Rescue help

Hey All

The place where I got Nagini from takes in rescues from time to time if its needed. Most of the time, by the time we get them, while we do our best, they are usually beyond help. This time we got a gorgeous looking pastel, beautiful blushing up the side and in really good shape. The only real problem (visible at least) are some wicked looking rat bites along his back. The snake is under quarantine but for now I'm just hoping for some tips on how to treat these bites. Any help would be awesome, thanks!!

Advice can be anything from going to a vet to treating at home and that depends on the extent of the bite do you have pictures?

For small bites, betadine and antibiotic ointment could suffice, of course the animal still needs to be monitored as abscesses could form.

For extensive bites vet may be required since anti-biotic may be needed.

In either case replace your substrate with paper towel if not already done and make sure the wounds stay dry and clean.

Thanks Deborah, appreciate it. I'll take some pictures of the bites next time I'm over there to show you. There are about three of them in different spots, each about the size of the eraser on the back of a standard pencil.

Every time we get a new rescue, and it's in rough shape, it makes me want to find the person who did it and get right into their face.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Advice can be anything from going to a vet to treating at home and that depends on the extent of the bite do you have pictures?

For small bites, betadine and antibiotic ointment could suffice, of course the animal still needs to be monitored as abscesses could form.

For extensive bites vet may be required since anti--biotic may be needed.

In either case replace your substrate with paper towel if not already done and make sure the wounds stay dry and clean.

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all this good stuff, and good job on you and anyone else on the forum taking on rescues

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Originally Posted by Sirensong26

Thanks Deborah, appreciate it. I'll take some pictures of the bites next time I'm over there to show you. There are about three of them in different spots, each about the size of the eraser on the back of a standard pencil.

Every time we get a new rescue, and it's in rough shape, it makes me want to find the person who did it and get right into their face.

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Omg that poor snake, they sound like some serious bites.... that prev owner needs to be handled

I always wonder why people who apparently care enough to get the animal to a rescue didn't care enough to learn how to correctly care for it...

Good luck treating this guy.

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Originally Posted by DVirginiana

I always wonder why people who apparently care enough to get the animal to a rescue didn't care enough to learn how to correctly care for it...

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This is pretty much my thought.

To OP: I too would like to take some of these people apart.

How old are the bites?

If they are healing I would likely leave them be (assuming no infection or otherwise) once they are closed creme often does very little. Keep the snake and enclosure super clean.

On fresh punctures hydrogen peroxide (punctures not scratches deep penetrations peroxide kills anareobic bacteria it should not be used on surface things) scratches I like to use a silver sulfazine creme. ideally water based things are better some oil based do wacky things to the scales. (flamazine is great if you can get it, prescription in many places) F10 also makes a great wound ointment (F10 Germicidal Barrier Ointment) also if you have it. (NEVER use the any F10 with insecticide on a reptile!)

If the bites are festering - VET! Infected bites need to be treated with antibiotics and should be flushed this is best left to a vet.