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Rescuing Corn Snakes - Need Help

P

paleSarah

New member
Hello,

My uncle is a hoarder and recently had heart surgery. We have found corn snakes in his house. No human should live in this house, and these snakes don't have anyone to look after them. I have a boa and a ball python, and I know the ins and the outs of how to care for them. We gave the snakes we could see water. There were four tanks, two looked empty, and the other two had three snakes in them. One of the two tanks was split to hold two snakes. They haven't been fed for a month or more. I saw one snake. He looked like an orange corn snake, had a clean shed, and looked alright. Tried to strike me through the top of the tank - fish tank.

I live in North Central Florida, and I was wondering on how I should proceed. I absolutely do not want the snakes in continue living in there. Would I be able to release them into the wild?

I am a python/boa person, and I know close to nothing about colubrids. Any and all advice would be appreciated.
 
You should NOT release them into the wild. There is a group on Facebook called Gainesville reptile club. I think you should join that group, and ask for assistance.

So you're talking three snakes? Please check the other two tanks to make sure snakes are not hiding. Are the snakes all adults- over three feet long, or so? If so, you can feed them FT weaned mice, to start with. Just one mouse once a week, since they've been starved.

It would not be good to release the snakes. I believe it is against the law, but in addition, you could introduce disease into the local cornsnake/ratsnake population. Plus, you would be putting weakened snakes who didn't know where they were out into someone else's territory. Plus, if raised in captivity, they aren't going to be up on avoiding predators, hunting, finding resources like shelter and water.

If you're afraid of handling the snakes, just put on a pair of gloves. They aren't going to hurt you if they bite. They mostly bite out of fear. It feels _nothing_ like a boa or python bite; you would laugh! Well, it's more startling than anything, and may draw pinpricks of blood, but it sure doesn't hurt.
 
Sarah, do you have any photos of the snakes? Will your uncle be released from the hospital soon and the snakes just need short-term care while he is in rehab? I know hoarding is a horrible issue and a very difficult habit to break, but it would be terrible to take away the only things he cares for, if they _will_ be cared for after he returns home.

(One of my greatest fears is needing emergency hospitalization or God forbid, dying, and my snakes being there, all alone. I have emergency snake care contact info posted on my refrigerator to hopefully prevent this).
 
I am taking AT LEAST three snakes. I am not sure what the total count is. I saw 4 tanks, possibly a 5th. His house is no joke. He is a hoarder. Like the television show. To move around in the house, you climb on things. There is a damp, moldy smell to it. He should never return to this house. Nobody should live in it.

I know snakes have sensitive respiratory systems. I am worried that their lungs may have mold. Anyone have experience with that?

I am not sure if he caught them from the wild to begin with. But I don't want to release them, considering the genetic implications as you have stated.

When I go to remove them, I will wear a mask and poke around everywhere to look for other snakes.

He clearly did not care about these snakes. He did not mention it to anybody to so much as check on them. He knew he should have had heart surgery for five months and didn't go through with it, finally did last month. He had plenty of time to ask me to do something or whatever. The snakes barely had water. I poured water in the cages I could get to. He's also messed up in the head- as he's always been, but even more so now, so I don't think he'd realize they're missing.

I don't know the ages. I don't think I could guess, they're probably undergrown because of starvation.

I'm not worried about being bitten. I figured I'd pillow case them and set them up in plastic tubs in my garage. I don't want them with my other snakes.

@strikerratt
It'd be great to have help, but I don't want to cause you great burden. His house is in severe shape. No electricity, leaky roof, stuff everywhere. His house is not in Gainesville, he's out in Bronson. But our car has more than two seats.
 
I don't have any pictures as my phone died before we reached the house. We are going out Monday again. Dad wants to feed them as it's been over a month of no food, but I don't think I can feed them in that house. There is no exposed floor near the other tanks and I might injure myself. I want to remove them, put them in plastic bins, and put them in my garage where I can see all of them and feed them.
 
As to his time, he had open heart surgery and he's in a rehab facility. So I am guessing 3+ months there, and my aunt wants him to come stay with her afterwards. So possibly 6+ months.
 
