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princess
Snake Mite
1 Posts |
 Posted - 21/02/2010 : 22:50:02
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About a month ago our family was walking on our rural property in California, after a set of strong, cold rainstorms, and came across a baby kingsnake - less than a foot long. She (of course, her gender is unknown) was curled up and had several scratches from a near scrape with some animal. Being December, I decided to let my son bring it home and we set up an aquarium in the house. We have been trying to get it to feed unsuccessfully ever since.
Perhaps it was an unwise choice to bring it home, and maybe we should let her go soon to deal with Mother Nature on her own. But we're into it now, and after the strange events of this morning I decided to look for advice. I hope someone can give it to me.
First, let me explain: We have no pet store in our town, the nearest place we can get "pinkies" is more than an hour's drive away. We have been attempting to feed the snake insects, crickets, frogs and salamanders that we found outside. At one point we got a live "pinkie" rat but I think it was too big for the snake because she just ignored it.
Secondly: we live off-grid, which means that we do not have enough electricity to run a warming pad for the snake, certainly not around the clock. We do not have a warming pad at all. Our house is heated by a woodstove, so the temperature fluctuates pretty steeply, but still it is warmer inside than outside where we found her.
Sometime last week I put a Pacific Tree frog and a salamander (California red-bellied Newt) in the aquarium to see if she would eat it. The frog promptly crawled up the glass side and stayed there, and the salamander hung out in the water bowl the entire time. So yesterday I decided to take the waterbowl out to give the snake a chance to hunt it. I left the waterbowl out overnight.
Today in the middle of the day I saw the snake being very still but with it's head looking a little bit stiff and as if it was slightly "cocked" to one side. I sat down with the computer to look up a chat room such as this one and suddenly heard a scuffling noise from inside the aquarium.
At first I thought the snake has finally made a strike and was coiling around it's prey but then when I looked closer I saw that the sanke was coiling around itself and twisting around in a horrible, snake-seizure kind of way. I thought it was the end of her and watched in pity and shame until she stopped twitching and whirling and seemed to relax. Her head, in particular, was twisted around in an angled-backwards manner.
My husband picked up the snake and then I noticed that the salamander had died and dried up. He thought the snake felt dry and so put her into some water whereupon after a time she seemed to get better. I changed the waterbowl and set her down inside it. I noticed that her undersides look pinkish inbetween the scales. Last I checked, she was lying next to it but she is still holding her head in an awkward angle.
So I feel really dumb and guilty for taking a beautiful precious animal from the wild and not taking good care of her. We could let her go again, but I feel we should at least get her past this bad patch, if we can.
Can anyone help?
Thank you!
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lee2308
Kingsnake Forum Admin
United Kingdom
1609 Posts |
Posted - 21/02/2010 : 23:50:12
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| If its wound are healed i would just let it go back to the wild unless your prepared to get it to a reptile vet,wild cuaght reps dont take too good to captivity. |
1.0 dumeril boa,0.1 bci boa,1.0 royal python,1.0 mbk kingsnake,1.0corn,1.2 chinese water dragon,0.0.1 bearded dragon
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Kazerella
King Snake Admin
United Kingdom
1512 Posts |
Posted - 25/02/2010 : 19:32:10
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I agree with Lee- if you feel that her wounds are healed it might be better to put her back.
I do not know what the seizure thing is, but it probably isn't a good sign of health. She may deteriorate really quickly which may upset your son.
She probably won't eat because of the struggle to adapt to captivity. It normally takes a lot of time for them to get used to captive conditions, but if you haven't got a reliable food source then it probably isn't wise to continue to try to domesticate her.
I am guessing it's quite warm in California, but it still may not be warm enough to simulate eating either. Kings need temps around 30 degrees celcius to be able to digest food, so if it's cooler than that she may not eat because it would be difficult to digest.
I think you have had the best intentions at heart and I think under the circumstances I might also have done the same, but releasing may be the way forward now.
Let me know what you decide  |
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Novice snake keepers need assistance
