We purchased Pandora in November of 2017 from a local pet store. The owner had gotten a bulk shipment of green tree pythons from overseas that were “farm bred”. He’d set aside a few to keep for himself, and allowed us to browse the others to see if there was one we wanted.
There was one green tree I really liked, I thought she had a brontosaurus-type face. She seemed really cool. However, I remembered reading something about a swollen face possibly indicating infection or trauma, and I didn’t know if that’s what she should look like so we didn’t get her.
Instead, we picked up Pandora. She was skinny and beautiful, with little star spots on her back and a yellow belly. Her nose and eyes were clear, at least. I thought she was a good choice because she looked very different from Jessie or Jasper, and I knew we’d be able to tell them apart. We didn’t know much about her from the start, and she just got crammed into a pillowcase for us to take her home.
It turned out that Pandora was less than thrilled with our choice. She regarded everyone with open hostility. When TJ offered her a dish of water in the bathtub to drink, since she was obviously dehydrated (and many of our previous green trees have really appreciated this), she thanked him by biting him right on the hand.
We had an enclosure set up for Pandora in a spare bedroom, away from the other reptiles. It was also a very low-traffic part of the house. Anytime someone walked by the enclosure, she would strike at the glass. It didn’t matter if the door was opened or not.
Actually, this was one of the first changes I saw. After a few months, Pandora stopped striking at me when I walked past her enclosure. She slowly fell into the routine of allowing me to spray her enclosure or change her water bowl. Interestingly enough, when my parents came over and walked by, she would still strike at the glass. Anyone trying to touch her still got bit.
A few months after we brought Pandora home, we found out that the pretty green tree with the Brontosaurus nose had died at the store. We had no idea how many of the other green trees had died, or how long they made it before they did. I started wondering whether these animals were in fact “farm bred” or if they were just pulled out of trees—after all, it would be hard to tell, wouldn’t it? We had no idea how old Pandora was or the conditions in which she was shipped to the pet store.
It was a huge delight to see Pandora drinking for the first time. She still wouldn’t let anyone offer her water, but she liked water—lots of it. We ended up giving her the biggest water bowl we could put in her enclosure.
After a couple of months, Pandora started to look more hydrated. However, we still had an ongoing issue—she wouldn’t eat. This wasn’t unusual—a high stress situation and a very upset animal would surely take time to acclimate. But it was months. She didn’t poop so we couldn’t see if she had parasites. We tried frozen, live, anything—it just wasn’t happening.
We had given Pandora an initial dose of dewormers in February 2018, but without any knowledge of whether she had parasites or not, we didn’t continue it. The fasting continued. Finally in June, with Pandora still not eating and her weight starting to drop, we found ourselves sitting at the vet, waiting to see if he had any ideas. She sat sullenly on her perch while we discussed with him. We warned him of her disposition and he simply grabbed her by the head to inspect her. She completely uncoiled from her perch, radiating shock. After talking it over, we decided to assume she had parasites, and give her a full course of treatment for all of them. Additionally, the vet tube fed her a very disgusting-looking (albeit probably very nutritious) liquid brown meal.
It seemed that the meds, or the meal, or both, did something for Pandora’s appetite. We sat her in a tub on a low perch and put in a young live rat. It scampered around and she ate it immediately. We didn’t know if she was finally eating because she wanted to, or because the rat was obnoxious, but it didn’t matter. She ate!
Pandora still didn’t like being handled, but she was starting to tolerate it, and we discovered she loved going outside. We would walk around and she would sit on TJ’s shoulders and stretch up to look at everything. She would relax very quickly whenever we took her outside. We still had a few incidents—she didn’t like cell phones, and one time TJ turned his head too fast and she bit him on the chin. But she was becoming more and more tolerant.
We had to treat Pandora several times for a variety of parasites. Finally, in November of 2018, we started seeing a significant gain in weight for Pandora. She was eating regularly, and finally starting to put weight on. She looked better and better.
After the parasite meds were done, we took Pandora to the vet for a followup. We had our own room to wait in, so TJ pulled her out of her box and let her sit on his shoulders. A few technicians came in and asked to take pictures with her. She was very calm and tolerant of them. Then, the veterinarian walked in. Pandora musked all over the floor and tried to get away! This was the first time I really felt I witnessed a snake recognizing a person. I think she was not ecstatic to see him again.
Today, Pandora could not care less if I walk by her enclosure, unless she is hoping maybe I have some food. In that case she will scope over to the door rather than striking at it. She does have some hormonal days where she will ground herself or get grumpy when someone gets near her. However, she is very tolerant of having her enclosure cleaned and even of being pulled out and deperched to be weighed or handled. She is definitely not our most social green tree python, but she had grown so much since she first arrived in our home. We are grateful every day for her, and for that day she finally decided to start eating and really living with us.
