help!!

okay i just found a bp in the wild over by my house> but its injured. about an inch of its skin has been pulled back and the flesh is show what do i do ?????

I'd suggest a vet. How deep is this injury?

its like the skin got pulled backthere is no flesh dammage. none of the vets around here will take snakes
imma have to do something my self

it seems like to me somebody didnt want to take care of their snake! this makes me really really..............cant say that on here

First aid recommendations rarely go past a little neosporin. This is definitely beyond me, but if it's not too deep, I think you could handle it yourself. Put him in a "hospital" environment: plastic bin, paper towels, along with the proper heating, waterbowl, hides, etc. Just much cleaner than loose substrate or even newspaper. Sorry I don't know how to treat the injury itself. Someone more experienced should be along before too long. Good luck. Keep us updated.

Oh, picture! Worth a thousand words (if not more).

Keep him clean and warm, a vet might try stitches, i dunno, I might try to bandage the skin gently so that it covers the fleshy part, putting a bandage on a snake though will be hell (maybe a large bandaid?). By the way where is the wound on the snake?

PS dont put neosporin on an open wound that large, it might make things worse...

Is it shedding? or are you saying that the muscle is exposed? can you get a pic of it...

the wound is on its back. it didn't mess with the scoots. imma try to push the skin back and sterilize the wound. the like someone said probably just ganna gause it up..i feel so bad for the little guy.

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Is it shedding? or are you saying that the muscle is exposed? can you get a pic of it...

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it is the muscle that is showing, no i cant my camera broke...

Do you have a farm store aroudn? Some Iodine might help. If it's safe for reptiles.

what about rubbing alcohol?? is that safe to use???

Yes make sure the wound doesnt have dirt or debris in it, flush it out with sterile water if you can, or just clean bottled water if you have nothing else. Then try to bandage the wound together so that his muscle isnt all exposed, but again dont put neosporin on an open wound that large, it will mess things up more. A clean environment that is warm and uses paper towels only as a substrate is a must, make sure he has a good hide that has been thoroughly cleaned, make his environment darker so he feels safe.

okay will do. i feel so bad for the little guy

Good luck to the little guy! I hope he turns out ok.

i hope he does too ill keep yall posted

Ah, poor guy. What have you tried doing so far?

i just found him. all i did was a streile container and filtered water

Sadly this happened to my bp when she got out a few months ago...without a visit to the vet, there's not too much you can really do. This is what I did, and when I did get mine to the vet when they opened a few hours later he said it was the right thing :

First - DO NOT USE RUBBING ALCOHOL!
Think about it being pored into a cut on you...it will burn like hell and will def. piss off the snake and make them a LOT less cooperative.

Put a few drops of Iodine in some water that's warm to the touch. I'd recommend a steril bowl ( never know what's left over in a sink ). Soak the snake in a VERY diluted solution first. (You can repeat this a few times if the wound's really dirty to make sure it's clean by just replacing the dirty water for fresh and adding more iodine.)

Of course, any kind of tripple anti biotic or neosporin (the vet actually reccommend the kind PLUS pain relief) will help...

Now, we bandaged up my bp by wrapping gauze ALL THE WAY AROUND THE SNAKE and taping it so no tape actually comes in contact with their scales.

My vet gave my girl stiches and antibiotic shots...something I don't think you'll be able to do.

When I said yes I hadnt seen your question about rubbing alcohol, that is not good for open wounds, definitely dont use it...

Neosporin says all over it not for open wounds, so exposed muscle tissue would definitely be considered an open wound.

Other than that just get that wound cleaned out so no debris is in there, bandage him up and get him warm dark and clean. Maybe a little warmer than normal temps because that can promote his metabolism and boost his immune system and healing.

Make sure he has access to water too so he can get hydrated, im sure hes thirsty after his trip through the woods, but make sure his bandages get changed if they are soaked.

Good luck on this man, it is really good of you to take this poor snake in, most people would of killed it or left it to die, that is one lucky snake to have found you...

okay thanks guys fpr all the help ill keep yall posted

Yes please keep us posted, I want to know how the snake does. And if there are any questions please let us know, there are tons of great knowledgeable people on this forum...

Good luck again! I hope everything works out.

First off, God bless you for taking that snake in and giving it your best. I will contact my reptile vet tomorrow. He may be able to give some advice. I will ask some of the mods and admins of this site to check this post if they can help. Please keep us posted. I will do some research myself and see if I can dig anything up.

Godspeed

Use Iodine, diluted with water. Give it a bath to disinfect it.

Then, leave it in a tub with paper towels or paper, something that cannot get into the wound.

Keep the wound clean, you can treat it with neosporin WITHOUT PAINKILLERS. Put it on everytime you give it a bath, or once every two-three days.

