Brought home a severely underweight BP baby. Please help me get her back on track

That would be awesome. When I brought her home, she did have big flakes of shed all down her back that came off during the first soak. Is it possible for shed to peel off in layers? Like, the outer layer of shed peeled off but there's still a layer on there?

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Here's Norm. The first two are with stuck shed, the third is after 30 minutes going through a damp towel.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...aaa9a87821.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...22db06df6c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c3abfd7faf.jpg

Sent from my Vivo X using Tapatalk

I circled the parts that jump out to me and make me think it's stuck shed, other than her overall crispiness. :)https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...bc3264fef0.jpg

Sent from my Vivo X using Tapatalk

Her skin MIGHT actually tear if you handle her with any force...snakes that are chronically-starved have very weak skin because they didn't have the nutrition
to make & maintain their skin, so do handle her very gently. I once rescued a starved adult boa (a beautiful Argentine of all things!) whose skin tore in multiple
places when the owners removed her from their cage to bag her & drop her off to me. (I had wanted to be the one to handle her removal but they jumped the
gun, not knowing my reason for wanting to do that myself. I had made a house-call in response to their call for help & planned to return the next day, when
I had a cage set up for her to move into, and food with me to tempt her off her branches with...but they didn't wait OR listen. :( The skin on that boa would
never be normal, and the same may be true of this BP, I'm sorry to say.

Her skin is super-thin...it appears the shed came off the back-top of her head, but that she retained the rest, at least as far as I can see. I think she'd be better
off with a warm AND humid hide, because misting doesn't hang around long enough to actually help much.do agree with you that she needs "peace & quiet".
Water & food are critical for her...and you may be right that this isn't stuck shed, but that's how it looks in photos, you're in a better position to tell than we are
online. (so refresh my memory, you actually got pieces of shed OFF her when you first got her home?)

Well, hopefully with good nutrition and care she can improve, at least. I'm hoping she's young enough that she tissue paper skin won't last but if it does so be it, I will just learn to be more careful with her.

I will try and add some humidity to the warm hide! I can cover more of the lid to keep humidy in as well, right now a piece of foil covers the warm 1/3 of the lid.

Yes, I got quite a few decent sized flakes off of her back when I brought her home, and a huge chunk that came off on her neck. They were half peeled off, I used a warm rag to wipe them off, which is a big part of my waffling on the subject. I don't mean to be argumentative about stuck shed vs. emaciation, especially since most people on this forum are more experienced than I am, I just genuinely don't know much about it in terms of recognition or if maybe it still could be stuck shed even though I removed quite a bit when I got her home, or if she could still have a layer stuck on. I've never dealt with it so you all know more than I do! My adult has always shed well, and my Kenyan's only shed with me was complete.

I will err on the side of caution and treat it like it is. No reason not to, and it won't hurt anything. I'll ramp up the humidity overall - she's got to be getting ready for a shed soon either way. I'll give her a soak and run her in a pillow case of damp towels, and take some 'after' pics. :)

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WhompingWillow

I circled the parts that jump out to me and make me think it's stuck shed, other than her overall crispiness. :)https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...bc3264fef0.jpg

Sent from my Vivo X using Tapatalk

---

Thank you! The pics actually help quite a bit. When I am home tomorrow I will see if I can try a soak/damp towels and take some more pics and see how she does. You're right, your before pic does look a lot like my little girl does.

I'll wait til tomorrow evening so she can chill a bit after being out today, and while she's doing that I can add some humidity to her tank overall.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spoons

I could add a humid hide but I almost guarantee she wouldn't use it. She hasn't left her hot hide since she was put in the tank - not to eat, poop, nothing save for to drink, which is right outside the door. All the bedding in the rest of the tank is still fluffy and not tamped down like it is where she's crawled over. I believe at the moment she values heat and security over everything else.

---

Next time she's out, you could try making her warm hide into a humid hide by adding some damp moss, then put her back into it. Or add a bunch of damp moss (or even just damp paper towels) in dishes of a bit of water around the tank to get the humidity up. It really does look like she's still got stuck shed from head to toe, and may still be dehydrated. Soaking won't do a whole lot for dehydration, but humidity will. Keep in mind that if the ambient humidity in her cage is 50%, it's lower than that in her hot hide just because the air is warmer so the same amount of moisture results in a lower % humidity. If you can without making everything damp, aim for a much higher than normal level of humidity, from now until her next shed at least. Animals lose moisture just by exhaling, but breathing more humid air can help that.

