Last week I talked Joey into purchasing a 2.2 (unrelated) group of possible
het for pied ball pythons. We both love pieds and this seemed to be the perfect way to start a project. Our quarantine rack at the office is empty and we'd been talking for a while about getting some more ball pythons.
Joey called and spoke with the breeder and he was shipping a few other snakes out that night and said that if we got our payment through that he could ship to us as well. I had the day after off of work and the temperatures weren't going to go below 45 degrees, so we agreed. A few hours later, he called us back and asked if he could include an extra female pos.
het pied because he couldn't get her to eat anything but mice and thought that maybe we'd have better luck with her. We, of course, agreed, he verified our zip code and shipped them out. We got our tracking number and everything was great!
Until the next morning when we awoke to find out that thunderstorms had knocked out the airport at the Fedex hub in Memphis, and our package was still there. We called and basically got the "Not our fault, weather beyond our control, have a nice day!" run around with nobody actually listening to us about the whole "live animals" thing. We called the breeder and kept him up to date on the situation, and although we were all nervous, he said that he packed the box really well and that they should be alright.
I called work and told them that I'd be late for work the next day becaue I had to be there to sign for the box. I hate my job but at least they know better than to argue with me when I tell them I'm going to be running late or need to leave early for a "snake thing".
Thursday morning the box arrived. Fedex guy (like EVERY Fedex delivery I've ever had) dropped the box at the door, didn't get our signature, didn't ring the bell or knock, but we were waiting for the truck, so we were outside in a flash.
We opened the box and everything just felt cold. I was already sick to my stomach about the whole thing, and I wouldn't look in any of the bags, I made Joey. (Thank goodness for Joey, he's much tougher than I am.) He opened each bag felt and touched them and shook his head.
We called the breeder and nobody really knew what to do. The breeder didn't want us having to send the corpses back, so we agreed to take pictures and email them to him. I was getting the camera when Joey saw one twitch.
Needless to say, we were at the vet in record time. They took the snakes back and put them in incubators. One was most definitely DOA, but there was a little bit of hope for the others.
We got to the vet so fast that I had my shirt on backwards, no socks, and the worst morning hair you've ever seen.
In the end, two more pythons died pretty quickly thereafter. Of the remaining two, one had a strong heartbeat and fairly good muscle tone. After a few injections of liquids and vitamins and some heat, she perked up enough to come home with us. The other remaining baby had a weak heartbeat and no muscle tone, and ended up being brain-dead.
We brought the lone survivor home and gave her the entire guest-room, which is the lowest-trafficked area of the house. She has a nice quarantine tub with an elevated basking temperature, and a space heater to keep the ambient up. The breeder refunded all of our money even though she survived and the other snakes he sent out that went through the same delay that ours did all made it safe and sound.
Needless to say, her name is "Lucky". She's absolutely gorgeous. Tough little girl, very active despite all she's gone through. We're leaving her alone as much as possible, only handled her when we got home for a few minutes and took a few pictures before putting her in her new home to adjust and recouperate.
