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snake got bit

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  • 02-06-2010, 11:41 PM
    bman123
    Re: snake got bit
    Those pics made me want to cry. people really underestimate what rats can do. Feed F/T or pre killed is the way to go.
  • 02-07-2010, 12:39 AM
    bads15
    Re: snake got bit
    try not to sweat it. your snake should be fine. what i did when i had it happen to me was i cleaned the wound with chlorohexidine ( i think thats how it's spelled ) and then put a little polysporin on it. cleared up the swelling in three days.
  • 02-07-2010, 12:40 PM
    Inknsteel
    Re: snake got bit
    Jeez... Why is it that as soon as someone posts about their snake getting bit by prey, someone will (without fail) jump on and immediately tell the poster how horrible it is to feed live and how NO snakes should EVER be fed live prey? I understand that you're 17 years old and have probably had your snake all of 6 months, so you must be the most expert snake keeper ever to post on this forum, right?

    I feed live and always have. Why? Because that's what I choose to do. If my snake were in the wild, I don't think she'd starve herself due to the lack of a dead but warm rat being tossed to it every week. These animals have been eating rodents live for thousands of years in the wild, so I trust that they've figured out how to take down a live rat before it has a chance to eat them alive.

    These pictures and horror stories you hear are because of a snake keeper being irresponsible and throwing a hungry rat in with a snake, then leaving it unsupervised and not checking back on it for days on end. If you toss the rat in and watch and wait, there's nothing wrong with feeding live. Just don't walk away and get distracted and forget about it...

    That being said, I have had my snake get bit once. The way she struck the rat, the rat's head was in a position that it could bite my snake's neck when she was coiling. I waited 24 hours, then took her out, put a dab of neosporin on it (make sure it's the kind withOUT pain reliever) and put her back in. Take her out every few days and reapply until the next shed cycle. The wound should heal up and fade over the next couple sheds.
  • 04-04-2010, 02:11 AM
    CA cowgirl
    Re: snake got bit
    Thanks to the OP and those who replied on this thread. I have some young ball pythons that aren't yet willing to switch over to f/t. One of them has pitiful aim and tonight he was bit by a mouse. No blood, but the area has some swelling. I'll wipe it with some diluted Chlorhexidine and then put a dab of neosporin (original, no pain relief - thanks for that note), and repeat it in a couple days. Thanks again! :gj:
  • 04-04-2010, 02:24 AM
    Kaorte
    Re: snake got bit
    Okay...there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with feeding live. As long as you supervise live feedings (don't leave a rat in with a snake longer than 30 minutes) there is no risk of any life threatening situation.

    A bite here and there does not matter. You can put some antibiotic cream on it if you want, but 99% (statistic made up to make a point) of the time, a bite that is left untreated will heal just fine on its own.

    Ball pythons are killing machines. They are built to kill and they are built to withstand bites and scratches. Their skin is made of tough scales, not porcelain.
  • 04-04-2010, 03:10 AM
    seclark
    Re: snake got bit
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by redstormlax12 View Post
    Yes. It can cause a whole host of problems. Infections can occur which would be the most common thing. First of all you shouldn't be feeding your ball or any of your snakes live prey. You should be feeding f/t. There is absolutely no advantage to feeding live, only disadvantages. You should probably take your ball to the vet as soon as possible.

    Seriously? The pictures people always show when this comes up is because it happened a couple times with really irresponsible people. Snakes don't naturally eat dead rats some can be trained to but some can't. Ask a big breeder. Most prefer to feed F/T but it's not always possible. Don't hate on people who make different decisions than you do. It is safer to feed F/T but done responsibly feeding live is a good option and in cases where the snake won't eat F/T it is irresponsible not to feed live.
  • 04-04-2010, 03:26 AM
    PurplePython
    Re: snake got bit
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by redstormlax12 View Post
    Yes. It can cause a whole host of problems. Infections can occur which would be the most common thing. First of all you shouldn't be feeding your ball or any of your snakes live prey. You should be feeding f/t. There is absolutely no advantage to feeding live, only disadvantages. You should probably take your ball to the vet as soon as possible.

    How dare you try to tell this person WRONG advice.

    You shouldn't tell a person that feeding live is WRONG. In the wild, these snakes dont have people following them around with a bag of frozen mice waiting for every 7 days to thaw one out.

    First off, bites from mice/rats are barely anything to be worried about. Snakes fight with prey in the wild all the time and you dont see them dead from rodent bites laying all around do you?

