Rat bite care

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Originally Posted by Danger noodles

I’ve seen trained professionals kill the rat instantly by whacking their head against the edge of the table and breaking the neck. It severs the spinal cord and they feel nothing.

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The trouble is, most people are not up to doing that...& if you hesitate or otherwise blow it, you're going to cause pain & a mess. I can guarantee I'd never do that.
CO2 is the way to go.

Well I am happy to report that I have cleaned the wounds and he is now on paper towels. He also seems calm and happy. A little surprised at first when I woke him up but he was fine once he realized it was me. I was also able to get betadine from Walgreens on my way home from work. I might run by petco tomorrow and see if I can find Vetericyn so I don't have to use Neosporin.

He did flinch a little when I touched the q-tip to the wound, but I mean it is an injury so I imagine it's going to hurt some. However, I will admit that the pictures do not do one of the "holes" justice. The one on the left side (when looking at it) looks more like an actual puncture than a nick. It's also right on the edge of one of his belly scales so it looks like the rat's tooth went in between the scales rather than through them. I know that the scales are pretty much his armor, but the worse left one didn't bleed at all so...

I plan on giving the local exotics vet a call tomorrow to get a professional opinion and see if he thinks I should bring him in or not. Thank you everyone who has helped!

If you have Betadine to use, you don't need Neosporin on top of that. Vetericyn would be great to have on hand, but if you're calling the vet anyway, ask
what they think you should use (or if you even need anything beyond the Betadine?).

Good job getting him on paper towels etc.- I was hoping his wounds were as mild as they appear in photo, but I'm not real surprised that at least one may be
deeper. Wishing him a speedy recovery... (I raise my own rodents, have for many years, & I once got a horribly infected bite from a mouse when I broke up a
fight between 2 male mice. Swelling & all, it really surprised me.)

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Originally Posted by kthleenus

I have heard of a few different ways of killing/stunning the rat for pre-killed. What would you recommend to be the best way to do it? A lot of what I have read is a CO2 chamber is the best but that seems like a lot for only one snake that is only eating every 10 days lol

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Its easy as pie and once you made it you have a simple way to take care of feeding.
:cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:s sporting Goods sells 20 oz bottles. I get them for around $19-24.
Then you order a ON/OFF fill valve to screw onto your Bottle and into your plastic Sterlite container. Only buy a container big enough for you to put a rat or 2 into otherwise you waste CO2 gas. You drill a small hole in the Lid to release air/oxygen and so you dont blow the kid off. Also drill a hole for the hose to fit into. If you wanted to put down a lot of Rats you can get big 5lb and 10lb CO2 tanks from welding or Beverage companies. The Paintball 20oz will last 6 months for a rat every other week. You dont need tons. You’ll figure it out. Just add Co2 for 20 seconds slowly and leave the lid on for 2 min.
Here is a list of links to purchase.
On/Off Valve & Hose : https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F202537365807
Bottle : https://www.:cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:...20zlmtnkxxxptb
Container : https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite...-Blue/46001916https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2e6e13ee12.jpg



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Originally Posted by kthleenus

I plan on giving the local exotics vet a call tomorrow to get a professional opinion and see if he thinks I should bring him in or not. Thank you everyone who has helped!

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One keeper to another whoever answers will most likely give you a general answer “id bring him in to see the vet” as its a Business.
Im not down playing the wound but thats about as minimal as it can get. A piece of flesh missing might be worth a shot of antibiotic but not a small bite like that. You cleaned it, now watch it for a week. Think of what happens in the wild and they survive.
Just my 2cents. Save the money for when a Vet visit is really needed :)



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