Hello everyone, I've browsed here for a while now ever since I got my BP about 5 months ago. I made an account tonight because I need some help or advice. I apologize in advance if this is long or rambling..
BACKSTORY:
I took my snake to a vet tonight that said they treated snakes when I first called and made an appointment. The reason for the appointment is because my snake is young (I got him from petsmart in june) and he hasn't eaten in 2 months. I checked most of the threads on here and have tried many of the steps (changing temp, humidity, warmer mouse, cooler mouse, smaller mouse, blanket over tank, blowdryer, etc.) and I still have had no luck. I know adult snakes can go for months and months without eating but I am concerned because my snake is still so young and it's been 8 weeks of me trying, sometimes up to 3 different mice a night just to see if the temperature of one wasn't ideal or whatever.
AT THE VET (main point of my post):
Even though I was told on the phone the vet treated snakes, he vet didn't seem like he knew too much about ball pythons at all. During the exam, he asked if I brought a stool sample and I had not (or been asked to) so he stuck a q-tip up my snake's cloaca and when pulling it out my snake urinated and there was a little blood, it looked like he had torn a little of the edge of the cloaca where it meets the scales and the cloaca was protruding slightly (after a few minutes it seemed to go back to normal but the skin above it seems a bit 'loose' for lack of better words). He acted like nothing was wrong but after a few minutes I asked if the blood was normal and he assured me it was but he'd "put some anti-septic cream there just to be safe". He then smeared the urine on a glass microscope slide and went to the back of the office "to check for parasites, etc". When he returned he didn't mention anything so I asked if he had found anything and he mumbled something about protozoa (because he mumbled through this I have no idea what he actually said) and that he didn't find anything but you would need advanced equipment to know for sure (this unasked for procedure tacked another 25 dollars on my bill). I'm honestly just worried about my snake at this point and if there's any risk of damage being done from the q-tip to my snakes cloaca or scales. I have held my snake and he seems happy (he trusts me and loves crawling around me - sticks his head between my fingers when he is scared instead of going into a ball) and alright but I am keeping him in his travel tub for now, I'm afraid of I put him in his tank he could get infected if the small particles of coconut husk (I use the eco earth powdery type) get lodged in there or bacteria from the mouse he refused to eat last night (the mouse is gone but I'm guessing bacteria can linger around the substrate).
VET'S RECOMMENDATIONS (2nd point of my post):
The vet recommended:
-buying a bird feeding syringe on ebay and using wet dog food like Purina or even egg yolk to give my snake nutrients.
-force feeding pinky or crawler mice
-getting a smaller hider box and avoiding contact or sight with snake.
My questions to the community:
Does anyone have advice on what to do regarding the potential harm from the q-tip procedure? Is this something normal that I just haven't heard of before?
Is dog food and egg yolk really a good idea? IMO snakes would require totally different nutrition than dogs and egg yolk just doesn't seem right to me.
Thoughts in general?
Pictures of my snake attached, only thing I notice is minor rips near cloaca and spurs which I had not noticed before now poke through (one more so than the other)
If I'm over-reacting, feel free to tell me, I would take that as a good thing
Different angles of affected area:
http://i.thinimg.com/img/9kq2.jpg
http://i.thinimg.com/img/9kq4.jpg
http://i.thinimg.com/img/9kq5.jpg
http://i.thinimg.com/img/9kq6.jpg
http://i.thinimg.com/img/9kq7.jpg
http://i.thinimg.com/img/9kq8.jpg
Post care instructions:
http://i.thinimg.com/img/9kq9.jpg
My little buddy:
http://i.thinimg.com/img/9kqg.jpg