Re "warm AND humid hide"- My little Aussie spotted python has such a thing- it's a large rectangular plastic food container that's about 8.5" x 12.5" long
and about 3.5" deep. I use similar humid hides for my corn snakes, but they like cooler temps so their humid-hides aren't heated, whereas my spotted
python loves the warmth, so her humid hide and also a regular hide are both over her UTH- her humid hide currently has damp orchid bark, but mostly
soaked sphaghum moss is best for this & what my corns have in theirs. (I switch things up now & then depending on what I have on hand.) My spotted
python uses her humid hide the most of all her hides (she has a cool one too) and it's essential for her to shed well...apparently these are a coastal species,
not desert. Anyway, I suspect your little BP would love to snuggle into damp moss with warmth...:snake: and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for his recovery.

I'm so glad the little one is eating for you! That's a step in the right direction for sure.

And it can be so difficult to tell whats going on with little ones that are so emaciated. The delicate 'paper' skin is still a concern for sure! And sometimes they just lose that healthy look and can appear dried and dehydrated like this.

If she can tolerate a nice warm soak while you set up some more humid places in her tank, I would do that with a little gentle towel time after. Just to make sure. Don't apply too much pressure. Just let the baby work thier way out of the damp towel after the soak.

If you get a bit more dried skin off, awesome! But if not, just let the humid hides help keep that skin moist and hopefully the better meals will help the skin toughen up enough underneath for a good shed.
Don't pick or pull at any suspicious bits because if it is just that dull, dry nutrition starved skin, you could end up with a nasty tear. I've seen that happen firsthand when someone tried to assist feed a baby that looked like yours.

Baby steps and patience! I hope that things improve for you soon tho!

Ok, so I gave her another soak. I'm not sure how much it helped, I didn't see anything come off but it may have come off in teeny pieces I suppose. I let her soak a half hour then slither through some damp washcloths for a while. She is still awful wrinkly (see pic).

I did notice after soaking - not before - she now has a fluid pouch under her skin. Doesn't seem to bother her. I can poke it amd swish the fluid around. Her last third of her body also seems softer amd swollen/squishy down to her vent. but that could be sausage butt too. I know soaking can make them poop. You can see the fluid pocket in the pic that is of her back on the left side- water getting between layers of shed? Under skin? Not sure there.

She seems more curious and less panicked this time. Stronger, too, she's able to hold her body horizontally. I'll take it. I will leave her a few days before feeding since I'm sure it was pretty stressful for her still. Regardless she will be kept in decent humidity at least until she sheds once with me. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...322ebfe425.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1af0a23788.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5ef41e3b89.jpg

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spoons

I did notice after soaking - not before - she now has a fluid pouch under her skin. Doesn't seem to bother her. I can poke it amd swish the fluid around. Her last third of her body also seems softer amd swollen/squishy down to her vent. but that could be sausage butt too. I know soaking can make them poop. You can see the fluid pocket in the pic that is of her back on the left side- water getting between layers of shed? Under skin? Not sure there. \https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...1af0a23788.jpg

---

That sounds like maybe she should see a vet - it doesn't sound like just water getting under some stuck shed. Bathing sometimes makes them poop or pee because dumping the ballast or deterring predators is a flight response, not because it makes them suddenly produce urates or feces that weren't already there.

Glad to hear she seems stronger though.

Yeah, it's definitely on the table. I'm going to take a look tomorrow after work, and if needed I'll make an appt. My vet is pretty awesome, she saw my sick KSB. I still have good hope she will do well :)

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

That "fluid pouch" is bizarre & perplexing. :confusd: I hope your vet has some ideas.

From her appearance, recovery is going to be rather slow for this sweet snake...I'm so glad she has you on her side.

Vet visit today! She was a champ. Vet said it could be a lot of things - from just skin pulling away from the lower tissue, to infection, to virus, to liver failure. He said we *could* do a blood test but because of her size it would have to be a cardiac stick, which is risky, and nothing diagnosable via blood test is treatable so we would be testing just for the knowledge. He said the only thing of all the possibilities that is really treatable is a bacterial infection/ sepsis so he recommended we be safe and start her on the same antibiotics my sand boa was on. I agreed with him, no sense in testing if it's not something we could treat, so she's on a month of antibiotics injections. He did point out a bit of a red mark on her side and said it could be a scuff, the start of shed cycle (she's about due) or it could he what he called sepsis blush (a sign of sepsis, though she's acting and eating like normal), so better to treat just on case.

