The Most Neglected Snake I Have Seen :[

So a while back someone contacted us and told us they knew someone they worked with that had a snake for free that needed a new home. So of course I told them to get in contact with me that i would love to give it a new home. So i talked to the guy for a couple of days and when i was supposed to meet him the guy ended up being sick. So finally today we meet and got the baby. Well actually my husband did, and when he called me to tell me the conditions of the snake i cried. 1st of all the snake has been @ their house for the past 3 months without anyone there. The husband that i was talking to evidently hasn't seen the snake, and the wife was the one caring for it. She said it hasn't been feed in a while. Its been living a shoe box with some type of snake bedding. They are unsure of how old the snake is, but thinks its a girl. Let me tell you this snake is in horrible conditions. Very bad stuck shed, very dehydrated to the point she is pretty limp. She is sooo skinny that her skin is like very very saggy. You can tell that they totally neglected this baby. Now to top it all off, I believe she has mouth rot. Right where her tongue comes out is a little brown coloring. Not sore like but weird looking. She has no bubbles, blood, or her mouth isnt discolored. Actually her mouth is clear looking. I know this is the worst thing, and we are currently looking for a reptile vet around us to treat this. I just cried and cried because i felt sooo sorry for her. How can one house an animal and just not care about it. I pray that she survives and lives a happy life with us. But right now its looking rather scary! We decided to name her Kera, she is a beautiful little thing and has great coloring!!! I am unsure of her age and the past owners had no clue how old she was either. These pictures just don't compare to how scary looking she is.:(:(:(

Here she is soaking in water to get some fluids into her
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...m/DSC_0179.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...m/DSC_0177.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...m/DSC_0168.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...m/DSC_0170.jpg
Here is her sunken in belly
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...m/DSC_0174.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...m/DSC_0172.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...m/DSC_0175.jpg
And here is her mouth :mad::O:mad:
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...m/DSC_0176.jpg

Thats just sad,
she is just lucky to be with a good, non neglectful owner:gj:

The sad part is that I see people like that all the time. Truth is that now that their "burden" of a snake is gone they'll most likely find another animal to neglect.

The "new pet syndrome" use to be a child thing, but every day more and more adults find it okay to get a pet they can't care for, and when they don't want it anymore just let it die, or abandon it. Who cares right? It's just an animal they don't have any feelings specially snakes.

Those people make me sick.

Good job. Keep that girl safe, and show her what we GOOD humans are capable of.

awww...poor baby. Yea you can just see the dirt and ick on her belly...poor baby. The mouth thing does NOT look good at all, she definetly needs to see a vet soon.

Also and I am sure you already know this....but feed her something a little smaller the first couple of times as not to shock her system. Sorry...I know....I have the total mommy syndrom...lol...:rolleyes:

Way way good on your for the rescue!!!

Belly rot or a burn. The mouth looks like it has been rubbing, probably trying to get out. I put a dab of clorhexidine in and inch of water a swish the snake around. It will go into a shed and then in a week or two go into another shed. Don't worry about the sheds so close together its just a healing process they go into.

Good luck. Great rescue. Keep us posted.:gj:

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Originally Posted by boasandballs

Belly rot or a burn. The mouth looks like it has been rubbing, probably trying to get out. I put a dab of clorhexidine in and inch of water a swish the snake around. It will go into a shed and then in a week or two go into another shed. Don't worry about the sheds so close together its just a healing process they go into.

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Where do you get clorhexidine? and what is it?


Thank you guys! I hope she will be a fighter :]

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Originally Posted by PolkaDotPenguin

Where do you get clorhexidine? and what is it?



Thank you guys! I hope she will be a fighter :]

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I can not spell
Chlorhexidine solution2%
I have some, $8.00 mixes to fill 4, 32 oz spray bottles. Pro exotics also sells it.

Aw, poor thing. Glad she's with you guys now! You have a very big heart!

What a shame. :tears: Good luck getting her healthy!

that's sad that a lot of people these days get an animal and think its going to be so much fun at first then they slowly start to forget about it. its quite disturbing when you think about it that they would starve the poor thing to where it would want to die its sad.

that doesn't look good at all see if she will eat if she doesn't respond well to eating there might be parasites as well wish you best keep us all informed as to her progress

she will be fine i know it now that she has such an awesome owner as you!

what your doing is so amazing >_< u rock!! :gj::gj::gj::gj:

i hate people like that. at least post an add somewere. im sure someone would take it. but im sure she will be fine! hope she/he gets better.

&%$^%$^#$, that does not look good. It personally tears me up when I see things like this....and I'm a grown man! :tears:

Chlorhexidine also know as novlasan.. Vets use it to sterilize things. perfectly safe even if swallowed. Check your local feed stores as a lot of horse breeders keep it...

pls keep us posted :)

Awwwww, such a shame :( Props to you on the rescue :gj:

Thank you everyone! She did great through the night! I really think she loves the warmth and being able to have a hide, and water!

My question though is since she is soo little and i have never dealt with one that little...what size rat do i feed her? I mean her neck is as little as a pencil. I am soo scared that anything would be to big for her. Do i feed her pinkies? or the next thing up?

