Captive snake stopped eating for 3 years. Then she smelled a bird's nest.
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00:00 She is such a tough little lady and has faced many hurdles.
00:03 We are so proud of her.
00:06 I am Brittany, and this is Isma's story for GeoBeast.
00:09 I run Wild Exotics Animal Rescue,
00:11 which is a rescue and sanctuary for the more
00:14 non-conventional animals.
00:15 Isma is an African egg eater.
00:17 They have no teeth due to their diet
00:18 because they just swallow the eggs.
00:20 Isma was originally purchased at a reptile expo.
00:22 The past caretaker say Isma wasn't naturally eating.
00:25 And the vet explained that there could be a chance
00:28 that Isma was actually wild caught,
00:30 meaning that she was taken out of Africa
00:31 and brought to the United States.
00:33 The vet recommended to the past caretaker
00:36 that Isma be tube fed for the duration of her life
00:38 as her natural triggers were not occurring,
00:40 which was suppressing her desire to eat on her own.
00:43 Isma had to be tube fed quail eggs for the last three years,
00:46 and the caretaker just couldn't handle the workload anymore
00:49 and asked if we would be able to take her on.
00:51 We looked her over and we agree the snake really needs help.
00:55 Let's take her into our care and see what we can do.
00:57 We have had her for probably,
00:59 I would say about two months now.
01:00 She is a very special patient.
01:02 Tube feeding, that's stressful for the snake.
01:04 We just didn't like that at all.
01:05 We were trying everything in our power to get her to eat.
01:08 Different enclosures, different husbandry methods,
01:10 but she still wouldn't eat.
01:11 Then one day we had another New Jersey sanctuary reach out
01:15 to let us know that they had a very old bird's nest
01:18 that hadn't been inhabited by birds in a few years.
01:20 And they asked if we wanted it.
01:21 And we were like, of course, like that would be wonderful.
01:23 Let's see what happens.
01:24 We put the nest in there.
01:25 We cracked an egg open.
01:26 She smelled everything combined, went right up and ate her egg.
01:30 Since then, she started to eat on her own.
01:32 Her natural triggers were triggered again.
01:34 So it was really wonderful.
01:35 Once she did start eating,
01:37 she felt like she was back in Africa,
01:40 for lack of better words.
01:41 She would start to get very sassy.
01:43 She would do something called saw scaling.
01:46 And saw scaling is when they take their scales
01:48 and they vibrate together very, very fast.
01:50 And it makes them sound like a viper.
01:52 And that is when they try to scare away
01:56 whoever is in front of them.
01:57 And that would be me.
01:58 So we have to calm her down and make it known
02:00 that we're not a threat
02:01 and that we are someone she can tolerate.
02:03 Isma, are you all cuddled up in your nest?
02:06 African egg eaters are more active at night.
02:08 She always makes it a point every night
02:10 to visit the nest in her enclosure to check for eggs.
02:13 Snakes do not eat every day.
02:15 They typically eat once a week or a couple times a month,
02:18 depending on their size.
02:20 From the day she came to us to now,
02:22 it's very back and forth with her personality.
02:24 Isma.
02:24 She is a woman of many hats.
02:29 If Isma is okay to be interacted with,
02:32 she may come up to us and smell us.
02:34 For someone who has been a little stressed out
02:36 during her life and likely taken out of the wild,
02:38 she tolerates me very well.
02:40 And for that, I'm very grateful.
02:42 [Sounds of a vacuum cleaner]
02:49 [Music]