Injured Python - Help

This evening I went to handle my new baby python and noticed he had a piece of wood stuck to him. Upon closer inspection, its not stuck to him, its inside him. :(

I took him into our office and put him on the desk to get a close look. The thin sliver of wood had pierced the skin and around the wound his scales had come off. I had my wife drive us to an emergency vet clinic where the vet removed the wood and cleaned the wound. He has a spot on his left side now where the scales are gone and you can see his red raw flesh. the vet said he did not know my python needed antibiotics or not, but said he should be good to go now. I brought him home and put a dab of Neosporin on the wound. He seems to be acting ok, he is not lethargic or anything.

The only thing I can imagine is that he rubbed up against the tree root I had put in his cage for him to crawl on. He must have rubbed against it hard and gave himself the large splinter and broke it off. I have removed the piece of wood so this does not happen again.

Has anyone seen something like this before? Even though the vet said he will be alright, I'm still worried as he is a baby. Any insight on this would be appreciated. Thanks!

:gj: You definitely did the right thing by taking him to the vet right away.

Kudos on getting him to the vet quick!
what kind of bedding is he on?

he should heal up good, you should see the mess my male akua was in.. i thought there was no comming back... but he is as good as new =] they are pretty resiliant critters =D

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Originally Posted by ChicaPiton519

Kudos on getting him to the vet quick!
what kind of bedding is he on?

he should heal up good, you should see the mess my male akua was in.. i thought there was no comming back... but he is as good as new =] they are pretty resiliant critters =D

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I have him on Aspen bedding.

Im just worried that his scales are gone. Do they grow back quickly? Do they grow back at all? I know, probably a stupid question but Ive never had any experience with this.

Bless his heart! Sounds like he's in a great home! :) I'm willing to beat that he'll grow all his scales back. It might take a few sheds ;)

they should, it will prolly take a few sheds, like Laooda said... if you want, i can maybe find a pic of the "pickle" Akua got in a year ago... you wont wory so much about a couple missing scales ;)

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Originally Posted by Coins

I have him on Aspen bedding.

Im just worried that his scales are gone. Do they grow back quickly? Do they grow back at all? I know, probably a stupid question but Ive never had any experience with this.

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if you want to monitor his health more closely, you can put him on paper towels as substrate until the wound looks more healed. His scales may grow back after a few shed cycles. If they were too damaged he'll just have a scar.

And with the neosporin, the kind you put on him -wasn't- the kind with the pain reliever in it, was it? you aren't supposed to put that kind on reptiles.

good luck with him recovering. :)

Good job on getting him to the vet so quickly!

I 2nd the recommendation to put him on paper towels for now. It is more sterile than aspen.

I learned my lesson quickly on what to put in the tanks and what not to put in the tanks...but it was at Foster's cost. Poor thing!

We had bought some greenery that came with a suction cup and a hook. It was located in the very top corner of the tank. While my son was gone I was checking on her and the poor baby got stuck on the hook! Being scared to death of her, I didn't know what to do so I called my sister who was next door. By the time she got here, Foster had gotten herself off the hook but had me worried sick. I had no way of checking to see if she had impaled herself.

Glad your bp is on the med. I'd like to see what her scales look like once they come back....out of curiosity. GOOD LUCK!

you did a great thing by having him treated.. is it possible that he ingested it from the bedding? I would suggest putting him on paper towels or newspaper to avoid it from happening again