Thanks again everyone! I will keep yall posted :]

I think she will make a smooth recovery, especially now that she has keepers that will love her and care for her properly. Keep us updated!:)

PDP Here are a couple of links for Chlorhexidine...

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.h...2-00b0d0204ae5


http://www.reptilebasics.com/cleaning-products/


The first link sells the 1 gallon jugs cheaper, but Reptile Basics has smaller bottle available. Personally I like RBI because it only takes 1 or 2 days for shipping since they are so close.(Trinity, NC)

See if you can find her a nice rat chub (eyes just starting to open) to start her on. Or a medium adult mouse. Thanks for taking her in. She doesn't look as bad as I expected when reading the title - I think she'll recover nicely under your care!

Ya i dont think that the pictures do as juctice to what she looks like in my hands. Her neck is little soo little and her skin is like old saggy peoples skin :'[

I just tried an medium adult mouse and she is scared of it. Wont even seem interested. All she does is curl into a ball and hide. I so bad want her to get some nutrients in her ;'[

Poor little dear...I just hate it when people do that to animals. Kudos to you for taking her in!

And she looks a LOT like what SunSpot did when I was first handed him. He's my rescue pastel boy. He was saggy, emaciated, and had broken ribs. He weighed 44g at 3 months old! I seriously didn't think he'd live at first.
After some electrolytes and attention from the greatest vet, I started him on mouse pinks (yes, mouse) and VERY slowly moved him up from there once we were sure he could fully process meals (due to those ribs). Now, he's a nice plump boy with a kinked back and a tad shy about being held but otherwise a sweetheart. :)

What I was trying to say in all that rambling, was start her on the smallest prey you can get to make sure she can and will eat, then go up slowly from there. :) Hope she makes a full recovery with ya! :gj:

Start small on feeding... as you dont want to stress out her internal organs... If she hasnt eatin for some time she will not be used to larger foods yet.. so take some baby steps... it will be better for her in the long run.. promise

I find most of my snakes that have been fasting prefer a smaller than usual meal as their first--not ludicrously small, just little. (The adults like hopper rats, for example). So, I would try a rat fuzzy or a hopper mouse with her. You can very quickly move up to a food size normal for her.

Poor little lamb.

I agree you need to start small. If you have no idea when she last ate, I don't think a mouse pinky would be a terrible idea for her first meal. The main thing is just to get her to eat SOMETHING. If she handles a pinky ok, next time you could try a hopper. But you will really have to go slow with her, for now I would wait at least a week between small meals. Give her weakened body time to adjust.

If you can get her to eat, chances are she'll pull through just fine, please keep us updated!

Gale

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Originally Posted by PolkaDotPenguin

Ya i dont think that the pictures do as juctice to what she looks like in my hands. Her neck is little soo little and her skin is like old saggy peoples skin :'[

I just tried an medium adult mouse and she is scared of it. Wont even seem interested. All she does is curl into a ball and hide. I so bad want her to get some nutrients in her ;'[

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You should try to give fuzzies of mice!!! They can´t hurt your snake..but still is alive, and small...and Im sure that the fuzzies call her/his attention!!! :D!!

Pd. Sorry for my bad english!! :(

I think I would try a live fuzzy mouse. The reason is because you said she seemed scared of the adult mouse, and a fuzzy won't move around much at all. Plus it has NO chance of harming the snake, so you could even leave it in overnight with no fear, and maybe the snake would warm up to eating it in the middle of the night when all is dark and quiet.

OMG she ate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did kind of help her out a little becausee she is is soo weak. It was a pinkie mouse and i just opened her mouth a little stuck it in a little bit and left her be. Just check on her and its down!!!! I am so excited that she ate! Now the plan is to leave her alone a week just to let her chill out and relax. I am sooo happy she ate!

YAY!!:banana: i hope she digests perfectly and calms down a bit. if shes still dehydrated i heard soaking them in a lil pedialite will help re-hydrate them.

Congrats!!! But you should try something less stressful!! But I m really happy that she ate!!! :)!!!

I don't think I would have gone with assist feeding so soon after you got her. I bet if you'd given her time to adjust to her new situation, she would have eaten for you without help, and you could have avoided the stress. If I felt she was so far gone that it was imperative to get food in her right away, I would have at least tried leaving the pinky (I would have gone with a fuzzy actually) in her enclosure over night to give her a chance to eat it herself before I went with an assist feed. She doesn't look like it is that much of an emergency from the pics, but I do know you have said she looks even worse in person.

Now that you've gotten some food in her, give her several days to rest and settle in. Then try a slightly bigger meal, and let her eat it unassisted to keep her stress levels down.

I dont think i would call it force feeding. All i did was open her mouth and place the mouse in just a tab just enough to keep it in there when she closed her mouth. I didnt even have to hold her down at all or force her mouth open. She opened it right for me. So therefor i felt that it wasnt a totally stressfull thing for her. She was weak.
I did leave the pinkie in there for a couple of hours, in the dark and she just sat in the corner balled up.
I think she will be okay, and seemed a little happy to have something in her :]

Congratulation on her eating. She has a long road back but I am sure with your wonderful care she will soon be happy and healthy. You are great people taking in an caring for her!!

Update!?

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Originally Posted by MicheC

Update!?

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The thread is 4 years old and the OP has not been back since 12-10-2010

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww poor baby :(