Take it to a vet if you can, but if you can't, just give it plenty of water, dry place to live with a heat source, and watch it closely. Keep the animal clean and disinfected, and wait it out.

It will take several weeks for the injury to go away with a shed, depending on how deep the injury is. If it is superficial, it should just take a shed or two.

If Heather says non pain killer neosporin is ok on that open wound than I would listen to her and not to me on that one. She obviously has alot of experience on this kinda stuff, she does breed ball pythons after all!

Just wanted to mention that as I would hate to be responsible for giving you bad advice...

You may also want to contact both Sean Bradley of Exotics by Nature (Sean : EbN is his username here) and/or Tim Bailey (muddoc is his username here) who both live in LA and see if they can recommend some vets in your area who will see the snake.

you know I have a wayto pathc the sskin together ( to hold it in place with out stiches and it simlpe but it wil ltake to people) and some very careful luck. If possible take dental string ( since it wax coated which makes it hard to use superglue on.) but place a dot of glow on one end, and sset the string in ( repeat this will help pul lthe skin flat and over the wound to help it heal.) if the skin not died already. this way the snaek not peing poked at, and it will come of when it sheds or needs to be cut with out harming the sanke more. ( just like when you cut self supler glue the wound closed. it burn ( for humans) but worked many a time for me in a quick fix ntil can getot a vet. I also let the vet office know the snake was found outside and you want to try and help it.

I'm not so sure that a superglue stiching would be the best idea. If the wound is not completely clean you run the risk of sealing in contaminants. Causing infection. There again I would ask someone who knows more about this subject before doing this.

Given that you found this animal and it is injured (and because of the lack of picture it is hard to get an idea on the extent of the injury) my advice to you is to get to an herp vet to assess the situation.

There are 2 vets within an hour and a half of your location


http://www.arav.org/ECOMARAV/TIMSSNE...?custid=855738

http://www.arav.org/ECOMARAV/TIMSSNE...?custid=856464

I would also recommend you to contact Sean Bradley at Exotic By Nature who might be able to give you the name a vet in the area since he is located less than 40 miles from your location.

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Originally Posted by Zenllama

I'm not so sure that a superglue stiching would be the best idea. If the wound is not completely clean you run the risk of sealing in contaminants. Causing infection. There again I would ask someone who knows more about this subject before doing this.

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wit hthe snake not t oseal the wound on the, but ot pull the skin together on top of the skin aka the sacles . this will a allow if needing the wound to be flushed. there would be no actual glue in he wound.


g-------g
SSSSooSSSS

above wuick and rough example the the large s is skin
o wound and the g glue the -- is string. the gluw would be on the outside and only used to help float the sking on the wound until it heals and startes to reattach.

If I was down south I would seriously swing buy and pick up the snake and take to the vet.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Given that you found this animal and it is injured (and because of the lack of picture it is hard to get an idea on the extent of the injury) my advice to you is to get to an herp vet to assess the situation.

There are 2 vets within an hour and a half of your location


http://www.arav.org/ECOMARAV/TIMSSNE...?custid=855738

http://www.arav.org/ECOMARAV/TIMSSNE...?custid=856464

I would also recommend you to contact Sean Bradley at Exotic By Nature who might be able to give you the name a vet in the area since he is located less than 40 miles from your location.

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While I do not know the vet in the second link that Deb posted, I can say that Sean and myself would highly recommend you to Javier. He is the vet listed in the first link. He is at LSU Vet school, and is the best place to bring any exotic in the state of Louisiana.

thank you all so much. i found a vet that gave me some iodin to clean it. they scaned the snake for a chip and it had one. the owner is being charged for being irresponisble owner, he admited to letting the snake go.

Nice! Way to go. Are they going to let you keep it? I hope he/she turns out ok.

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Originally Posted by jacob985

thank you all so much. i found a vet that gave me some iodin to clean it. they scaned the snake for a chip and it had one. the owner is being charged for being irresponisble owner, he admited to letting the snake go.

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And what will happen next? Are you allowed to keep the ball, due to the fact his owner let it go? Or do you have to give it back if he wants you to?

i have been givin custidy of the snake. i took a long shot this morning he seemed in great health so i put a small hopper in the cage(i knocked it out first) and he ate it!!! i chose a small prey as to not put to much peresure on the wound.

he surrendered the snake.

the snake is 3.5 feet and 400gs. he is so skinny

Wow! That's got to be the first ball python that I've heard of that was micro-chipped!

That is too awsome!!! I am glad that the previous owner is actually being prosecuted for being irresponsible. Not many places hold the owners accountable for that these days.

My only question would be why would you release a snake that is CHIPPED?!?!? Goes to say alot about the character of the previous owner.....

i know it was weird he ahad a problem with people stealing it apparently. i dont know. all i know is that the snake is doing so much better now, he has calmed down. when i found him he bit me about 9 times. now after i flush the wound he will just chill around my neck.