He gave her subcutaneous fluids, too, which I think was really good for her. It'll be a bit of a pill managing her injections and her shyness with food but I think we can manage. I will give her three days to rest, give her next injection in the and see if she will eat PM that same day to give her tbe next full two to digest before injecting again.

Doc gives a prognosis of "guarded" but I think she will be ok. :) Time to pick up some OT at work to make up the cost of vet bills! She is definitely worth it!

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

We're all pulling for her! I hope it's none of the "worst-case" scenarios, but only time will tell. She's in no shape to draw blood from, the decision you both
arrived at makes total sense to me. Lucky you, more practice with injections...:rolleyes: You're truly her guardian angel...:gj:

Good luck, I hope you'll keep posting updates!

Wow that poor baby looks awful. I rescued an Amazon Tree Boa a few days ago. It's in such bad shape I have soaked it twice, yesterday for 30 mins and today for 3 hours. Most of it's shed is STILL stuck. When I get off work this morning I'm going to have to pin it and pull it off (after another soak so it is wet ofc). I completely understand people not liking snakes and all, but why get one and mistreat it?

I know, I felt guilty even taking her out at the vet even though it isn't my fault. I told him 'if you'll believe it she used to look worse. I swear this is an improvement.' his expression when he was examining her said it all.

I hope your Amazon does well! That is one of my wants. I *love* Amazon tree boas, I just don't think I'm experienced enough to get one yet with their temperament known to be a bit aggressive.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jnksnakes

Wow that poor baby looks awful. I rescued an Amazon Tree Boa a few days ago. It's in such bad shape I have soaked it twice, yesterday for 30 mins and today for 3 hours. Most of it's shed is STILL stuck. When I get off work this morning I'm going to have to pin it and pull it off (after another soak so it is wet ofc). I completely understand people not liking snakes and all, but why get one and mistreat it?

---

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

She shed! All in one piece, too! She went blue about four days after I started keeping the ambient humidity at 60-70. This morning I woke up to a shiny snake and a long shed. She looks a TON better post-shed, her skin is all smooth now too (and she's hungry!)

I took her out for her injection this morning and found she does have a little wound. Her skin is so fragile I'm sure it's from rubbing to get the shed off. She is still on antibiotics so I'm not too concerned about infection but what should I put on it? She's due for a vet check real soon too, so she'll get seen there again. (Pic attached).

Here's some pics of the fresh Snek, who has been named Hera (to match my adult male, Argus. Had to follow the Greek trend!) Pardon her sausage butt. I figured she'd poop when she shed but I was wrong! [emoji23]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e980fa7631.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...14371085f9.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...599994aad0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0e17c8968d.jpg

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Awesome!!! You can use Neosporin ointment (sold for humans in every drug store & Walmart, etc. by the band-aids) on the wound, ONLY the kind
WITHOUT "pain relief" is good for snakes. Or you could wipe it with Betadine, if you have that on hand. Or Silvadene cream if you have it (it's Rx).

She is really improving, she looks SO much better, THANKS TO YOU :D & I bet she feels better too. :gj:

She has turned into such a rockstar eater, for one that was labeled a 'problem eater.' shocker, give a snake what it properly needs to live and they thrive. Who would have thought? Someone should let the pet stores know, they must not have been told yet (/sarcasm).

Switched to F/T with no issues whatsoever, strikes immediately. She now comes out of her hide and creeps around, coiling back looking for her food when she smells me heating it with a hair dryer. I can't wait until she's done with injections and I can bump her food size (keeping them small but more frequent for less chance of regurge since meds are every 3 days). Gaining confidence, eats like a champ, looking good after her shed.

I'm *so happy* with her progress! Such a turnaround from the half dead little noodle she was not that long ago. Fingers crossed for her next vet check, I hope the vet has the same thoughts I do! [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]

And of course you all have been amazing and helpful for this newbie who was a bit out of her element, having only raised a happy healthy snake. With three animals (two snakes and a little stray kitten) at my house currently being cared for under the eye of my vet they're getting to know me pretty well! (Wonder what the odds are they'll let me bring all three in for their rechecks at the same time, hmm...) My bleeding heart just can't say no to the animals that need help.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

You're doing such an awesome job with her...I'm so delighted to hear such a wonderful update on this snake. Are there more beautiful & perfect snakes
around to keep as pets? Sure...but personally, MY heart goes out to those that need some help or even just a home...the over-looked ones can be more
work, but can also be so much more rewarding in the long run. :gj:

So, just a lil update!

