respond to email at night. I sent an email with my phone number; it’ll be easier if I can just talk it through with them. Yes, my friendly neighborhood COTH enablers, I shall keep you posted!

[Coyoteco]

It is interesting to learn more about snakes through your threads - especially about the body condition.

[Lauruffian]

I exchanged emails and received several photos tonight. Indeed…skinny. Owner claims to feed her every two weeks–riiiiiiiiight. I’d share the photos here, but don’t want the owner to somehow find them. I know, I’m paranoid, but only because everyone’s out to get me.

At this point, I might just say screw it and go get her. One of the people on a snake forum said “I would just go in, smile, clench my teeth, say nothing, get her and the tank and everything then take a rock and throw it through the window and run like hell.” :lol:

[Polydor]

Go get her! You know you want too! lol

Learning a ton as well. Snakes and I co-exhist peacefully. I’m normally one of the few people i work with who wants to see them. This was when I was in South Oz so talking about Brown Snakes - only super piosonous! lol

P.

[trubandloki]

Another vote to go get her…

Thank you for all the snake knowledge you are sharing. I too have learned quite a bit.

[Lauruffian]

I want to get her, but we’ve reached a snag. She’s further away than I thought–close to an hour. I asked if the seller would meet me a hair closer my way (not even half); he said no. I asked if he’d drop the price $25 to help offset has since I’d be driving that far; he said he was solid on the price but would talk to “the other owner.” (?) I understand since he just put the snake up for sale last weekend; he probably figures it’s worth waiting for another buyer who lives closer and will pay full price. We’ll see.

[JumpQH]

Good luck - hope it all works out for the snake’s benefit!

[Lauruffian]

They dropped the price $10, saying there were other interested parties so they didn’t want to drop it more. I said I understood. I told them if they were willing to meet in the earlier part of the day at something like a Starbucks parking lot, that was sort of the last piece of the puzzle for me and could work. We’ll see if it works out. If not, hopefully one of the interested parties will step forward and know what they’re doing.

[Lauruffian]

Ugh. So I’ll post just a couple of pics because, UGH.

Skinny, bony girl

Her eyes are bright and mouth clear, but look at how prominent her spine in her neck is.

If the seller will work with me on pick up time–it will need to be early in the day, because I’m not dealing with traffic–I think I’ll go get her. I’m dealing with a stupid huge pile of health issues too (that’s another very long story), and I need to work with when I feel strong and alert enough for that sort of drive, too.

I should hear from the seller tonight, if he keeps up his pattern.

[Lauruffian]

Ack. I’m making plans to pick her up tomorrow. :o

[JoZ]

Excellent! I have another question for you. If someone posted a skinny horse, and said that they were feeding it adequate amounts, you know the whole litany of things that would be suggested: worms, teeth, ulcers, systemic illness, etc. along with, of course, “more food”! Are there other types of conditions or health maintenance items that might explain a skinny snake, if in fact he is feeding her as frequently as he says? Or is it cut and dried – a snake that looks like that isn’t being fed/fed enough? What about old snakes? I can’t remember if you’ve even said how old she is? Nor do I know the lifespan of snakes. Just wondering if I geriatrics make might have nutrition issues.

[Lauruffian]

My biggest fear is what jumphorse mentioned–an impaction. Corn snakes should NEVER be kept on reptile sand, and NEVER fed on it, because ingesting the sand can cause a lethal blockage. Usually the signs of an impaction are failure to defecate, regurgitation, and/or loss of appetite. First thing I’ll be doing is completely changing the bedding in her tank over to aspen.

Another possibility is she’s cold. Corns are pretty tough, being an American species, in comparison to their high-temp-loving python cousins, but a cold snake won’t eat. I’ll likely be getting an under tank heater for her.

My plan will be to get her home, convert her tank to an appropriate habitat, weigh and photograph her for documentation, and leave her alone for observation for a few days. I probably won’t offer food for at least a week. Then I’ll start her on small meals–I have WAY more “fuzzies” (baby mice about 10 days old, as opposed to newborn pinkies) than I think we’re going to need, so I’ll offer her one. If she eats, I’ll wait. If she doesn’t defecate within 72 hours, I’ll put her in a warm water bath for a while–I think it does the equivalent of oiling a horse.

And of course, she is going to be under COMPLETE quarantine and I’m going to scrub my hands after any and all contact with her and/or her tank.