ratsncorns
Bird Nerd
I have a friend whose boyfriend is watching another friends' corn while she is studying abroad. I go to their house today and was completely appalled at the conditions of the poor thing.
First of all, it is a normal that is apparently a year old (approx) and is no bigger than either of my corns, which are less than 6 months old. He couldnt remember the last time he fed her because he always forgets to. Its on repti-bark (no problems) but it hadnt been cleaned in months! Its hard to have a messy corn tank but this was gross. S/he had no water and looked quite dehydrated, and was in his basement. I picked s/he up and was ice cold to the touch. Also, s/he was covered in an incomplete shed. He has fish tanks in the room so the humidity was quite high, but the shed was very bad.
We were hanging out with another guy who owns pythons and boas. When I commented on the corns small size, how cold it was, the incomplete shed, he said that it was fine, corns are from temperate climates so it doesnt matter :eek1: Um ok, but not when its 40 in the room, and her bark is so caked together with feces that she cant get under the substrate to hide or to get on top of the heat mat (which was attached directly onto the tank and plugged straight into the wall - no thermostat).
He gave me a fuzzy to give her and I didnt even get her into the feeding container and she grabbed the fuzzy straight out of my hand and constricted it and ate it while wrapped around my wrist. Definately a hungry snake. I offered to take her as I said I could take better care. I would take her until the friend came back to pick her up. Well, the 'expert' with the pythons said there was no reason for me to take her, she was fine here. So, I wasnt able to convince them to give the snake to me.
Later on, I snuck down into the basement to give her water as she was looking for some after she ate. I cant believe I had to be sneaky to care for a snake thats not even mine. In addition to her conditions, he had two crested gecko's down there. Well, I guess he hadnt checked on them in days and one of them was dead in its hide, stuck to the bottom of the cage. She looked to have been dead for days. Once again, the 'expert' said no worries because she was old (~7yrs, I dont know how old they get). They also have no heat source and are fed solely on baby food.
I dont know what to do. If he didnt hang out with his 'expert' friend I would have been able to take the snake back home with me. Any suggestions? Obviously she is being neglected and I feel bad for her. I am at a complete loss. I wish there was something to do. This is driving me crazy. Tomorrow I will try to call my friend so she can convince her bf to give me the snake.
Sorry for the long post but this is so frustrating... I wish people would take better care of their animals, especially those entrusted into their care from a friend.
First of all, it is a normal that is apparently a year old (approx) and is no bigger than either of my corns, which are less than 6 months old. He couldnt remember the last time he fed her because he always forgets to. Its on repti-bark (no problems) but it hadnt been cleaned in months! Its hard to have a messy corn tank but this was gross. S/he had no water and looked quite dehydrated, and was in his basement. I picked s/he up and was ice cold to the touch. Also, s/he was covered in an incomplete shed. He has fish tanks in the room so the humidity was quite high, but the shed was very bad.
We were hanging out with another guy who owns pythons and boas. When I commented on the corns small size, how cold it was, the incomplete shed, he said that it was fine, corns are from temperate climates so it doesnt matter :eek1: Um ok, but not when its 40 in the room, and her bark is so caked together with feces that she cant get under the substrate to hide or to get on top of the heat mat (which was attached directly onto the tank and plugged straight into the wall - no thermostat).
He gave me a fuzzy to give her and I didnt even get her into the feeding container and she grabbed the fuzzy straight out of my hand and constricted it and ate it while wrapped around my wrist. Definately a hungry snake. I offered to take her as I said I could take better care. I would take her until the friend came back to pick her up. Well, the 'expert' with the pythons said there was no reason for me to take her, she was fine here. So, I wasnt able to convince them to give the snake to me.
Later on, I snuck down into the basement to give her water as she was looking for some after she ate. I cant believe I had to be sneaky to care for a snake thats not even mine. In addition to her conditions, he had two crested gecko's down there. Well, I guess he hadnt checked on them in days and one of them was dead in its hide, stuck to the bottom of the cage. She looked to have been dead for days. Once again, the 'expert' said no worries because she was old (~7yrs, I dont know how old they get). They also have no heat source and are fed solely on baby food.
I dont know what to do. If he didnt hang out with his 'expert' friend I would have been able to take the snake back home with me. Any suggestions? Obviously she is being neglected and I feel bad for her. I am at a complete loss. I wish there was something to do. This is driving me crazy. Tomorrow I will try to call my friend so she can convince her bf to give me the snake.
Sorry for the long post but this is so frustrating... I wish people would take better care of their animals, especially those entrusted into their care from a friend.
Hopefully, things will get worked out.
