Rescuing 2 Very Sick Ball Pythons

The title says it all. I find these videos from Snake Discovery to be so educational. Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/TaFECkAlBlE?si=5XL_YdvDPiN7I_4e

Excellent video. Tree is such a pretty fellow- so sweet to see his whole 6 month story from rescue to adoption. I have dealt with snakes that had skin sloughing like that, it's just awful.
I never thought of using puppy pads for quarantine snake housing where regular substrate would be detrimental to skin healing. :gj: Great idea.

I found the story of the ball python with mouth rot revealing. I had always imagined that abandoned ball pythons suffered, but actually seeing what becomes of them hit me down deep.

Wild animals have a hard life as it is, & pets of any kind should never be abandoned. It's unfair to them, & can also harm native wildlife by carrying pathogens they've had no exposure to. :tears:

Sad that the first snake didn't make it but it's incredible that the second one recovered! I wonder if the first one wasn't able to eat because the mouth rot was so bad that it was too painful :( If it's possible to give pain medication I feel that could help a lot for these poor rescued snakes.

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Originally Posted by Luvyna

Sad that the first snake didn't make it but it's incredible that the second one recovered! I wonder if the first one wasn't able to eat because the mouth rot was so bad that it was too painful :( If it's possible to give pain medication I feel that could help a lot for these poor rescued snakes.

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There's different ways to look at it...snakes can be very challenging patients. Personally that's a snake I'd have gently tube-fed first (my method -NOT force-fed solid food) because a liquid slurry that offers easily-digested nutrients plus water is very helpful, & from what I've seen, slamming a very sick snake with multiple drugs, however well-meaning- can just make them crash, as the drugs are so hard on their weakened bodies.

But who knows? And I'm not a vet...I've just seen vets kill a number of snakes this way & it's hard to say what the outcomes would have been if done differently. I've helped many snakes recover by not rushing the process. It's like if you have a bad knee & see a knee surgeon, trust me when I say they'll encourage a surgical fix rather other less invasive options. It's the same when you see a vet, they're more inclined to use all the tools in their toolkit over more basic & gradual care, & maybe they assume you've already tried that? I'm NOT saying "don't go see a specialist exotic vet" though...I'm saying think about some balance, & using meds as the snake can better tolerate them. Sick snakes need low stress, hydration, nutrients, warmth & rest to survive...vet visits can be super stressful, plus the added "chemical assault" (drugs) on their organs. And I'm saying discuss it with the vet.

Just my 2 cents- :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

There's different ways to look at it...snakes can be very challenging patients. Personally that's a snake I'd have gently tube-fed first (my method -NOT force-fed solid food) because a liquid slurry that offers easily-digested nutrients plus water is very helpful, & from what I've seen, slamming a very sick snake with multiple drugs, however well-meaning- can just make them crash, as the drugs are so hard on their weakened bodies.

But who knows? And I'm not a vet...I've just seen vets kill a number of snakes this way & it's hard to say what the outcomes would have been if done differently. I've helped many snakes recover by not rushing the process. It's like if you have a bad knee & see a knee surgeon, trust me when I say they'll encourage a surgical fix rather other less invasive options. It's the same when you see a vet, they're more inclined to use all the tools in their toolkit over more basic & gradual care, & maybe they assume you've already tried that? I'm NOT saying "don't go see a specialist exotic vet" though...I'm saying think about some balance, & using meds as the snake can better tolerate them. Sick snakes need low stress, hydration, nutrients, warmth & rest to survive...vet visits can be super stressful, plus the added "chemical assault" (drugs) on their organs. And I'm saying discuss it with the vet.

Just my 2 cents- :)

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Great points, I hadn't thought of that! Snakes are definitely challenging since their bodies are so different from mammals and there is much less research about how drugs affect them. I've also heard of cases of snakes dying from medical interventions since it's just too hard on their bodies.

After watching the video in more detail I saw that the poor first snake also had fly larvae in its mouth that they weren't able to remove without causing more damage and some commenters were saying that the removal of the larvae and cleaning the mouth tissue might also have been an essential step.