Make sure they don't get too hot in your garage. Over 85 is dangerous. And they are good at escaping from bins if you don't put binder clips on the sides. Thank you for rescuing them.
 
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We changed the plan a little. We're going to move the snakes onto his porch. We're a little wary of moving them off his property because he seems mentally there for the time being and when my dad asked him about the snakes, he replied, "They're fine" and acknowledged that it's been four and a half weeks that nobody's been out to them.

They'll be getting food, and by moving them I'll be able to see everyone. They'll also get some fresh air. It's rather heavy air in there. The roof is broken and he has pails set up to catch the rain when it rains outside. I'll bring some aspen to clean the cages.
 
Sorry for the silence. We were unable to get to the house earlier this week, which was unfortunate. I don't really want to comment on the house (it's weighing on my family heavily), other than it is unlivable. I was really terrified to see more than three snakes, but after checking all of the rooms, only three were found. Those were the three I had saw the first time we went out (when we gave them water). There were four tanks, the two inhabited. Of the the other two tanks, I checked one tank, and I couldn't physically get to the other tank without much trouble so I shined a line into it for a few minutes and nothing came out. The three snakes were alert. We had bought freshly killed mice for them and all three ate. We changed their bedding and gave them clean water. I didn't hear or see open mouthed/troubled breathing. The room they were in had mold growing on the walls, and one tank had mold in it. Has anyone had experience with snakes being exposed to mold?

I am also not very experienced with colubrids so identifications of the snakes would be good. Here are some pictures:
1000039_10201312409234770_1083662858_n.jpg

1010900_10201312409194769_659918456_n.jpg

947064_10201312410154793_1965238287_n.jpg

After eating:
998115_10201312410794809_275432381_n.jpg

Ditched moldy bedding:
1010901_10201312410914812_1210572988_n.jpg

998901_10201312411474826_151293525_n.jpg

179703_10201312445595679_1340169287_n.jpg
 
Also I removed the duct tape and newspaper partition. Tape should never be in a snake's enclosure. I put some books down on the middle of the screen to prevent the snakes from going to the other's side.
 
Those poor babies! Thank you for helping them! They all look like normals to me. Is there any chance you could clean the empty cage and put one of the pair into it?
 
We are figuring out the next step with them. We are happy with their improvements for now. We were ready to be home and take showers. But yes, I'll either put them in tubs with enough space, or I'll knock out the wall and keep one in there and put the other in an empty tank. If I did that, I'd want to scrub their tanks real well.

Are they all corn snakes? Or is there a rat snake or two in there?
 
Cornsnakes are a species of ratsnake. People around here call them red ratsnakes. Those are all cornsnakes, as far as I can tell. The grey and red one is what we'd call a Miami phase. He may have bought her, or found her down south.

One improvement I'd suggest is putting in the largest, heavy bowls of water you can, in case they need to cool down.
 
Okay, thank you.

Water tubs, got it. We should be out early next week.
The shaded area felt like it was around the low 80's and we were out from around 1 to 4 or so, and I am thinking that's the hottest part of the day. The smaller yellow bowl was changed out for a bigger white bowl, I don't think that's shown in the picture. Reason being that it had less mold than the other one.
 
Wow, thank you so much for coming here and seeking help. You are an awesome person for saving these poor snakes! PLEASE make sure that where those tanks are outside, NO sunlight hits them at any point during the day. Glass cages outdoors are risky. I wish you the best, good things deserve to happen to folks like you. :)
 
[QUOTE
I am also not very experienced with colubrids so identifications of the snakes would be good. Here are some pictures
1010900_10201312409194769_659918456_n.jpg

[/QUOTE]the one on the left looks to be a thayeri kingsnake the one on the right it's a normal corn snake and the other one is an albino corn snake
 
I went back and forth about the red/silver snake, too. Magged it up. Something about the saddles is un-cornlike. But the head pattern is within limits. I'd love to see better pics. The thought definitely crossed my mind, and didn't leave completely.
 
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