It finally happened. :(

instead of neosporin has anyone ever used bacitracin? pronounced bass-uh-trace-in. that's was i was instructed to use when i got my tattoo's and i've only used that since. it's supposed ot be better and they tol dme why but i forgot. it's been years

i'll check the lil guy out tonight.

oh and alcohol... really? isoprobyl alcohol? the pediatrician is telling us to shy away from that stuff. i've used it all my life but aparently new meds are better (at least for kids/us) than the old fashioned rubbing alcohol. it's not a big wound at all, hopefully i can find it. but i'll get the area all cleaned up. any ideas about the dangers of lightly swabbing a complete side of the neck for 3 - 4 inches? i mean if it't now bad and i cant find it... i was thinking about wiping the area down. i'll make sure the ventilation is really good cause the fumes get to me too. i can imagine what they do to him.

thanks all of you.

i'll let you know when i get home how bad/insignifigant it is.

Neosporin and Polysporin are not exactly the same thing, but the difference is not a muscle relaxant. I think for this purpose either one would be fine.

However, be sure you are getting the right one! Neosporin is a brand name that is now applied to lots of different products. The original Neosporin antibiotic ointment (without pain killer) is what we are referring to here.

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Originally Posted by Ranegyr

oh and alcohol... really? isoprobyl alcohol? the pediatrician is telling us to shy away from that stuff. i've used it all my life but aparently new meds are better (at least for kids/us) than the old fashioned rubbing alcohol.

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Yup, regular ol' rubbing alcohol.

Peroxide is crap for disinfecting, and as Becky (satanicintention) our local Vet tech puts it, it "is only good for getting blood stains out." :gj:

I believe the reason alcohol and iodine are no longer recommended for human first aide is because it turns out they are just as effective as killing healthy human tissue as they are at killing germs. So it causes more scarring. However, I'd rather have more scarring than an infection if I felt there were (or were likely to be) germs that needed killing.

Betadine is just a particular kind of iodine, so I believe it falls in the same category. I think iodine/betadine is the best at disinfecting.

I believe alcohol does its best at disinfecting when left wet for a period of several minutes, which isn't practical in most applications.

Peroxide also causes more scarring, but they've figured out it doesn't even disinfect as well as they used to think it did.

I seriously doubt your snake is going to need psychotherapy :P over a little extra scarring, so if you feel disinfection is a good idea, go ahead and use the alcohol or iodine.

If anyone knows anything to the contrary of what I've said in here, please let me know. It is kind of stuff I've mismashed together from several sources over the past several years, so it is possible I've got some of it confused.

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Originally Posted by Ranegyr

So, one of my boys (3yo norm bp) finally got bit last night. There was no blood. The wound was very small (i know, bacteria.) from what i saw the rats teeth went in about 2-3 milimeters but did not go directly in. it's more like they just seperated a couple of scales from the muscle.

i keep him in a glass tank. i feed in the tank. when he coiled around the rat, i didn't see the the damage. i noticed it when he started to uncoil. so, apart from feeding f/t, how am i supposed to see every angle? i mean i can totally see this same thing happening in a tub. maybe there isn't a solution ofther than f/t or maybe i am just still ticked off that it happened. UGH!

now what are the extenuating circumstances that justify picking up and examining a snake that has just eaten. because i didn't see any blood, and he ate fine after the incident, and i couldn't even locate the spot while he was moving around; i didn't pick him up to see. i always wait 2 days before i even touch them. i did keep checking back and he is in his hide now so there is no way i am going to get a look with out disturbing him. what do you do?

if it's bad, what do i look for? yeah i know foaming, bleeding, pussing, anything that looks weird around the site is bad and it'll be off to the vet.. but what else can happen? any experience will be a plus.

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im sorry i would be upset too but it does happen. make sure you keep meds on the wound till it heals up

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Originally Posted by Ranegyr

instead of neosporin has anyone ever used bacitracin? pronounced bass-uh-trace-in. that's was i was instructed to use when i got my tattoo's and i've only used that since. it's supposed ot be better and they tol dme why but i forgot. it's been years

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I forgot to respond to this when I responded earlier. Bacitracin is one of the ingredients in Neosporin. That much I knew. Knowing that, I had no idea why anyone would tell you it was better than Neosporin. So I tried to find something about it, and found this link:
http://www.breasthealthonline.org/cg...w.pl?tid=46481

Apparently some people can be allergic to one of the ingredients in Neosporin. That would be a good reason to avoid using it on something like a tattoo!

