My snake has sustained a burn & hasn't eaten in a few months...

[squidlike]

Hello.
I'm looking for some advice or help because I'm extremely concerned about my snake. He is a male ball python and I believe he is somewhere around 4 yrs old. A few months ago, I picked him up and noticed that his underbelly was brown and sunken in. I brought him to the vet that day and they told me it was a burn, but wasn't an extremely severe one... at least, not the worst they had seen. We figured that his undertank heater had probably caused the burn, so I removed it and replaced it. I gave him shots of baytril to prevent any infection and applied silver sulfadiazine cream directly to the burns.

He has not eaten since about a week before I noticed the burn..... this was around 3 months ago, I am estimating. I've noticed that he's lost a lot of weight. My main questions are:

1. Should I be concerned or is this just something snakes do in order to heal from an injury?

2. Should I force feed him immediately?

3. Does anybody know about a healing process for burns on snakes? The burn burnt and damaged his scales and I've noticed that the burnt scales are shedding off of him. I'm just nervous that they could have possible gotten an infection or something.


Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thank you so much!

[BuckeyeBalls]

Well lets start off at the burn, the uth prolly did cause it. But do u have it hooked up to a thermostat? If not "Replacing" it wont do much good as the new one can still reach 120* and burn the snake

[kellysballs]

The first thing I would do is call your vet and ask for their opinion. You have an established relationship with them and they will be able to offer guidance. Double check your husbandry so you can share precise info with your vet when you call.

I can share my personal experience with an injured ball.

I had a female that sustained an injury from a loose screw in a cage. The injury required stitches. It took her over 4 months to get back on a regular feeding schedule. Mona was at a healthy weight before the injury and while she was skinny after her fasting my vet was confident she would begin to eat again and helped me through that time with advice and support.

If your vet feels that your snake is in danger of malnutrition he/she can provide you with a product called carnivore care that is mixed with water and fed to the animal via a tube. You vet can show you how to do this if it becomes necessary and it is fairly easy to do with instruction.

Good Luck with your animal!

[swe3tm0mentz]

when my snake wasnt eating, i asked the vet and he said i may have to force feed her at least once because usually it will jump start the erge for them to start eating on their own again. Eventually she ate and i didnt have to force feed her. i would still ask your vet, but in your case force feeding might be a good idea since you said hes lost a good amount of weight.

[Big Gunns]

Hello.
I'm looking for some advice or help because I'm extremely concerned about my snake. He is a male ball python and I believe he is somewhere around 4 yrs old. A few months ago, I picked him up and noticed that his underbelly was brown and sunken in. I brought him to the vet that day and they told me it was a burn, but wasn't an extremely severe one... at least, not the worst they had seen. We figured that his undertank heater had probably caused the burn, so I removed it and replaced it. I gave him shots of baytril to prevent any infection and applied silver sulfadiazine cream directly to the burns.

He has not eaten since about a week before I noticed the burn..... this was around 3 months ago, I am estimating. I've noticed that he's lost a lot of weight. My main questions are:

1. Should I be concerned or is this just something snakes do in order to heal from an injury?

2. Should I force feed him immediately?

3. Does anybody know about a healing process for burns on snakes? The burn burnt and damaged his scales and I've noticed that the burnt scales are shedding off of him. I'm just nervous that they could have possible gotten an infection or something.


Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thank you so much!

Without seeing the snake it's hard to say, but it looks like you may need another Vet visit just to be safe. Snakes will go off feed for a long time. Since yours is losing weight though, you should probably see a Vet.....mainly because of the previous injury.

[squidlike]

Well lets start off at the burn, the uth prolly did cause it. But do u have it hooked up to a thermostat? If not "Replacing" it wont do much good as the new one can still reach 120* and burn the snake

I don't have it hooked up to a thermostat. I think I might have just had a defective pad, but I don't know. I use this brand of pads on my geckos, too, and I know lots of people who have never had problems with them. I plugged it in (not on the cage) just to see and I noticed that it would go through weird phases where it would be an okay temp, and then get really, really hot.

[squidlike]

The first thing I would do is call your vet and ask for their opinion. You have an established relationship with them and they will be able to offer guidance. Double check your husbandry so you can share precise info with your vet when you call.

I can share my personal experience with an injured ball.

I had a female that sustained an injury from a loose screw in a cage. The injury required stitches. It took her over 4 months to get back on a regular feeding schedule. Mona was at a healthy weight before the injury and while she was skinny after her fasting my vet was confident she would begin to eat again and helped me through that time with advice and support.

If your vet feels that your snake is in danger of malnutrition he/she can provide you with a product called carnivore care that is mixed with water and fed to the animal via a tube. You vet can show you how to do this if it becomes necessary and it is fairly easy to do with instruction.

Good Luck with your animal!

Thanks for the advice.
Luckily one of my close friends is a vet tech, and the girl I bought the snake from is one, too. She lives kind of far away from me, but I'm going to try to see if she'd check him out for me and give me some more advice.

[Wh00h0069]

I don't have it hooked up to a thermostat. I think I might have just had a defective pad, but I don't know. I use this brand of pads on my geckos, too, and I know lots of people who have never had problems with them. I plugged it in (not on the cage) just to see and I noticed that it would go through weird phases where it would be an okay temp, and then get really, really hot.

You need a thermostat to regulate the temps. Heat pads can get very hot and burn your snake, or even kill it.

[blackcrystal22]

I don't have it hooked up to a thermostat. I think I might have just had a defective pad, but I don't know. I use this brand of pads on my geckos, too, and I know lots of people who have never had problems with them. I plugged it in (not on the cage) just to see and I noticed that it would go through weird phases where it would be an okay temp, and then get really, really hot.

The heat pads are meant to get much hotter than required and it is not due to defection, if you read the labels they always say 'requires a heat control device such as a thermostat or rheostat'.

Take a picture of your enclosure, or list every detail about the size of the tank, heat, substrate, humidity, and hides. Chances are, you'll have to do some re-vamping of this cage or replace it altogether.

[BuckeyeBalls]

What type are u using? Zoomeds get up to 120* atleast mines does. and a few people iv seen so...