neglected Darwins

[Icarus]

hey all,
yesterday my partner and i got a pair of Darwin carpet pythons off a mate of his. this all started because a few weeks ago my boyfriend went to his mates house to see his herp collection and noticed a pair of click clacks shoved in the corner of the room, looking a bit forgotten. he opened them up and found some darwins, about 35cm long and very thin. the containers had poo all on the bottom and a grubby waterbowl. Whn he asked his friend he said they were 18 months old and that he didnt want to talk about it. my boyf came home, told me, andwe couldnt stop thinking about their conditions andhow stunted they were. a few days ago he approached his friend and asked if we could have them. he said yes and seemed relieved. he is a lovely guy who obviously just got overwhelmed and didnt know what to do.
so, we know a fair amount about keeping snakes, we have 3 of our own. but we have no experience in rehabilitating severely underfed, unsocialised animals. does anyone have any advice for us? Should we start with

sorry, ignore the 'should we start with' at the end, im on my phone and i cant edit it.

[CrystalMoon]

I would suggest a few things however I would probably get shot down by the "experts" so I will leave it to them to explain in hopefully a non condescending manner. I will say it never ceases to amaze me how lovely and caring so many members of APS are I wish you all the very best in rehabilitating these poor little guys

[PythonLegs]

They don't remember they were neglected- snakes dont get psychological scars. I'd get a vet to give them a once over for retained sheds, respiratory infections and blisters, other than that, treat em as normal new snakes.

[Icarus]

advise away! I'll keep in mind youre not an expert, but any suggestions will be read and appreciated!

[discountreptile]

Hello Icarus,
First thing i know you should do with any new reptile to your collection is quarenteen them from the rest of your collection. always wash your hands before and after handling these new guys.
put them on the correct heat and humidity conditions.
start feeding with smaller items.
keep the fresh water up to them as change it every two days.
Hopefully they go good
Best of luck

[Icarus]

thanks discountreptile- we have them quarenteened in a different room and are keeping on top of our hygiene. i'll keep in mind starting with smaller feed items!

[disintegratus]

No expert here, but to help them settle in I'd keep their click clacks in a secluded area of the house, or at least line them with cardboard on the outside so they don't freak out too much.

And good on you!

[Wrightpython]

Just take your time with them and treat them like any new hatchies. Remember snakes are very hardy creatures they can astound us and once they start feeding they will grow like no tomorrow so don't stress. Even if they were to die at least you know you gave them every chance good luck

[mysnakesau]

Treat them as you would your own, from here on in. Get them onto heat, hideboxes and nice fresh water. I would suggest start trying to feed them on nothing less than fuzzy size mice. But regardless of how big they should be at their age, don't think you have to powerfeed them to catch up with anything they have missed out on. So long as they put on condition, and shed, it doesn't matter that they are small. What matters is that they are now on the right track.

[NTNed]

Good on you guys for taking on the challenge. It's always dissapointing when this happens due to irresponsible owners, reponsible owners get tarred with the same brush when this type of thing makes the news.

Some great advice already and it seems you have started on the right approach with Quarantine etc. As has been said already, they are hardy little critters and should pick up their size and condition quickly. Should you lose one, as sad as that would be, you are giving them every chance for survival. That's got to be a better outcome for the little guys than knowing the state they were in and had done nothing with the same ending but in a much more indignified, painful way.

It always turns me into Nasty Ned when I hear of any form of animal abuse. Keep up the great work guys and keep us posted on their recovery.

[Kam333]

They don't remember they were neglected- snakes dont get psychological scars.

Dont know but that sounds like the old belief that gold fish have a 3 sec memory. . . and didnt that turn out to be a load of excrement.

But interestingly enough snakes learn from experience like anything else.

[Icarus]

thanks guys for all of your advice. the bloke we got them from isn't a bad guy- he has other snakes in good condition. this pair were obviously just more than he can deal with. when i get a chance in the next few days i'll post some photos and weigh them so anyone interested can folow what will hopefully be a stable recovery

ignore the devil emoticon at the end, i dontknow whats going on with my phone!

update:
the boy weighs 58 grams and the girl weighs 62 grams. They are both approximately 40 centimetres long.
They both ate tonight! a fuzzy mouse each, no problems. And my boyfriend and i got tagged in the process