December 20, 2003
Not a Merry Hissmas after all
Remember a few posts back when I poked fun at a post on Joanne Jacob's site? The one where a reader of hers mentioned a ridiculous suggestion by her child's teacher to sing "Merry Hissmas" instead of "Merry Christmas"?
And I said, "As for me, my pet snakes and I will have a very Merry Hissmas this year, thank you very much."
I spoke too soon. I just got back from the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School emergency room, where I've been all afternoon. My python, Dancer, who seemed fine a week ago, actually had an internal infection. Once it surfaced, it was too late for me to save him without radical surgery that would have seriously affected his quality of life. So he had to be euthanized. The UPenn people were very good, and very comforting, and I thank them for that.
I'm just very, very sad. His health was never perfect, and I figure the fact that he was originally bought (not by me) through a pet store was related to that. It's very difficult to tell when reptiles are sick, and pet stores are notorious for selling sick animals without giving much information as to the normal care and feeding of them. Case in point: One week ago, my python looked fine and was eating normally. Perhaps a breeder or a vet would have noticed signs of disease, but had he been in a pet store someone very well could have bought him, only to have him on the verge of death a week later.
One of my favorite experts on reptiles, Melissa Kaplan, has a page about why pet stores should not sell reptiles. I particularly like her list of changes that pet stores could make in order to make the trade of reptiles more humane. Snakes are not objects, and they're not pets for amateurs. They require a great deal of preventative medicine, but when they are not well taken care of early in life, it may be impossible for them to live long, healthy lives.
As for me, I'm going to make a donation to a local reptile rescue group in Dancer's name. It's the least I can do.
Requiescat in pace, little Python regius.
Posted by kswygert at December 20, 2003 05:53 PM