• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Burmese Python needs rescuing

KyGirl

KyGirl

New member
My nephew just called me and asked if I would take in his Burmese Python. This nephew is how I ended up with a Corn Snake. He once again jumped in a bought a snake, this time without asking the new wife, and cannot keep it. Everyone on here was so helpful when I was learning to care for my Corn snake so I thought I would ask for some advice. I know that Burmese get big. He didn't tell me how big this one was and I did not think to ask at the time. If the snake is still young I could care for it until I found it a permanent home. If it is over 4 feet right now I just don't see how I can accommodate it. I already have the one Cornsnake, 2 cats, 6 dogs, and 4 aquariums with various fish and invertebrates. I live in a 35 foot RV that I converted into a tiny home. So not a lot of room. I am building a new vivarium for my Cornsnake so I will have her old 4 foot one to house the Burmese but would that be enough? What would be the likely hood of finding a large snake a new home? Any advice would be very helpful.
 
Males will generally get 11-14 feet, and females 14+ and much heftier than males. How big is your available viv, 4' by what? If he/she is young, a 4X2 would suffice for maybe two years (I've had a breeder tell me that a 4X2 would suffice for an adult male, IDK). Check with your local/state herpological society, zoos, and even private zoos; maybe they would take a snake knowing they would ultimately have a giant. Reptile stores may even take him; if it's small they could resell, and if it's big they may want a display animal. Good luck! Keep us posted.
 
Thanks for the replies. The viv I have available is 4 foot long by 18" deep and 20" tall. I will contact the KY group you listed. I live in the middle of nowhere. We have one local pet store run by my neighbor. I supply them with fish and snails I breed right now. She already has a huge Burmese she keeps on display and cannot take in any more snakes right now. Her business is very small and snakes are not in demand around here. I should have gotten more info from my nephew last night but I was in a Thanksgiving daze from all the food. LOL I will be seeing him this evening and I will get more info from him. I am only 5'3" and have a bad back so lifting a snake that big would be difficult for me. My oldest cat is 14 pounds and I have a hard time carrying him. I am worried he might turn the snake loose if he cannot find a place for it. He wasn't supposed to get another snake until he could really care for it but he is an idiot when it comes to animals. If I have to I will take it in until I can find somewhere else for it.
 
It isn't yours to worry about. I would flat out refuse to take it. That might seem cold, but I get the feeling you are becoming his outlet for pets he gets tired of. A corn snake is one thing, but burms are no joke. And there are few snakes more difficult to place than a large python. He made a big error taking this on, and the consequences belong to him. Let him find someone to take it.
 
I'd agree with Chip. You can be nice and help facilitate finding a new hope with some of the resources mentioned in this thread, but once you take the animal, you may be stuck with him for life, and with Lacy, you can't legally ship or move it across state lines, so you'd have to find somebody in KY to take him, or you be stuck with him. Since you've stated that you can't care for this animal long term, I'd suggest that you not take the animal, but help your nephew find a home for this awesome animal. It's your call though. Good luck.
 
I appreciate large constrictors, have helped others with them for many years, but will never own one. They get too big for one person to even feed or handle safely, you need a buddy for everything. They also cost a fortune to feed and house properly once they become subadults. At two years old, a female can already be pushing ten feet and eating XL rabbits. Breeder Bob Clark said he gets them up to ten feet by their first birthday! So many of these snakes are dropped off at rescues and shelters and are euthanized for lack of available homes. If a picture says a thousand words, "too" and "big" are surely two of them!
6e6dca5b8fddfed3cb257d9ccc3b8d33.jpg
 
I talked to my nephew last night. The snake is around 3 feet right now so is a baby. He said his wife has decided to let him keep it. I tried to tell him that a snake that large can be very dangerous. He has a 4 year old step daughter who is small for her age. Plus his wife has pet rats, a cat, and he has a husky. The kid has already released the rats several times. I cringe to think what could happen with a large snake. He let the cornsnake get out when he had her and she was missing for 3 months. His sister found her luckily. I warned him what could happen if the python got out. He said that is a a myth. Burmese are not aggressive and do not eat or kill people. I have seen people try to handle a large snake like that by themselves and once they wrap around them they are yelling for help. He does not need any more pets. I had to give him food for the cat and supplied him with a rheostat, heat rocks, and bedding for the snake. Plus I am building him a viv. His gramd mother, my sister, had to give him food for the dog and money for groceries. He doesn't have a job right now.