    Second off, there is NO ADVANTAGE of feeding your snake f/t mice. It's convenient only for owners who do not want to breed their own, or have to store live mice, or feel "upset" about feeding live. Thats the bottom line. Most people feed f/t because its more convenient for them, it's not in the best interest of the snake.

    I am not saying f/t is worse than feeding live, or feeding live in better than feeding f/t nutritionally, but its truely sad that some people think they have to take away these animals instinct to kill its food to eat. It's not something you have to do, and honestly you shouldn't feed f/t if you have the time to feed live.

    Talking to many owners, it comes down to a large number of the people saying that feeding live gives your snake a stronger feeding response than feeding f/t. Like I said before, most people who use f/t are just doing it for their own convenience, or because its cheaper in bulk, ect ect.

    Now nutritionally, feeding f/t and live is probably the same. I am not quite sure, but I don't think feeding f/t takes away any nutrients, but that may be possible.

    To sum up my small rant, YOU CHOOSE what you have to do. I would prefer feeding live because I don't want my snake to loose its animalistic traits and turn into a robot that feeds on thawed out rodents that are served on a silver platter to it.
  • 04-04-2010, 09:15 AM
    jfreels
    Re: snake got bit
    Quote:

    I am not saying f/t is worse than feeding live, or feeding live in better than feeding f/t nutritionally, but its truely sad that some people think they have to take away these animals instinct to kill its food to eat. It's not something you have to do, and honestly you shouldn't feed f/t if you have the time to feed live.
    So it takes longer to drop a rat in the cage then prepare a f/t? You know they actually have to be thawed, right? And then after thawing for over an hour they have to be re-heated.

    I promise you, they don't lose the instinct if you feed with hemostat or tongs. Watch some of the BHB videos of them feeding their large pythons f/t rabbits.

    I CHOOSE to feed f/t, but NOT because it's easier or by any means quicker. I do it because people I respect in the snake world tell me to feed f/t.
  • 04-04-2010, 09:57 AM
    rabernet
    Re: snake got bit
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by redstormlax12 View Post
    Yes. It can cause a whole host of problems. Infections can occur which would be the most common thing. First of all you shouldn't be feeding your ball or any of your snakes live prey. You should be feeding f/t. There is absolutely no advantage to feeding live, only disadvantages. You should probably take your ball to the vet as soon as possible.

    Really? I've been feeding live exclusively to my entire collection since I've been keeping ball pythons. I've only chosen to feed my albino f/t, because small nicks and scratches show up so much on them, and I (as well as others) believe that the lack of melanin seems to make their skin/scales feel a bit thinner and more susceptible to scratches that you wouldn't see on non-albino's.

    I've stated this many times before, I've easily fed off over 13K live prey to my collection, and in that time, I can count on ONE hand the number of times I've had true bites to any of my collection. And even then, a bite left an incidental scratch. But for the sake of argument, let's double that incidence rate to 10 in over 13K feedings.

    That makes my risk of a bite with my personal small set of data, a .076923% chance of a bite that causes a wound.

    I do choose to feed my colubrids f/t, because it's just easier for me to get f/t in appropriate sized prey than it is to get it weekly in live (the baby colubrids are still on mice pinkies and fuzzies and I don't breed mice).

    But the pythons are all doing quite nicely on live prey weekly. All are scar free as well.

    Bottom line, each keeper needs to make a personal decision to feed what works best for THEM and their animals, but it's un-necessary, and irresponsible to demonize those that feed live and do so responsibly. And for what it's worth - I do not stun my prey items either. I simply make sure that they are well fed and well hydrated, and I remove them if they have not been consumed within a 1/2 an hour (usually sitting in a corner of the enclosure blissfully grooming themselves). .
  • 04-04-2010, 10:31 AM
    PurplePython
    Re: snake got bit
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jfreels View Post
    So it takes longer to drop a rat in the cage then prepare a f/t? You know they actually have to be thawed, right? And then after thawing for over an hour they have to be re-heated.

    I promise you, they don't lose the instinct if you feed with hemostat or tongs. Watch some of the BHB videos of them feeding their large pythons f/t rabbits.

    I CHOOSE to feed f/t, but NOT because it's easier or by any means quicker. I do it because people I respect in the snake world tell me to feed f/t.

    I am pretty sure you can just leave a mouse out to thaw out. You don't have to supervise it as it thaws right?

    And the reason I said that is because its way easier to keep a bag of frozen mice in your freezer than to breed your own mice and feed live or go to the store once a week to buy a live mouse.

    So yeah, feeding live takes more time. WAY more time. Having a bag of frozen in your freezer is easy and just convenient for owners. Theres no reason why feeding frozen would be better for your snake.
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