She is off her antibiotics. She is doing *wonderfully* - she's an active, curious little snake with an incredible appetite. She's been steadily gaining weight, she is eating hoppers. Still a little thin but a HUGE improvement. She crawls around at night, hangs out with her head peeking out her hidey huts to watch what's going on. A little hand shy (understandably) still. She has just hit the 100 gram mark - she was 52 grams when I brought her home.

However. She is still getting big fluid pockets under her skin. They do not seem to bother her unless I poke at them, which I try to not do. I brought her back to the vet two weeks post-antibiotics because the pockets were larger than I've seen them. They drew the fluid off and sent it for a fluid analysis, and said that she's looking really good, and that they have no idea what it could be. They looked at the fluid under a microscope and said there really wasn't anything to see - there was like one white blood cell, a bacteria cell that was likely cross contamination from the skin. Fluid analysis showed not much - a couple cells here and there, but no infection (that they could see), no inflammation, no bacteria. A bacterial culture of the fluid would be useless since there's no bacteria to culture.

In short, they're baffled. I did post in a group on Facebook, and it was brought up that there's a possibility of organ damage which can cause fluid buildup in humans, so possibly something similar in snakes. A few people said they had similar pockets on their emaciated rescue BP - a few said they spontaneously recovered, and one said their snake passed. The vet said we can do more testing, but I opted to just watch and see, and the vet agreed that because she is, for all intents and purposes, a healthy snake otherwise, that is a valid way to go and to just keep an eye on her and jump on it if she starts to look sick or go downhill. If the fluid pockets get too big, I have the ok to draw the fluid off of her - I have not done so since the very first time to check for blood, because I am hoping the body will reabsorb it on its own. I don't want her getting dehydrated, and the less needle pokes the better, imo.

So! That's where we are at with her. Here's a few pictures - the red arrow points to the start of one of the fluid pockets. the last pic is her post-vet just an overall pic of how she is looking! She's a little fighter and I am still pulling for her. If anybody has any insight on the fluid, I'd love to hear it. :)

Posting pics in the following post for ease of doing - For some reason on the computer the pics preview HUGE. I'll add them in a sec via Tapatalk.

Here's the pics :)https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...70e0bc2d3b.jpg


Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f6b768a4ce.jpg

Wow, you're doing such a great job with her...she is so lucky to have you! She is precious, by the way. :gj:

I hope she outgrows the fluid pockets...that is a concern, but if she does I'd imagine it will be very gradual. I'd agree that it's probably some renal damage from
her starvation, but no idea what the prognosis would be, whether or not it can improve? I hope so. I would do just as you're doing, not draw off the fluid & hope
it can be reabsorbed for now.

This snake I swear to god. She shed last night. Plus side, all in one piece. Down side, her skin is still so fragile it ripped open. Not down through to the muscle but got her good. Daily betadine soaks, quarantine tub, dabbed on a tiny bit of antibiotic ointment because I don't have anything else atm to put on it. I'll call my vet tomorrow and send a pic and see if he thinks, given her history, she should get antibiotics.

Another plus side, she's doing amazingly otherwise - filling out nicely. Holding her almost feels like holding a normal snake in her back half where she's mostly filled in, and the skin back there feels more normal. I think once she's a solid weight and those damn fluid pockets stop (they are improving) her skin should get better.

I didn't even suspect anything until I came home from work and found her nonchalantly hanging out outside her hide, covered in blood, but her new curious self otherwise. Goon. Crawled into my hand when I reached in to explore like nothing was happening.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ef8c5c3b5e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b5212e4e77.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...15801b20d1.jpg

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Poor baby! She's lucky to have you!
I was thinking about the fluid pockets-- coming in late here so maybe it's been mentioned-- but in humans fluid "second spacing" like that is often a protein deficiency. And the fragile skin would also be caused by protein deficiency/malnutrition. I hope she continues to recover. Maybe she needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap until she's all better. ;)

From what I know of severe malnutrition in snakes, once their skin is damaged to where it becomes abnormally thin & tears easily, it does not get back to
normal [thickness], I'm sad to say. What a horrible shock to come home to, this snake all bloody! :O Some years back I took in an adult unwanted and
chronically-starved boa with numerous skin tears like this...Silvadene cream was helpful to heal them over, but the fragility of her skin did not change. :(
She never had pockets of fluid under her skin like this one does.

