Because of the Chinese New Year 2013 – of the Snake we have been inundated with calls to appear with the snakes unfortunately we cannot fit everything into the two week window, we really hope that from these extra bookings work will pick up for the snake sanctuary.
Its great to have this little whirlwind of extra work and the finance will certainly help us, maybe to even scrap two or three dilapidated vivariums and purchase some new ones 🙂
We’ve had some sad times in 2012 with the deaths of some of the snakes in the sanctuary. 🙁
We took in little Elvis a young Boa Constrictor – we managed to sort his skin problem and respiratory problem but then he went down with a disease that affects the nervous system.
You can see by this photo even though his body looks good after all his problems, his face looks very sad.
We also lost Cats a 5yr old Boa through a disease that attacks the snakes nervous system there was no contact between the two snakes, they were kept in different areas of the sanctuary, Elvis was in quarantine and we always use F10 hand gel between them so why she went down with this was a total mystery. I had kept her all of her 5yrs and she was eating well until May but suddenly went off her food and in July after a slough it was obvious she was ill so I took her to the vet for euthanasia. She was living in the main part of the sanctuary so we are lucky that none of the other Boas have so far become ill with this appalling disease, it is so distressing to watch snakes go down with this and know in your heart that there is no cure.
Zeno one of my old corn snakes died at the age of 17yrs, he slowed his eating and developed a little lump on his spine, we just found him gone one day.
Zeno as a young snake – very handsome boy and we have 4 of his children, Freckles, Alex, Choc Drop and Hotch Potch.
After struggling with Simons mouth problem for 4yrs after he accidentally hit his nose on a branch in his vivarium whilst striking for his food and he kept developing pus in his gums. Pus in a reptile is very different it becomes hard and lumpy, although he had many doses of antibiotics over the years and the swelling did go up and down, we had to use an antibiotic that needed to be injected everyday as the previous one stopped working, these daily sessions always included a cuddle so I’m sure he knew I loved him and we tried so hard to cure his problem but in the end his suffering was too much and he had to be euthanised.
Snowdrop was also one of Zeno’s offspring, I kept her because her tail was a funny shape, it turned out she/he was an hermaphrodite so she had to live alone. Her cloaca was large and last year became sore I bathed it and applied one of my favourite cures Manuka Honey it works brilliantly and doesn’t sting. This year it became sore again I applied the same remedy but had a feeling I didn’t notice quickly enough and she lost all her energy and became quite limp something similar happened to a Kingsnake I had many years ago it was septicemia, they go down so quickly with that and in a few days she left us, she was 8yrs old.
Tao – a Chinese Copperhead Ratsnake – I took him in in November 08, he was what I call one of the untouchables, extremely nervous although I did occasionally sit with him on my lap calming him. I think some of these fast ratsnakes don’t live as long as some other snakes. He was already adult when I took him in so have no idea of his age and the people that passed him to me were beginners in snake-keeping so knew nothing about him and just told me he was a hybrid ratsnake. He died suddenly and unexpectedly.
So that’s the sad news of the sanctuary for 2012 I think I will have to put up some good news for balance.