South western python help or advice

[RATT351]

Hi all im new to the site and chasing abit of advice,
i already have a very healthy 6yr old south western,
6yr old stimson and 2yr old stimson but have just
bought a 10yr old south western male more because
the poor fella deserves a decent home and has a great
nature,anyway the last owner who dont know (luckily for them)
had this fella confiscated by the DEC for neglect and due to
his condition were going to put him to sleep,i feel he deserves
a chance at life but is extremely undernourished and stunted in length (around 1metre long)
any advice on getting this fella back to a healthy weight and badicly just healthy would be very much appreciated
cheers

 

[Snowman]

Is it refusing food?

 

[adderboy]

So you have a 10 year-old SWCP that is about 1 metre long and it's undernourished...?

Snakes grow most up to sexual maturity. After that their rate of growth slows considerably, though they do continue to grow. If this guy has only reached 1 metre in length and it's 10 years old, you can probably forget it ever reaching "normal" dimensions, but that is a secondary consideration - at least you can get it eating properly and putting on condition. Depends how emaciated it is, but start by feeding it small items and often, building up to larger items only gradually. Also, if it's significantly underweight, I'd keep it warm over winter - allowing an ill or emaciated snake to brumate is only asking for trouble. During this period it may continue to eat, but take it easy as it will probably slow down a little anyway if it senses the ambient temp fall.

Good on you for taking on a "project" like this.

S

 

[PilbaraPythons]

How would you know this snake was 10 years old if it came from the DEC? The Dec do not give out any information on the history of confiscated snakes to dealers besides its temperament and its feeding vigor hence the question.

 

[RATT351]

Gday snowman no he seems to want to take adult mice pretty well according to the dealer i bought him off but his last feed of 3 mice was 2 weeks ago

thanks for all that info adderboy
yer we plan on taking things very slowly and see how he goes,ive got him in an enclosure thats got a full heat set up and timed lights ect,we'd like to see this guy get every fighting chance possible,he's having a feed as i type this,very slowly but he is eating,his skin is very loose probably could say extremely loose as he has no weight,
thanks again

Pilbarapythons i can only go by the details the dealer has told me about this snake and he said that he knows the snake before he acquired it,
basicly we dont care if its 10yrs or whatever all we want is to bring it back to a healthy snake as it always should of been

 

[Snowman]

Sounds like you have it under control then. Just follow adderboys advice.

Can you throw a pic up? Curious to see the condition of it.

 

[adderboy]

Sounds like you have it under control then. Just follow adderboys advice.

Can you throw a pic up? Curious to see the condition of it.

Me too. I am curious to see what condition the snake is/was in for DPaW to confiscate it. And to see what sort of a task the OP faces.

 

[RATT351]

Tried to add a couple of pics but doesnt seem to work
in my album theres two pics of him,one of his head resting on my hand and the other of him resting on my wifes arm

 

[adderboy]

Had a quick look but can only see car photos. No snakes at all.

 

[RATT351]

Ok mate now im lost lol i looked and its showing my snakes,very strange........
what kind of cars is it showing

 

[Snowman]

Yeah no pictures at all on your profile...

 

[RATT351]

Sorry guys i really dont know whats going on as i look at my profile and theres 6 pics there in an album called pets

 

[Snowman]

Sorry guys i really dont know whats going on as i look at my profile and theres 6 pics there in an album called pets

I don't think you have an album. If you click advanced on here you can post them to this thread with manage attachments...

 

[RATT351]

Ok with a bit of luck it worked this time
i will take a screen shot of the album maybe you might know what ive done wrong lol

- - - Updated - - -

 

[Stuart]

i will take a screen shot of the album maybe you might know what ive done wrong lol

- - - Updated - - -

View attachment 308396

Should be sorted for you now mate and others should be able to now see your album

 

[Snowman]

Ok with a bit of luck it worked this time
i will take a screen shot of the album maybe you might know what ive done wrong lol

- - - Updated - - -

Yep all working now..
The snake doesn't look too bad in the pictures. Though obviously can't see the body much. Hope it all goes well in it gets some condition back on it.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

I've had fully fertile male SW Carpets that weren't much more than a metre long, so it's not unusual that adult males from some areas can be pretty small, but usually a bit stocky. The males on Garden Island always seemed very small by comparison with the females. It's thought that the males eat rats & mice, but never get big enough to eat Tamars, which are eaten by large females. I once saw a female Garden Island Carpet that must have been close to 3m - probably back in the mid 60s... long before most of you were born !

Jamie

 

[Snowman]

I've had fully fertile male SW Carpets that weren't much more than a metre long, so it's not unusual that adult males from some areas can be pretty small, but usually a bit stocky. The males on Garden Island always seemed very small by comparison with the females. It's thought that the males eat rats & mice, but never get big enough to eat Tamars, which are eaten by large females. I once saw a female Garden Island Carpet that must have been close to 3m - probably back in the mid 60s... long before most of you were born !

Jamie

I dug up a study on carpets from Garden Island awhile back when searching online. They caught something like 600 of them over a timeframe and implanted them with transmitters. Can't find it again at the moment. But I one thing I thought was interesting, that unlike the mainland specimens the females didn't brumate under rocks or in log hollows, but rather under dense bushes. I found this particularly interesting as I know of a mainland coastal population that live where there aren't really any trees but a lot of thick, dense coastal scrub. I'd have to expect they behave similar to the island populations. Interesting about the sexual dimorphism on GI. I wonder if DPaW would let a taker collect a single pair?

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Snowy, the brumation thing on islands is interesting because GI is narrow north to south, you're never far from the sea, so the temps are always relatively mild, even in winter, and in the mornings it gets full sun across Cockburn Sound from very early on. I believe the same thing happens on the Abrolhos. Not sure about the Carpets on the Recherhe near Esperance, but they're probably adapted to a generally cooler but still very stable temperature-wise climate anyway. Interesting...

Jamie

 

[RATT351]

Cheers snipercap for sorting that pic problem
much appreciated