So my ball python stopped breathing and I gave him CPR

[m1lkhoney]

He's very small for his age so sometimes I supplement his mice with Zilla Jump-Start calorie supplement. (Yes, I know he gets all he needs from the mice, but I'm a helicopter mom.) There has never been an issue. Today, however, I saw him tilting his head up farther and farther, oddly and staring at me. At first it was kind of cute. Then I noticed he wasn't breathing. Then he went mostly limp. Then I realized if his life ended mine would too. So I figured he probably had some supplement stuck down his windpipe (UGH THIS IS ALL MY FAULT) and after massaging his throat, giving him a mini bit of water, panicking and calling my friend the reptile vet (this all happened within minutes), I just... well, it had been a LONG time since he had taken a breath. He was uncoiling and just kind of flopped onto the floor. So. I opened his mouth a bit, breathed into it gently while massaging his windpipe, rinse and repeat. After a bit of this he took a wheezy breath and then a few more gasps. So I didn't die. And he didn't die. But oh my god, watching him still struggling to breathe (and of course I had to watch him!) for an hour after he "woke up" was just awful.

And then suddenly... he was fine. Took a drink of water

, slithered around, acted like nothing had happened. I, on the other hand, am halfway through a bottle of wine. Oh my god. Oh my god.

I just had to share because I think I may be more traumatized than my snake. Still trying not to cry. And if you're giving jump-start, mix it with water and be careful.

Because.

[BlackOut]

Glad to hear good news


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[danielwilu2525]

Thanks for saving his life and WHAT

[m1lkhoney]

I once saved a choking fish with the end of a paperclip. Oh I hope this isn't some sort of pattern in my life.

[danielwilu2525]

I'm somehow jealous...

[m1lkhoney]

Either you're jealous of me spitting and crying all over my snake or you have a choking fetish.

Edit: No, not THAT kind of fetish. Jeepers.

[Eric Alan]

And if you're giving jump-start, DON'T.

FTFY. You're not being a better mom by doing this. As if it being useless wasn't a good enough reason, you just about lost him doing it!

[m1lkhoney]

I'm sorry. I didn't know. I can't undo this now. I know I'm horrible.

[BMorrison]

Take a breath. You're doing too much here and causing undue stress. These animals aren't glass they're hardy and very self sufficient after you dial your husbandry in.


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[Greensleeves001]

Kudos on saving your snake.

Things getting lodged in throats... bad news.


Don't feel bad or terrible; its the mother instinct in all of us women. We nurture, sometimes, maybe too much, but we eventually find our balance.

My husband says I fuss too much over our snakes, the cats, the fish, the stray cats in the alley etc.