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Ok...this is going to be a long one since I need to give some background.
I have a friend who is very devoted to her snakes, but it seems most of her information is fairly outdated. Inaddequate heating, feeding live (resulting in sometimes long periods with out food while they try to find the right size) feeding overly large meals to make up for it etc.
For the last 6 months they have been undergoing a major remodel at their house and they've been staying at her sisters which is about an hour from them. About 2 months ago I was placing an order from TMF so I suggested they try F/T since they had been having such a hard time finding appropriate sizes on any sort of schedule. She agreed and has found it much more convenient.
Just before Christmas, the remodel had progressed to the point that they were able to start staying in their house again, but the snakes were remaining at her sisters. The sister doesn't like snakes and refused to feed them but felt she could handle watering them. Due to schedule issues and bad flu/cold there have been issues getting up there to feed them. I made the suggestion that the snakes come stay with me until they were in a position to have them back. This will be 6 months to possibly a couple of years since after the house is remodeled it is going on the market and they are then going to be building a house.
Yesterday we went up and picked up the snakes. I was shocked at the size of them. I weighed all but 2 (there are 6 total) and they are all very small for their ages.
Persephone (black rat) is I believe an 05 and weighs 148g, but is close to 3' in length. She's somewhere between a dime and nickel in diameter. Calesto (leucistic black rat) 06?? weighed 55. The 2 07 corns weighed in at 10 and 5g. Not sure about the other 2's weight yet, but I believe they are 06's and probably weigh about 30-40 grams from their looks. Both of those are Bairds. There was also a pewter baby that was lost due to re-gurge issues/small size that I feel is a direct relation to the conditions.
Temps have never been properly maintained. I'm just planning correcting this by gifting them with UTH/thermostate that manage to be extras when they go home. While here, they will be fed on the Munson plan.
Here's my real issue. She's a Phd in psychology and is a Pagan High Priestess. She knows what she knows and is fairly unopen to the fact that that information is wrong and has resulted in her snakes being in this condition. In addition, the recent death of her father and life going upside down has resulted in her placing more weight with her spiritual views rather then with evidence based arguements.
How do I educate her? Right now my current plan is just to keep the snakes in proper conditions and let the results speak for themselves. Anybody else got any bright ideas?
I have a friend who is very devoted to her snakes, but it seems most of her information is fairly outdated. Inaddequate heating, feeding live (resulting in sometimes long periods with out food while they try to find the right size) feeding overly large meals to make up for it etc.
For the last 6 months they have been undergoing a major remodel at their house and they've been staying at her sisters which is about an hour from them. About 2 months ago I was placing an order from TMF so I suggested they try F/T since they had been having such a hard time finding appropriate sizes on any sort of schedule. She agreed and has found it much more convenient.
Just before Christmas, the remodel had progressed to the point that they were able to start staying in their house again, but the snakes were remaining at her sisters. The sister doesn't like snakes and refused to feed them but felt she could handle watering them. Due to schedule issues and bad flu/cold there have been issues getting up there to feed them. I made the suggestion that the snakes come stay with me until they were in a position to have them back. This will be 6 months to possibly a couple of years since after the house is remodeled it is going on the market and they are then going to be building a house.
Yesterday we went up and picked up the snakes. I was shocked at the size of them. I weighed all but 2 (there are 6 total) and they are all very small for their ages.
Persephone (black rat) is I believe an 05 and weighs 148g, but is close to 3' in length. She's somewhere between a dime and nickel in diameter. Calesto (leucistic black rat) 06?? weighed 55. The 2 07 corns weighed in at 10 and 5g. Not sure about the other 2's weight yet, but I believe they are 06's and probably weigh about 30-40 grams from their looks. Both of those are Bairds. There was also a pewter baby that was lost due to re-gurge issues/small size that I feel is a direct relation to the conditions.
Temps have never been properly maintained. I'm just planning correcting this by gifting them with UTH/thermostate that manage to be extras when they go home. While here, they will be fed on the Munson plan.
Here's my real issue. She's a Phd in psychology and is a Pagan High Priestess. She knows what she knows and is fairly unopen to the fact that that information is wrong and has resulted in her snakes being in this condition. In addition, the recent death of her father and life going upside down has resulted in her placing more weight with her spiritual views rather then with evidence based arguements.
How do I educate her? Right now my current plan is just to keep the snakes in proper conditions and let the results speak for themselves. Anybody else got any bright ideas?
