Emergency Help Needed

[Teej]

We agreed to take 2 ball pythons from the irrate mother of a teenage girl who stopped taking care of her snakes. My 10 yr old has 8 other snakes in his room, but he takes care of them and we have never had any serious health problems to deal with.

We have had these two additional snakes for almost 5 weeks now. The oldest ball pyton is about 2 yrs old and 2 1/2 ft long. This one is having a serious health problem. Yesterday we noticed that his skin is tearing is several places. Splitting and tearing right down to the white meat.

Now when we got him we were told he had only been eating mice, so we fed him one large live mouse which he ate right away and we fed him another one 4 days later which he again ate. The following week we fed him a small rat and 7 days later fed him another small live rat. [we feed weely] He ate all of these and kept them all down with no problem.

Yesterday was feeding day, but we noticed the torn skin in the morning when my son woke up so we did not feed him fearing what could happen if he was bitten by his food while he is in this condition.

I soaked him for 1 hr in water in case he is dehydrating, then I tried to spread neosporin over the exposed white meat but stopped as his skin is very loose and pulls right off from the body. This is happening in several areas.

I called University of Florida small animal hospital where they treat reptiles, but we cannot afford this. I was told that the emergency weekend visit costs $150. Monday, they are closed and it would cost $70 to see someone on Monday and $50 to see someone on Tuesday and these fees are just for the office visits and does not include treatment.

According to our snake reptile book this skin condition is caused from being severly malnurished. I am confused as this snake had been eating for us, but he may not have been fed for a long time before we got him.

According to our book, this snakes skin needs to be stitched up? I can't see this happening as he has so much skin coming off.

Any advice please? I completely cleaned out his 60 gallon tank removing all bedding, branches and plants so he will not catch his skin on anything else. He just has plain news paper in there now.

What can we do for this reptile? We tried to do the right thing by giving him a good home, but did not realize the apparent poor health condition he was in from neglect when we rescued him.

I am going to call a reptile store today to see if they have any advice. [today is Saturday] Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. We can't afford a vet bill especially for what it appears it would cost for what this snake needs.
Thank you, Teej

[sweety314]

I'd consider having the snake euthanized. If it's that seriously injured, and it sounds like it's likely going to continue splitting, or the really high risk of infection, it's not fair for the snake to remain in pain that way.


It's nice that you were willing to rescue it and provide it a good home, but the damage was already done. Now you need to give it a loving ending so it's not hurting.

Best of luck in your decision.


RuLyn

[jkobylka]

Well, I can totally understand if you decide to euthanize. But I would just continue taking good care of it, and putting ointment on the tears. If it continues to get worse, I'd go ahead and euthanize, but if the issue is malnutrition and the snake is willing to continue eating and drinking for you he probably still has a chance.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Justin

[tigerlily]

Can you post a picture? I'm really unsure what you are talking about, but I assume it's not shedding since you've had 8 other snakes. Is this an open wound, deep enough to require stitches? If so, the best advice anyone can give you is to get to a qualified vet as soon as you can. I know that's not what you want to hear, but you'll need someone to assess the wound and most likely prescribe antibiotics.

[wolfy-hound]

Teej, please contact me. I have dealt with the UF vets before and they are very reasonable. I am slightly north of Gainesville. Maybe we can work something out. Poor snake. Pictures would be helpful, I have never heard of this before.. but then I am fairly new to the pythons.
Wolfy(wolf-hound@lycos.com)
Or pm here.
Or" I am at work for another few hours, call me at 352-475-3360 (the Doghouse) ask for Wolfy

I shouldn't have to state this but.. any vulgar calls, prank calls etc sent to my business will be reported as such.

[max123]

Well if that was happening to you you would go to the emergency room asap.If you cant aford to take care of them you shouldnt have gotten them. But at most vets you can apply for a credit card. So if you dont have the cash that would be a way to go.

[Ninjapython]

max she rescued them please read b4 u go off being an :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: she could have let them just die is that what you would have done?

[max123]

I did read that. Im not trying to be mean. But there not realy rescued if there not being taken care of the way they need.

[wolfy-hound]

They are rescued as in the other person wasn't even bothering to post here to ask for help, now aren't they?
She is trying to help them, and has them in good conditions, feeding them. And don't forget theother one is doing fine.
I doubt that most reptile owners could afford a real emergency if one cropped up suddenly.
Wolfy

[Teej]

First, Teej is a man [sons father], not she. I have all the wounds cleaned up and bought a liquid antiseptic wound aid today. It is very easy to apply as I can just drip it on the wounds liberally. I still think this snake is malnurished so I also purchased a supplement for dehydrated and/or malnurished reptiles. However; this has to be administered orally and I am not sure how I am supposed to do that with a snake. Anyone have any experience administering orally to a snake from a syringe? [yes, this stuff is for ball pythons. it is called "Fluker's Repta Aid" Insectivore/Carnivore Emergency Aid]


As for Max123's comments, please let them go. Do Not turn this into a bashing thread please. I read his replies. Just as everyone has a belly button, he has and is entitled to his opinion. I see that many others have read this and had nothing to contribute. At least Max took the time to type. Thank you.

Please help me with advice on using the syringe orally, as well as how to restrain his head. He is in pain and stress and not wanting to be held. However; his wounds are cleaned and disinfected and he is moving around his cage and I have the cage temp varrying between 80-85 degrees. The wounds appear to be covering over with no signs of infection.

Thank you all, Teej

[Wolfy, i'll try contacting you Monday, the Doghouse was closed when I called this afternoon.]