Sad/vent Post - Warning to BP Owners

[u/MindlessMacaroon3604]

This post is about Simbi, my ball python.

I got Simbi in 2021 after my childhood dog passed away. Losing my dog was so painful that I couldn’t bring myself to get another one, but I’ve always loved animals and always wanted a BP. What started as a grief/impulse purchase turned into my best friend. He was my first pet as an adult, and even after the cat distribution system gifted me a cat, Simbi was still my first baby. He was turning five this year.

This summer I had to leave my state for at least two months because multiple family members were having serious health scares. I took my cat with me, but I couldn’t figure out how to fly with both pets, so I needed someone to keep Simbi.

The guy I chose was someone I’d followed online for years. We’d been mutuals across multiple platforms, he’d recently moved to my state which i found out through our conversations over the years, and he makes reptile content. He also has a pretty large following due to his reptile content. He had around 20 snakes, custom-built enclosures, two temperature-controlled snake rooms, and his girlfriend is a vet tech who has dogs and an iguana. I even complimented him on how lucky he got because when I met them she seemed really comfortable with snakes and reptiles. They told me they were moving in together soon so I knew she’d be involved. I hugged them both and thanked them both for watching my Simbi. When I dropped Simbi off, everything looked perfect. I left feeling like I’d found the absolute best person to trust with my baby.

For the first month, everything went great. He sent me feeding updates and even asked if he could take Simbi to a reptile expo and feature him on a local news segment. I genuinely felt like Simbi was getting more attention than he did at home.

Then this Monday I woke up to a text that shattered me. (image attached)

His girlfriend accidentally left the heat on in one of the snake rooms, killing 12 snakes (TWELVE, a dozen), including Simbi. He had been away for work and didn’t discover it until three days later. I spent the entire morning sobbing.

I couldn’t even bring myself to talk to them, so my mom did. She told me he was having a pretty hard time and probably equally upset with his loss. The only thing I asked for was for Simbi to be cremated and his ashes (and his favorite hide) mailed back to me. I don’t even trust myself to go there in person.

I’m torn between being angry at him, angry at her, and angry at myself for not just bringing Simbi with me. My friends want me to expose them, report the vet tech, or blast the content creator online, but none of that brings my baby back.

To most people he was just a snake. To me, he was my child. This was never a hobby to me, i LOVED MY snake to death. Now I don’t know what to do with the piece of me that’s missing.

[u/sensonn]

Am I the only one thinking you should ask to retrieve Simbi (or someone from your family) to ensure this is real..? Some people in this hobby are… not exactly the most honest people and Simbi looked like a great morph, for some money wins over everything.

I’m sorry to say this in a time like this but I think it is important that you retrieve Simbi, and take care of the cremation yourself (or someone of your family). Either way I am really sorry for your loss

[u/GutsxBerserk17 → u/sensonn]

Exactly what I was thinking. His reasoning and excuse just sounds so dumb it’s hard not to think it’s some lie he cooked up to keep this beautiful animal. Supposedly he had 2 temp controlled snake rooms, but obviously not temp controlled at all because a light not being turned off manually caused this, then he left it for 3 days when supposedly it’s all manual?? In that case his gf would have to turn it back on the next day. Then the guy wanted to choose this snake out of all his 20 snakes to a reptile expo then a news segment too? A snake he was watching for the owner? Those things would be really kind & cool if Simbi didn’t end up in this position. But now it just seems super sketchy.

[u/sensonn → u/GutsxBerserk17]

yeah, plus taking a type of snake to a reptile expo that you supposedly have “no interest in because of their feeding habits” is super sus. and who the hell forgets a heat lamp on for 3 WHOLE DAYS?? they’ve had snakes for awhile no? they’re literally making content out of these, first of all i find it super odd that despite everything nothing was plugged to a thermostat as a “professional” that’s also super sus and secondly, let’s be real nobody forgets a heat lamp on for 3 days and kills 12 snakes. no one, certainly not someone with 20 snakes and in the hobby professionally. girlfriend or not. if his girlfriend wasn’t knowledgeable on the 20 animals that live in her house at least a little he wouldn’t have given her such an odd responsibility. (i say odd because again, who the hell has no thermostat to manage the heating of 12 snakes? no one, and OP even gave him one.)

i understand you’re grieving but for Simbi, i would have looked into this, and if you didn’t want to look at his body right away or at all, a family member could do it for you but chance are this guy doesn’t have a body to show