I figure in a few months he will be asking me to take the snake again. I have an arrangement with the local pet store to take it. She said she would try to find a home for it or keep it herself. She used to sell my nephew pets but stopped when he kept letting them die or returning them. Everyone in the area brings me unwanted pets because they now I cannot stand to see an animal discarded. I was in school to be a veterinarian but was in a bad accident which left me unable to do the lifting required in that type of job.

I appreciate all the advice and help you have given me. It is nice to have others who care about snakes I can ask for advice from.
 
He can't afford dog food, and is getting a snake that eats rabbits and pigs? Good plan. If he thinks Burms killing is a myth, suggest to him that he use Google. There is about a fatality every year and a half from Burmese pythons in captivity. It is his child I worry the most for. People like him are why there are laws restricting things we can have. Sorry for my tone, and I don't direct any of this towards you, his willful ignorance and negligent behavior is borderline criminal. I would patently never help him with an animal matter again.
 
I agree with everything you said. He makes me so mad sometimes I want to turn him over my knee even if he is 20 yrs old. His grand parents have bent over backwards to help him and he screws it up every time. They feel guilty because he lost his Dad their son, at a very young age.

I am posting all kinds of python info on my Facebook page so he will hopefully see it.
 
I've got a couple of big snakes myself. A tiger retic and a granite burm, and while they can make great pets if you know what you're doing. To think they aren't dangerous is shear stupidity. My retic is ten foot and eating guinea pigs, she'll be on rabbits within 6 months. My burm is still young and I know the allure of a big snake can be hard to resist, but from what I've read I'm terrified for that little girl. If she lets that animal out and it's thirteen or fourteen feet long and hungry, things could get really ugly. There is a reason my retics cage locks with a key I have on me at all times. Have him visit ball-pythons.net they will set him straight, or at least we'll try
 
Sorry KYgirl that you have such a dum dum relative... Im worried for the little girls sake too... Even if he doesn't eat her, he will almost guaranteed strangle her... :( Good luck setting your relative straight...
 
I am still doing my best to educate my nephew. He called the other night and asked me how to get the snake to eat a dead rat. He bought a live one and the dog killed it. :headbang: The husky was just doing what he was used to doing at his previous home, protect it from vermin. I had no idea if pythons will eat dead food. I suggest he warm it up and do the "zombie" dance with it using a tong or something to hold onto it. He said he was just going to hold it by the tail and see if it would take it. I wished him good luck with that. I don't know if it ate or not. I am trying to locate someplace to take it when he realizes he can't handle it. Which I am sure will happen.
 
My big girls both eat frozen thawed. However my point remains if you aren't ready for one of these animals you get this VERY quickly.
a015195fbd4ed42f761b106117566671.jpg
 
Wow. That is a pretty snake. I wish I had a way to care for one that large but I just don't. My nephew is now not speaking to me. The person who sold him the snake has convinced him that I know nothing and pythons are just misunderstood and the victims of propaganda. Oh, well. He will just have to learn on his own. The snake did eat the rat. His sister told me she helped him feed the snake and it took it with no problem. He used to feed Pumpkin, my cornsnake, live and I switched her to frozen food. Thawed first of course. LOL I appreciate all the info everyone has given me. Hopefully this situation will not turn into a tragic tale.
 
Thanks, she's my baby. I've got a burm as well. To an extent the big snakes are victims of the media, but the stories have some truth to them. We can only hope everything goes well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top