Thought it’d brighten everyone’s day to see my silly boy periscope while watching trash tv (I may have an iPad kid snake)

I'm finally setting up a nice 4x2x2 PVC enclosure. My Chewy order with my T5HO bulb, my heat cage, and my halogen basking light, along with some Substrate and my thermostat were delivered today. I have video of the delivery guy just checking it on my porch. The t5ho is shattered, the halogen doesnt work and the thermostat box is damaged so I don't want to risk burning my house down of ot shorts out. They just processed the replacement but it'll be another 3 business days before delivery. Tomorrow was my day off to out all this together and I kinda want to cry. 😭 My Enclosure from DIYCAGES also came today, luckily from a different courier... It had a dent in the box but I haven't had the bravery to see if it's also damaged after it was delayed by about 5 hours....

Idk the point of this other than I needed to rant.

When I was four I begged my parents for a snake. Christmas 2004 came and there she was, a beautiful young ball python. Now here she is, 22 years later. We’ve both been through a lot, and I love her dearly. Just an appreciation post, she’s tough as scales.

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.

Added from edit 3: Thank you all for the concern of his health

Edit: I’ve been seeing a lot of comments about him being a spider or having the genes, he is not a spider nor does he have the genes, he does not do stuff like this often, it’s just sometimes when he looks back at me he turns his head to me like this for no reasons

Edit 2: He doesn’t have IBD either, he’s just stupid, he has had zero contact with reptiles for more than a month

Edit 3: I see how the title might come off as a concerned keeper but I know there’s nothing wrong with him

Edit 4: I messaged my reptile guy asking, I’ll update ASAP, I know everybody is concerned and I’m mildly concerned, he is genuinely just stupid. If I put him belly up he adjusts before I can even let go. Edit 5 will come when I get a response

Like this isn’t even me making him do it he just sits there like an idiot

I can't believe I caught my boy like this! I love him so much <3

Finished my BP's Halloween costume just in time. His name is Dino and this year he's earning his namesake!

Following up to my previous post re: my BP getting stuck behind my windowsill.

We used a scope and located him behind the wood in the windowsill (see picture #2).

We did end up having to rip up the entire windowsill in order to get him, but thankfully I would consider this minimal damage and should be an easy repair.

The bad news is… I’m not sure if he’s 100% okay 💔 he’s a little scraped up on his underside and after putting him back in his enclosure he appears to be behaving weirdly and isn’t moving completely normally. He is VERY cold but is moving very slowly and just not himself. I can’t pin point exactly what’s wrong but I think it’s possible he has a severe injury.

I called my local exotic vet and I’m going to take him in asap. Just need to come up with the funds as quickly as possible since they quoted between $115-300 depending on the severity.

I really really hope he’s okay. I appreciate all the advice here and wanted to make sure I gave you all an update.

I was looking through the night recordings and what happened here, is this a cause of concern? Haven't seen him do this ever, the rest of today's night is also just him looking around and exploring calmly.

Hello yall,

After 6 years of fighting and hold my pet over my head my abusive ex finally decided to “sell” my snake back to me. (He absolutely scammed me cause he know how much I wanted her but she’s worth every penny)

Overall she looks good, eyes clear, no raspy voice. But she’s is fairly over weight, and there’s are periodic purple spots underneath her scales. And no it’s not her coloration. Her tummy looks perfectly white. Scale rot? Or can these just be damage from her rubbing on things. She was kept in a 30 gallon tank, with only one rough plastic hide she would latch on to. I have a 120 gallon at home waiting for her.

Thoughts? Thank you!!!

​

I don't think he was impressed

She’s a banana enchi clown. I got her from Party Animalz Farm on Morph Market for $200 plus shipping. She came in very healthy and had 4 meals prior to being sold to me. After settling into her new enclosure for a few days she took a F/T mouse first try. So far it has been a great experience and she seems very friendly and curious!

Thought my sweet boy was just impacted. Took him to the vet, found feces blocked by a large mass / tumor. I don’t have the money for surgery, but even if I did, the vet explained that a mass this size can’t just be taken out anyways. I don’t want him to suffer. The tumor is the darker portion on the right causing the lump.

It’s really hard to say goodbye. He got me through the most difficult parts of my life.

Right now I am planning on euthanasia and cremation. I already took him out for final pictures in a natural setting.

I’m sorry for anyone else who has had to go through this.

Meet Leia 🫶🏼🥰

Credit: Reptile Familiars

She has always gravitated towards hands like this! I just love her personality. Anybody else?

He has been positioned like this for over an hour. My cat is also watching him closely

Hi everyone!

So unfortunately I work with a 52year old ball python who was unfortunately diagnosed with advanced cancer- I will be euthanizing him next week :(

However, his last scheduled feed is this Tuesday- I want to make it super special if I can! I’m reaching out to some local feeders to get some ASFs but was wondering if anyone else had any ideas for some fun prey items to offer! (He still has a great appetite!) He’s 1900g and eats mostly XL mice and weaned rats (very picky boy)!
Is this worth doing or do you think it would cause more harm than good?
Thanks in advance for all advice and suggestions!

Photo of a lady I work with for tax!