Our neighbor, Fin, found him in her yard and brought him to me. She figured I'd find something to do with him. LOL funny how the "sucker" sign follows us everywhere. My "sucker" sign isn't limited to the cute and fuzzy. I'll take in any damned thing. Including snakes.
Gimpy was about 6 or 7 inches long, and... well... gimpy. You can see in the picture that his underbelly is strangely folded in one section. He wouldn't move that whole folded area, and when I held him that area was limp and strangely flat. I think maybe he got stepped on, but I suppose he could've been hatched deformed. There wasn't any visible trauma, no blood, and when he pooped it was normal with no blood. I thought I could rehab him. Or at least help him out a bit.
He turned out to be a Rough Earth Snake. They don't generally get more than 10 inches long, and their primary diet is earth worms. I thought he was a pretty little gimpy guy, so I set him up in a shallow tupperware container.
I've never seen a snake actually gulp water before, but this little guy was chugging. B was tasked with getting Gimpy some earth worms on his way back from Lowe's. B got the earth worms, but Gimpy never got one....
Poor Gimpy :-( He didn't make it. But we tried. I feel kind of guilty, because I think he would've made it if I had given B specific instructions. Gimpy's little habitat was outside, so he wouldn't get too cold in the AC, and so he could have sunshine. But! This is Texas. It's not just hot, it's H-O-T!! I had Gimpy in an area where he would only receive direct sunlight for a very short time in the morning, and ambient light throughout the day. I checked on him periodically to make sure he wasn't getting too hot, and he seemed to be doing fine. After B got home from Lowe's, he moved Gimpy (unbeknownst to me) into a chair in direct Texas sun. Gimpy never had a chance. *sigh* Poor little guy.
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