EDIT: i know i guess he was hoping no one found it. he is a real shaddy charactor. he wadnt even supposed to own this snake. he has been charged in the past with the same charges

When we had our first snakes in Texas we wanted our snakes chipped. They have to reach a certain weight (I don't remember as it was like 3 yrs ago now) before they will chip them.

Where we lived there was a problem with burglary of animals and then resale of them so we wanted to make sure that we got ours back if that was to happen.

It works just like the chipping of a dog, cat, or any other animal....and would be practical for some...for only a couple of animals but def not for those that had a bunch of animals....

it just angers me that he would let this animal go to die

I am glad the snake ate for you!
That is good news if he is willing to eat...

Please get some pics up if you can, I would like to see the snake.

np i will asap! he is sweet now.

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Originally Posted by jacob985

i know it was weird he ahad a problem with people stealing it apparently. i dont know. all i know is that the snake is doing so much better now, he has calmed down. when i found him he bit me about 9 times. now after i flush the wound he will just chill around my neck.

EDIT: i know i guess he was hoping no one found it. he is a real shaddy charactor. he wadnt even supposed to own this snake. he has been charged in the past with the same charges

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well a simple check when the snake was chipped should of prevented that. I betting he had(has) mutli snakes he released that were chipped. I think it would be a nice way to stop a ban since it coud be required to ship a reptile that it be chipped and a record of the chipping sent to the state vet as well as a copy of the sales reciept,shipping slip, and the needing a permit so there just a large centeral database on the snakes and who has them. it could prevent the stealing( possible lead to arrest of stolen animals anytime they turn up)... If i knew I could have it done and a record kept like above it might make keeping and updating permit renewals easier, and such. I also would seei f Ican do so myself ( request a batch of chips and they prerecorded as to who got them and such) then I only have to logg in and update the records and register as I use a chip. ( my luck I lose half of them when I trip and fall as i go for one ). It only my opion, This would speciaally be great for breeders of morphs since a linage of their gene history could be kept.

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Originally Posted by mechnut450

well a simple check when the snake was chipped should of prevented that. I betting he had(has) mutli snakes he released that were chipped. I think it would be a nice way to stop a ban since it coud be required to ship a reptile that it be chipped and a record of the chipping sent to the state vet as well as a copy of the sales reciept,shipping slip, and the needing a permit so there just a large centeral database on the snakes and who has them. it could prevent the stealing( possible lead to arrest of stolen animals anytime they turn up)... If i knew I could have it done and a record kept like above it might make keeping and updating permit renewals easier, and such. I also would seei f Ican do so myself ( request a batch of chips and they prerecorded as to who got them and such) then I only have to logg in and update the records and register as I use a chip. ( my luck I lose half of them when I trip and fall as i go for one ). It only my opion, This would speciaally be great for breeders of morphs since a linage of their gene history could be kept.

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i agree!

he is an all black ball python

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Originally Posted by jacob985

he is an all black ball python

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Please post pictures of him - that's a very rare animal.

I find it hard to believe someone chipped an animal to prevent it being stolen then just released it.

Something doesn't sound right with this story.

Also - quit handling him and allow him time to completely heal with NO handling.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Please post pictures of him - that's a very rare animal.

I find it hard to believe someone chipped an animal to prevent it being stolen then just released it.

Something doesn't sound right with this story.

Also - quit handling him and allow him time to completely heal with NO handling.

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its not a pure black tho im trying t get pics up but no camera. its more looks like a very dark silver bullet

even better it looks like a super cinny

I agree

Something tells me he doesnt have a camera though

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Please post pictures of him - that's a very rare animal.

I find it hard to believe someone chipped an animal to prevent it being stolen then just released it.

Something doesn't sound right with this story.

Also - quit handling him and allow him time to completely heal with NO handling.

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Jacob how is the snake doin today? did it keep its meal down?

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Originally Posted by Ham

Jacob how is the snake doin today? did it keep its meal down?

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he kept it down i was very proud. he seems to be sweetening up while i have him out to flush the wound.

Wash the area with warm (not hot) water and soap. Make sure you get out any debris. Iodine or rubbing alcohol should be ok in addition. Stay away from neosporin and hydrogen peroxide. Wrap it loosely with gauze, if possible, but do not cinch it tight or it might stick when the would tries to heal. Then call a vet or vet school (like UGA) for further advice on Monday. If he/she acts sluggish or disoriented, then you will likely have to find someone who will see him so he can get an antibiotic shot.

Wow what a relief he isnt regurgin that up...

How does his wound look? Does it look like the muscle tissue is starting to heal up or does it look swollen and liquidy?