snake hates me

At the moment I have a very unhappy and stressed snake. He was very neglected when we rescued him. Dehydrated and malnurished. I have to give him injections every three days, oral wormer [boy is that fun, NOT] and I have to wipe down a wound every day with a bentadine solution. If I was a snake, I would hate me too.

Now when I try to pick him up, he balls right up and hisses. I can't even unwind him to get to his wound to wipe down. However; his wound is looking great. 2 vials of fluid were drawn out of his wound infection he started to develop.

I know others on here treat there snakes, will he get over this OK? Is there something I can do to ease his stress? This is like a catch 22. I have to care for his physical health, but this is causing stress. Any suggestions?

Teej

All I can say Teej is you have to do what you have to do for his health so just do it as quickly and efficiently as you can. Then I'd make sure the snake is in a very quiet, low light room and maybe even add in crumpled newspaper to make him feel secure. Then just leave him be as much as possible between treatments. At least then he can de-stress a bit between.

I wouldn't worry about it to much his health is what you got to take care of.If he hisses or strike's you still gotta give the Med's.It's just scared of the injection's , you've got plenty of time to build that trust with your bp.

Some of them never calm down; my male LaVey would be a great example of that :) I still love him like the awesome little gem he is, but he is def. a pi$ser in the attitude department. Sounds like yours has had so much stress; I would probably hold off on any unnecessary handling and just take him at face value for now; you could always get a second one that has a better demeanor to "handle" and let him go at his own pace.

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

I would probably hold off on any unnecessary handling and just take him at face value for now; you could always get a second one that has a better demeanor to "handle" and let him go at his own pace.

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That is not the issue. My son has plenty of snakes that I can handle. But this one I have to treat to heal so I have to handle him daily and give him frequent injections for a month. Do you have any suggest for easing his stress while I have to treat and handle him during this unpleasant experience for him?

Teej

one thing u can do to ease his stress while you are cleaning the wound for example is to put a sock over his head, preferably clean though lol. This helps to calm them down and also gives ou security when working with your bp. With the oral meds you just have to get on and do it. The best thing to do is to just do it quickly and efficiently. With his viv etc, keep it simple, paper preferably white paper so u can keep an eye on whats coming out of the snake, be it back end or the wound. Just give a coupel of hides, a small water bowl which is big enough to drink from and not too soak, to help the wound healing we need to keep it fairly dry and clean. Without pics its hard to say anymore. You will find that your BP will shed more regularly due to the wound, and usually afer a coupel of sheds you will hardly know the wound was there.

Best of luck and major Kudos to you in helping out!!!



Peter

Just what the others said - I was in the position where I had to inject a snake daily then give oral meds - not fun - I found the oral meds the hardest. I remember vet telling me snakes take a long time (because of their metabolism) to heal, longer than other things. But this wound is healing well and you must concentrate on getting that all better and once it is after a while of you not sticking needles in the minute snake comes out in the future it should begin to trust you again. Well done for what you are obviously doing well :)

Noticed he is filling up with fluid again under his skin by this wound.


The vet says I have to drain it with a needle and to expect 3 vials full.

Great!!! I hate needles. Wait til I tell my wife that I need her help.:rolleyes:

Teej

*comfort*

I just got done with 10 days of Baytril shots for my boa...I feel your pain. Thank god I didn't have to do oral meds for her....but I am giving these HUGE pills (hey, it's Baytril! go go animal anti-botic!) to my cat, basically have to make him gag them down. Not fun. =P

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Originally Posted by cassandra

*comfort*

I just got done with 10 days of Baytril shots for my boa...I feel your pain. Thank god I didn't have to do oral meds for her....but I am giving these HUGE pills (hey, it's Baytril! go go animal anti-botic!) to my cat, basically have to make him gag them down. Not fun. =P

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How big are they? I have a cat that is always on one pill or another, and I generally cut the bigger ones in half and smoosh each half into a moist cat treat. Every once in a while the pill will fall out of the treat and I have to do it again, but usually he just gulps them right down.