I don't know "the rest of her story" because about 6 mos. later I decided to move out of state, so she was placed with someone in the Herp society that
understood & accepted her issues. She ate good for me, she regained her weight & all her torn skin was healed over, but she remained very fragile I'm sure.

I like the "bubble-wrap" idea! I think FollowtheSun is onto something...;) Spoons: I'm so sorry for this set-back...and so incongruent for her to act as if
nothing was wrong? Silly snek!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FollowTheSun

Poor baby! She's lucky to have you!
I was thinking about the fluid pockets-- coming in late here so maybe it's been mentioned-- but in humans fluid "second spacing" like that is often a protein deficiency. And the fragile skin would also be caused by protein deficiency/malnutrition. I hope she continues to recover. Maybe she needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap until she's all better. ;)

---

Re-reading this-- I meant *third* spacing! I need to go back to nursing school apparently! I was typing that while trying to pay politely pay attention to our friend's daughter giving us a CutCo sales pitch. :blahblah:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bogertophis

From what I know of severe malnutrition in snakes, once their skin is damaged to where it becomes abnormally thin & tears easily, it does not get back to
normal [thickness], I'm sad to say. What a horrible shock to come home to, this snake all bloody! :O Some years back I took in an adult unwanted and
chronically-starved boa with numerous skin tears like this...Silvadene cream was helpful to heal them over, but the fragility of her skin did not change. :(
She never had pockets of fluid under her skin like this one does.

I don't know "the rest of her story" because about 6 mos. later I decided to move out of state, so she was placed with someone in the Herp society that
understood & accepted her issues. She ate good for me, she regained her weight & all her torn skin was healed over, but she remained very fragile I'm sure.

I like the "bubble-wrap" idea! I think FollowtheSun is onto something...;) Spoons: I'm so sorry for this set-back...and so incongruent for her to act as if
nothing was wrong? Silly snek!

---

That's too bad that it may not ever get stronger skin again. :-( I do wonder if a soft padded environment might be safer,but then what would it rub on on for sheds?

Awww... poor baby. I was worried something like that would happen. I've seen it happen before as well.

Sadly the little one I was caring for basically peeled her skin off like yours right behind her head and it just got worse, so we had to put her down. The tissue was just too fragile to properly suture.

I'm hoping that maybe the area that your baby peeled in will be a bit easier to work with, but this may just end up being a quality of life concern. ;n;

I am hopeful! I actually came across an article about vitamin C deficiencies in severely malnourished snakes causing skin fragility, blistering, and spontaneous rupture with routine skin stretching - like shedding and feeding. It seems pretty extremely likely to be what she is suffering from.

It also sounds like if that's the case, it IS treatable, and should go back to normal. A large part of her skin already feels like it is back to normal snake skin.

I figure I will bring her in to my vet once more. That small spot is healing up, but there's roughly two inches of skin on one side that seems to have also torn free, but not come loose of her body, so it's a tough hard scab like area. I expect it will work it's way free. I have been doing gentle betadine washes at night, no soaks because I want that scab of skin to stay on longer, and dabbing on a little antibiotic cream.

Sounds like vitamin C supplementation is gbe key to getting the skin in good shape. It looks like there is a few ways you can do that, from injecting the prey item to injecting tbe actual snake with calcium supplement. I am hoping I can get some snake injection or water additive so she gets daily calcium.

Otherwise she's doing well! It honestly doesn't seem to hurt her too bad. She doesn't jerk when I clean or prod at it. She ate just fine the other day. She is still her curious self. I've seen snakes with much nastier burns come out the other side ok so I'm confident she will pull through as well :)

I am thinking I will maybe start a separate thread just for the vitamin C issue, since it seems uncommon enough that it might he useful to be finable for future snake owners. But, I will prob wait til a vet can confirm!