I have no idea how that would translate to our little scaled friends, but considering how often I see it recommended, I'm pretty sure if there was any significant likelihood of a negative reaction, we'd have heard about it by now. So my guess is any of the three (neosporin, polysporin, bacitracin) are safe for use on reptiles. Personally, I'll go for the one with the most active ingredients (neosporin) when/if I have a reason to use it, to try to wipe everything out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ranegyr

instead of neosporin has anyone ever used bacitracin? pronounced bass-uh-trace-in. that's was i was instructed to use when i got my tattoo's and i've only used that since. it's supposed ot be better and they tol dme why but i forgot. it's been years

i'll check the lil guy out tonight.

oh and alcohol... really? isoprobyl alcohol? the pediatrician is telling us to shy away from that stuff. i've used it all my life but aparently new meds are better (at least for kids/us) than the old fashioned rubbing alcohol. it's not a big wound at all, hopefully i can find it. but i'll get the area all cleaned up. any ideas about the dangers of lightly swabbing a complete side of the neck for 3 - 4 inches? i mean if it't now bad and i cant find it... i was thinking about wiping the area down. i'll make sure the ventilation is really good cause the fumes get to me too. i can imagine what they do to him.

thanks all of you.

i'll let you know when i get home how bad/insignifigant it is.

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I used to think Bacitracin was ok to use for tattoos also, it isn't. It is NOT OK to use because it has painkillers in it and it can mess up your tatoo. Painkillers can actually pull the ink out of the fresh tatoo and well... you see where I am going with that. You are only suppossed to use regular A&D ointment on a tatoo and that is it.

As for the snake just use polysporin. This animal is much smaller than we are and using a painkiller on it could potentially overdose it. Plus some animals just don't react well to it certain medicines. Like how you are never suppossed to give a dog ibuprofin(motrin/advil etc...) for example.

Edit: Also for the OP, if you are so worried about this why not try and convert to f/t? Unless you breed your own feeders its alot cheaper and easier for you(and the snake) and obviously much safer.

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Originally Posted by Ranegyr

instead of neosporin has anyone ever used bacitracin? pronounced bass-uh-trace-in.

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I grew up on Bacitracin. My dad was a medic and then a hospital administrator. I didn't know what Neosporin was, LOL. Bacitracin is an antibacterail ointment designed to treat minor skin infections and the main ingredient in Neosporin - as mentioned before. Neosporin has a painkiller in it which is fine for us but bad for BPs.

Bacitracin in its pure (original) form DOES NOT have a painkiller in it. You have to specifically buy Bacitracin with a painkiller in it. Adding the painkiller was a marketing issue to compete with Neosprin. However, most people don't know the difference and just grab a tube and end up with the one ith the painkiller in it.

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Originally Posted by ScottyDsntKnow

I used to think Bacitracin was ok to use for tattoos also, it isn't. It is NOT OK to use because it has painkillers in it and it can mess up your tatoo. Painkillers can actually pull the ink out of the fresh tatoo and well... you see where I am going with that. You are only suppossed to use regular A&D ointment on a tatoo and that is it.

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As I mentioned above, Bacitracin in it's pure (original) form does not have a painkiller. Most tattoo artist will tell you not to use it because it is easier to find the Bacitracin with painkiller then the original formula. So most people buy the wrong one.

A&D Oringinal Ointment is made up of vitamin A, vitamin D (hend the name), Petrolatum and Lanolin. It is designed to form a protective barrier to help seal out irritating wetness and allows skin to heal naturally. That is why tattoo artist perfer it. The whole purpose is to allow irritated sking to heal, but not to treat an infection. So for tattoos, I agree, A&D is best.

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Originally Posted by Monty

dont use neosporin use polysporin. neosporin has a muscle relaxer in it, polysporin doesn't.

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Polysporin is Neosproin without the painkiller. SO the bottom line, yep, i'm finally getting there, is that either Polysporin or Bacitracin (original formual - no painkiller) would be fine to use for your BP.

I just hope this never happens to my little girl...

All the Bacitracin I see in Walgreens or wherever else around here is the stuff with painkillers. Eh, for tatoos I just use A&D to be safe and for snakes definitely keep a tube of poylsporin around just in case although I don't feed live so I don't ever see when I'd have a bit up snake...