Lesson for All *GRAPHIC*

Poor guy! Feeding live scares the heck out of me. I've been feeding live (and frozen) over the past 10 years and didn't have my first snake injury until about 3 months ago. It is dangerous even if you do keep an eye on them - if the snake strikes the wrong spot the rat could easily latch on somewhere. In my case, my female Pied got bit right on the neck by a rat. It scared me so bad but luckily she was perfectly fine and healed quickly... Nothing like your poor boy. But it did make me think of how easily a snake can lose an eye to a rat. So now if I have to feed larger live rats I clip their teeth before offering them to the snake. It is perfectly painless to clip the teeth. I also breed my own feeders and only breed docile rats so that helps a little, they aren't prone to attacking and are well-fed. Here is to a speedy recovery!

This is him as of today. From what you can see there is no more fresh blood. Just dry-black blood which are the scabs and exposed muscle tissue.

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/ae140/that_dc5/2.jpg

already look much better :gj:

I hope the rest of the recovery goes just as smoothly.

DO NOT USE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE. Though it will kill pathogens it will also slow the healing process by destroying your BP's own cells. Please use other disinfectants.

Looks like you have him on the road to recovery. Great job!

Wow. He looks way better. :gj: Keep it up and keep us updated.

Dont be surprised when he sheds soon that the scabs and what not will come off and start bleeding again

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redstormlax12

DO NOT USE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE. Though it will kill pathogens it will also slow the healing process by destroying your BP's own cells. Please use other disinfectants.

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Thank you for the advice but I haven't used Hydrogen Peroxide again... I've been using betadine as I have stated previously several times

I'd also suggest trying to get some silver sulfadiazine. It's an ointment used to treat burns, but it works well for wounds in general. It's great for snakes (much better than neosporin because it's not petroleum based so it doesn't cause individual scale shedding). It's usually only available by Rx, but it's really handy to have so it's worth asking your vet. Legally, the active ingredient can be sold otc, but most places only seem to carry the Rx version.

Wow he looks much much better for now. I agree when he sheds it will probably look worse than it did at first, but it will heal up given time.

Gale