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

RE quality of life: if it gets to that point, I will not make her suffer. However, if she is still doing well, and my vet thinks she is doing well, I will go ahead with treatment. So far she is being a rockstar, and I am hoping it stays that way - but I am not afraid of ending it if she seems to be suffering.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Hey, that's really interesting....yes, please DO start a thread about the Vitamin C thing, that's news to me & it's needs to be highlighted...and please do include the
source article too. I'm really glad to hear she's doing well, what a trooper she is! -but with you to thank for being her guardian angel. I think she had no chance
if you hadn't taken her home. Anyway, that would be especially awesome if extra nutrients turn out to be the answer to saving & improving her skin. Back when
I took in a boa with similar skin tears, I treated her topically and used reptile vits/mins. on her food "in case" but I don't know the whole "rest of the story" because
I moved out of state & re-homed her before doing so (-after I had her for about 6 mos.). And even if nutrition makes all the difference, it's still slow-going for a full
recuperation. :gj:

I know this post is old but I want to know how Hera is doing. I'm so worried for her. That poor thing. I recently went to the pet store and was heartbroken when I saw how thin their bp was. You're a good person for putting in the time and effort to save this snake.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by samsonact

I know this post is old but I want to know how Hera is doing. I'm so worried for her. That poor thing. I recently went to the pet store and was heartbroken when I saw how thin their bp was. You're a good person for putting in the time and effort to save this snake.

---

I'm sorry, I didn't see this earlier! It's been a little bit since I've logged in.

Hera is good! We had a major, major setback during her last shed. My intent was to house her in a tub with nothing but damp towel in it for her to shed on once she cleared up from blue, because her skin is so fragile she injures herself rubbing on the harder things in her tank. With my adult, as well as with her first shed and second, she would clear from blue and shed 2ish days later. This time, she shed the day after she cleared up, before I moved her. It was a nasty shed, and the area that she had previously tore down to just a thin layer and had been healing tore clean through to the muscle as she rubbed the scabbing off - a patch about as big as the last segment of one of my fingers. This was the first time I really truly sat down and asked myself if I was keeping her alive selfishly, and if she had a poor quality of life. I struggled with it for several days.

But, I figured, let's see where it goes and take it one day at a time. I have seen snakes on here with full length nasty body burns that come through nicely, so I wanted to give it a shot. Treated with just ointment and once it scabbed over dilute betadine. It has healed over wonderfully (and very quickly) and there's new white skin over the wound. She has not for a single day looked like she was going downhill behavior wise. She's still a very curious little snake, and has a voracious appetite that almost puts my adult garbage disposal to shame. due to the wound and tightness of healing skin she has been getting two fuzzies instead of a small mouse, and she ALWAYS wolfs the first one down in minutes and waits in S-pose for the second one. She's not hand shy or lethargic or aggressive. She acts like any other snake, and as long as she is telling me she is ok I will keep fighting for her. The skin is improving slowly - the back 50% of her where she is filling in first is about like a normal snake now.

So, we've been keeping on keeping on! Healing nicely and gaining weight. I am at work, but I will update with pictures when I can. :)

That's great news ,look forward to seeing the pics

Sent from my TA-1024 using Tapatalk

It's a real battle to help a snake like this...battles have their ups & downs, she is SO fortunate to have you on her side. :gj: Great job- hang in there.

Ok. Update woth pics. Some information on her last 3 sheds:

3 sheds ago: damaged a section of skin (see previous pics of when I found here covered in blood). The skin hardened rock hard into a scabby section.

2 sheds ago- this is the one where she shed a day early, before I could put her in the shedding tub I had ready and full of damp towel. She sloughed off the scab down to muscle. She also damaged a longer strip of skin down the side of her back.

This last shed, maybe 5 days ago: the scab from last shed pulled off, and the skin underneath is white and healing wonderfully. its closed over. She did slough off the long strip of skin that was damaged, leaving a long wound that looks nasty but is less nasty in person. It is not quite all the way through the skin. The shed, otherwise, was flawless - I got her into her shedding tub, it came free in one piece. No new damaged skin. The new skin underneath is smooth and less fragile, it gets a little better every shed.

Included is a pic of her wound today that I snapped when she came out to see if I had any mice for her. It's entirely scabbed over and is closing amd healing very well. I think it'll look like the last one after next shed, which, if it goes anything like this one will mean she is past any damaged skin and can work on smoothing out the healing over the next few sheds. You can see where the old wound was, it's the whitish streak on her.

