Introducing...Cuddles

Just a quick yet delayed one tonight, as I have a little free time. So, pretty much since I started keeping snakes, if not before, I've wanted a Boa - I can't quite put my finger on why, perhaps it's something to do with their larger size or increased strength compared to my Royals maybe. Not sure, but there's something very appealing about them. What has put me off previously and for so long, were my hesitations about housing a large bodied snake - so the obvious compromise was to look at dwarf species, such as Hog Island or Cawl Cray localities which tend to stay around the 6 foot mark.

So some time in November I decided to bite the bullet, and set about looking for a suitable candidate. After not too much hunting, a female CB11 "Hog Island" came up for sale quite local to here, complete with a 4' x 2' vivarium... or so I was led to believe.

On arrival at the sellers house, I was quickly spun a line about how the vivarium that she was supposed to come with, had been damaged (yet was no where to be seen), "but it's ok, you can have this vivarium instead", and was pointed to a 3' x 1' vivarium, which despite being completely inappropriate for housing a 5'+ chunky bodied snake, had certainly seen better days. I was assured that this absolutely was not what she was being housed in and was just a spare that I could take if I wanted.... which is all well and good, but that didn't explain the overwhelming smell of stale urine or the presence of fresh excretes... I had clearly been lied to.

This presented me with a bit of a problem. I had immediately become quite attached to this snake - both figuratively and literally, as she had wrapped herself around my shoulders and had made herself comfortable. Ethically and morally, I do not believe in rewarding neglect, in terms of handing over money for animals that have been abused or intentionally neglected by their owners, as I feel this sends the message that it is ok to purchase animals on a whim and fail to look after them properly as the option of selling them at a later date is available. This in turn provides the seller with the opportunity to buy more animals, and repeat the cycle. I know it's a touchy subject, and not everyone agrees with me, but that's just my view on it. The difference here, is that I had not gone to "rescue" a neglected animal - I had gone with the intention of buying a snake that I believed was housed correctly - and I didn't want to leave without her, despite my annoyance at both being lied to. As a compromise, I offered the seller a lesser amount than agreed for the snake, and even this was a bitter pill to swallow for me.

The next problem of course, was that I could not immediately remedy her bleak conditions - I did not have a suitable vivarium to immediately house her in, and unfortunately had to take the stinking 3 foot vivarium too. This did not sit well with me. At all. The very least I could do was strip it down, give it a bloody good scrub, and fill it with fresh substrate - and immediately raid my piggy bank to order a brand new 4' x 2' vivarium (and matching cabinet). It was a guilt racked two weeks waiting for the new vivarium to come whilst watching Cuddles (as she had suitably been named) sitting in an enclosure that she was almost twice as long as. It could not come quick enough.

Swollen eye socket

And it doesn't end there. Cuddles came with some "hidden extras". Namely, snake mites. Joy. Somehow, I was not surprised, in fact I'd go as far as to say I was expecting them. Fortunately, and down to basic good practice, Cuddles had been in isolation since her arrival, so the risk of contaminating the rest of my animals was minimal (but real). The last thing i was to deal with is treating 40+ snakes for mites.
Those of you that have read my previous blogs know that I know a thing or two about snake mites, about how they live, and how you can treat them and prevent spread - yet I have never had an outbreak amongst my own animals. Knowledge is power and all that jazz, so no panicking here, just some basic extended quarantine practices, and simple treatment - my method of choice on this occasion was Frontline flea treatment coupled with the condemning of her vivarium, as thankfully, her new vivarium arrived a few days into her treatment. A few weeks later I was happy to sign her off with the all clear, and stop treating her as if she had a confirmed case of the Bubonic Plague, and I could EVENTUALLY enjoy come cuddles with Cuddles.

Despite everything - the crappy conditions she had come from, the stress of the move, being bathed and treated for mites, and being transferred into a new enclosure - she is a lovely mannered snake. A powerful-gentle dwarf-giant. She is extremely tolerant of handling, very curious and inquisitive, and is a genuine joy to own and keep. There is not an aggressive bone in her body it seems, and I very much enjoy some hands-on time with this big strong girl. She is purely a pet to me - I have no intentions to breed her, but just to enjoy keeping and observing her - and despite the stress and ballache of the circumstances of her acquisition, I'd do it all again if I had to.