Got given a new snake!

out of the blue last night we got a call about a snake that needed some TLC and free to a good home.

It's a Boa called Khan. He's 5 ft long and had a bit of a rough ride, his first owner had done something to him and made him blind in both eyes. At some point he was kept in a mesh enclosure and has a few scars, and although the last owner loved him very much and regularly used to handle him, she couldn't handle him whilst pregnant and he hasn't been handled in about a year.

But he is beautiful, he is a really dark colour, like he is semi melanistic - No idea on morphs so dont ask me exactly what he is, but if anyone knows please let me know. Gave him a big bowl of water to sit and soak in, he has a lot of unshedded skin on his back end. Ok so he might not be beautiful to everyone lol. but I think he is great

He is beautiful Lisa! I love the pastel brown on the head. Looks like he's hit the jackpot settling with you , it seems that many snakes don't find themselves so lucky .
Does being blind make any difference to the way you have to care for him?

Just got me be a little more gentle and introduce yourself to them before you pick them up. I put my hand in front of his face so he could have a good smell, then gently stroked his neck and he let me pick him up.

I was over the moon he was so gentle, didn't hiss and he let me get some of the irritating skin off. So it looks promising that he will remain a placid snake despite not being handled for so long.

great stuff

Awwwwww he is beautiful lisa! that is such a shame about his eyes though, poor thing.

aye but it gives him a mysterious look

Lisa, the darkness in coloration could be a result of lack of exposure to sunlight . Pythons and boas tend to darken when kept in low-light conditions for extended periods of time. His blindness could be due to over accumulation of eye caps and can be revived if they can be surgically removed but I need to get a closeup of the eye to be certain. But, If there is serious damage to the retina then that's just too bad. There's nothing much we can do but nevertheless, snakes don't do too badly without their eyesight. Its their tongue that gets them around the most. Blind snakes just seem a little sensitive to vibrations because that their only constant peripheral sense left. He looks alright considering, but he could do with a bit of fattening up lol. You could start with mice but it might be cheaper to move on onto thawed chicken wings. All the best regards to you and Khan.

P.S. I find Boa Constrictors a little more bitey than Retics. Take care.

I used to have an 11ft female and a 7ft male. the female was a puppy dog and the male was a little jumpy.

The retina's are totally shot. it's like a white ball inside. His left eye is slightly bulging but according to the last owner it has not got any bigger in all the time they had him. Although I will keep an eye on it so to speak.

I am used to sticky eye caps as well... my old ball python, despite premolt baths was a pain for having the eye caps stick. but my little fingernail was the best tool for getting those off

he might lose the last half inch of his tail from old skin, there was quite an accumulation and it was rather smelly once I got it off. cleaned it up and applied some iodine.

As for his weight, yes he could do with a bit more meat on him... but I have seen them even more underweight than this and make a full recovery (i.e. my old male when we first got him)

And we have got a couple of plump mice out for him to eat later. So as he starts improving i will let youu all know

here's the vid

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Blast! Khan would have been a perfect name!!

Beutiful friend you have there!!
Interesting how dark he looks

he's still dark so I think we can right off his dark colouration to being cold. it's his natural colour. yay

I love BCI/O/C/A/etc
Awesome snake.
Good thing eyes are their second most important sense.

well since changing his substrate and keeping him at between 70-80% humidity, he shed this afternoon in one piece which I was glad to see. Eye caps also came off, that was a relief.

got him out to make sure there was no little bits stuck only to find a 2" tear in his skin 3/4 of the way down his body the stone cave I built for him has no sharp edges but his skin is so thin the same would have happened on a 'scratching branch' (rough area to start the skin peeling off)

the slough had also caused several cysts to rupture. In a way im glad they did because I wasn't sure if they were cysts or masses of scar tissue. Man did they stink

so with me at the teeth end and stigg at the smelly end we managed to get him cleaned up and iodine into the open wounds. And the good snake that he is, he just sat there and let us get on with it.

I was pretty concerned that his skin was as fragile as tissue paper but a friend explained to me with such heavy skin damage sustained by his fight with wire mesh, all nutrients were going straight to the bad area's instead of to the rest of the skin.
So in a way the sores popping is a good sign he is healing properly. 4 ruptured, and there is about another 8-9 to go. once the 'mess' was out the muscle underneath was very healthy looking.

so we are adding some extra vits into his diet and cleaning the sores every other day from now on. Poor fella I do feel sorry for him, but I know in time he will pull through.

I'm glad to hear that he's doing well. You sound like quite the caring herp-mom.

lol, I have a soft spot for reps like this!

going to take out the substrate tonight and give the enclosure a good clean

kitchen roll for substrate until the sores heal

But he ate a medium rat last night so he hasn't lost his appetite

I love these snakes! So awesome looking.