I treat every other day with antibiotic ointment it's looking better than I ever hoped it was. I'm a tiny bit hesitant to post pics because I've gotten a little backlash elsewhere, but I stand by her treatment and that she is on a fast road to recovery and feeling good about it and is a (getting) healthy curious little snake

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Last two from today after work. Pardon the water spots! From misting when she was blue https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d4e10ca7cf.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c1cfc15efd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6785c2a1e6.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8f3d329b5b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1ef6453f22.jpg

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

Wow,that is a big scar/wound , at least it doesn't look angry, if that makes sense.

you really are doing a great job, good job there's such nice people on this planet still, a lot of people would of given up on this a long time ago, hat off to you big time

Sent from my TA-1024 using Tapatalk

It does make sense! It's not angry, it's healing actually incredibly well. It seems, during this experience, I've found that snakes heal much faster than you'd expect them to. The edges of the wound seem to pull closer together every day. The scabby area is flexible still, it doesn't bunch up or pinch.

Currently she's coiled half on top of her hide and half inside, watching me in hopes I'll appear with mice. Little goon. I can't wait til I can give her a full tank again and take her out of quarantine.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

She's one tough little fighter! :bow: And so are you! :D That's great that she eats so well, she really needs it to keep healing. :gj:

Sorry I’ve not been following the thread .... just noticed this photo though .. what on earth caused that apparent split in the skin !!??

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2824ad7266.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zincubus

Sorry I’ve not been following the thread .... just noticed this photo though .. what on earth caused that apparent split in the skin !!??

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2824ad7266.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

---

It was a hard scabbed off area of damaged skin from the previous shed. She's had a few rough ones, and this last one peeled the hard damaged skin off. Because of the severity of the malnutrition, she had tissue paper skin when I got her.

No new damaged skin, though, and it's firmer and feeling more like regular snake skin. There is no longer fluid under the skin, or bruising post-shed - I think after next shed, it should be closed up and on the road to full repair :)

I used to handle her and feel like her skin would rip under my fingers. Now she feels more like a snake!

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

What did you end up deciding regarding giving her Vitamin C or a multivitamin? I'm glad she's hanging in there and slowly improving. She definitely lucked out the day you brought her home. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zincubus

.... just noticed this photo though .. what on earth caused that apparent split in the skin !!?? ....

---

Chronic malnutrition in snakes results in skin that tears very easily...I've taken in a similar snake (a boa) myself with the same problem. In case you want to
hear this from more than just one member? ;) It's horribly challenging to treat & yeah, the pictures are shocking, to say the least...but this snake is recovering.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WhompingWillow

What did you end up deciding regarding giving her Vitamin C or a multivitamin? I'm glad she's hanging in there and slowly improving. She definitely lucked out the day you brought her home. :)

---

I ended up not supplementing because I was unable to find anything about dosing and safety. Vitamin C is water soluble, which means any that isn't used immediately in body is passed through waste (pee) so while over dosing would be a small chance, it's not one I wanted to take. This also means that while I'm sure her body uses the vitamin C from her meals as fast as it can, any left over is passed in waste until she eats again.

I did, however, switch to feeding her smaller meals more frequently so her body has a more frequent source of vitamins than once per week. The smaller prey helps while she heals too, as there's less body stretching than one big meal.

I'm still toying with trying to inject a little slurry of a multivitamin powder into a mouse once a week, but haven't taken that step yet. I would like to do more research on dosing and solubility - anything fat soluble CAN be over dosed, and I don't want to do that.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

I used to add a little bit of reptile vitamin powder to prey when I bred a few snakes years ago...I no longer use it, but in your case, I probably would use just
a tiny amount*, & maybe every third feeding...more or less as a "safety net", & not trying to meet the RDA that we have no standards for in snakes anyway.
My snakes were healthy & remained so, & there's no way to know how much of a difference the vitamins made. I suspect it might help yours though & I don't
believe it would hurt anything. *Either reptile or bird vitamins.

It's the way I take my own supplements, since there are so many "ifs" even in products for humans. There is no guarantee of purity -what!? :O so while I can
see there may be a benefit for some things (depending on one's diet), there's no way I want to take much of anything, just in case. Know what I mean?

I just ordered some reptile vitamins for her, and will give some with her next meal. :) You're right, since most vitamins aren't monitored by the FDA there isn't really a guarantee on purity or anything. Makes it hard! But I don't think it'll hurt her. Gotta stop on my way home today and restock on mice! I'll see about getting an updated weight on her, I haven't done in a while. With everything going on I've been going for minimal handling - but it'll be interesting to see how she's come since the 50something grams she was when I brought her back.