Kids who live with their parents.....

Will0W783 · 06-15-11, 09:31 AM

.....should not try to smuggle Burmese pythons into the house without permission!!!

A good friend of mine runs a local pet store, and one of his employees is a 19-y/o kid who doesn't seem to understand that while he may technically be an "adult", it doesn't mean he has the right to do whatever he wants in his parents' house. I frequently tear into him for not managing temps and humidity for his retic properly. I have given him medication and taught him to do injections, given countless lectures on proper husbandry and safety procedures with giant snakes, yet none of it sinks in. About a week ago, two days after he got done telling me his retic was wheezing and coughing, he texted me pictures of a giant albino Burmese python and said it was new "friend." I quite calmly informed him that he'd better fix his keeping practices FAST, because Burms do not tolerate the extremes that retics can.
Well, yesterday I got a tearful phone call that his stepmom had thrown him and the Burm out of the house and told him not to come back until the snake had found a new home. In the interest of making sure the behemoth didn't go to another one of his friends who might not know how to care for it, my fiance and I went and picked her up.

She is MASSIVE!!! Absolutely beautiful, but insanely big. Easily 15 feet and 100 pounds. She seems in good shape- firm proper weight, no evidence of mites, and no scars. Eyes are clear, and nostrils and mouth are clean. She was very docile and calm about me poking and prodding, examining her. She is being quarantined, and I will make sure she eats and is healthy before I decide whether to keep her permanently or rehome her to another qualified keeper. In the meantime, here are some pictures of her:

TeaNinja · 06-15-11, 10:08 AM

oh btw mom, i got a 15 foot burm. LOL

Will0W783 · 06-15-11, 10:10 AM

I know, right. The kid is seriously in need of attitude adjustment. When he told me about the snake, he referred to his stepmother (who was needless to say unhappy about the snake), as his "step (word-that-rhymes-with-witch)". Come on.....you bring a massive constrictor in without getting permission and get upset when a parent is not cool with it? My mother would have had a massive coronary on the spot. She cries when she sees tiny baby garter snakes. Hence I never kept snakes until I moved out on my own.

Will0W783 · 06-15-11, 10:11 AM

The snake was apparently named "Precious" *GAG!!!*

I will have to come up with something better. I am thinking "Buttercup", (like Princess Buttercup), Butters, Daisy, or Tiny. Lol

TeaNinja · 06-15-11, 10:22 AM

lol. i still live with my mom right now and she doesn't love that i own snakes, but i explain to her that they do nothing but sit in my room and she never has to look at them. and they are a VERY VERY low maintenence animal perspectively.
not to mention my husbandry is all good.

she just hates that i breed rats for snake food. i hate killing the rats i raise also so i talked to the pet store and they are either going to trade my rats for different feeders, or i'll trade them for f/t if they can order them.

stephanbakir · 06-15-11, 10:35 AM

Glad you stepped up and made the transition easier, great lookin burm! hows he doing as an employee?:P

marvelfreak · 06-15-11, 10:36 AM

Beautiful Burmese and yes massive. Her color reminds me of Butterscotch. You could call her butterscotch or BS for short. lol

Will0W783 · 06-15-11, 10:46 AM

My fiance actually mentioned the name Butterscotch. I am fine with that. He seems as taken with her as I am, although I think he prefer my little Calypso (supertiger retic baby).

The kid goes to work like he's supposed to and is an adequate employee from what I know, or my friend just tolerates him because the kid has nowhere else to go. Not sure which. lol.

I'm just relieved to find the snake in good health and as calm as she is. I was concerned that she might have a bit of an attitude, as she does not know me and has been carted around a lot the past week. She is not head-shy at all, nor does she hiss or really struggle much. She seems quite content to go along with whatever is asked of her....so far. "So far" being the key phrase....she could settle in and decide she's not going to budge or cooperate at all.

TeaNinja · 06-15-11, 10:46 AM

lol, i like the name BS. multi purpose

stephanbakir · 06-15-11, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeaNinja

lol, i like the name BS. multi purpose

It is awesome:P

presspirate · 06-15-11, 04:10 PM

I really like her Kim, she is gorgeous. But yes I have to agree, so many people with snake phobias. You cannot be sneaky with a 15 foot beauty like that.

citysnakes · 06-15-11, 04:52 PM

its beautiful Kim. best of luck.

Max713 · 06-15-11, 06:29 PM

Now THAT is a big girl.

vendettaseve · 06-15-11, 06:34 PM

Quite the death grip youv got on it in the last picture there. Just sayin

Nice looking snake tho, dont think I would ever want something that huge as a pet.

Will0W783 · 06-15-11, 06:47 PM

Thanks for all the compliments on her. I am absolutely amazed by her..so big and beautiful.

I found out some more news about her which has me so furious I can't even think straight. My close friend that runs the pet store her previous "owner" works at told me today the kid was trying to hide the snake by keeping her in a Rubbermaid underbed tote UNDERNEATH HIS D*MN BED!!!!!! He would lock the door so his parents couldn't come in, and take her out! Seriously???? A 15-foot snake, in a completely unsecure "enclosure", under his bed, with no heat source or light??? AND what if she had bitten him or just clung a little too tightly? The kid is smaller than I am, and the snake is way too big for me to even think of handling by myself....all it would have taken was one single slip-up, and he'd have been dead...and who knows how long it would have been before his absence was even noticed????

Furthermore, I found out that his retic, who he "loves so very much, she's my Baby...she's my sweetheart!",.....is being housed IN THE ATTIC, in a 150-gallon tank with a screen lid with NO LOCKS!!!! He will come into work and brag about he pulled Baby out of the joists again.....exposed joists, with insulation all over. JESUS H CHRIST, no wonder the snake is always getting respiratory infections!!! I am so mad right now I keep pacing the house. I am sorely tempted to call animal control, but am afraid of what kind of trouble he'd cause me. I am just absolutely flabbergasted that anyone would even consider keeping dangerously large snakes so carelessly.
And even not considering their size and power, it's unsafe for the snakes to be in insecure "cages" and it's unhealthy for them to be in an attic with insulation and dry air and heaven only knows what else......