Urgent please help: Peaches got hurt

Hi all,
I hoped I wouldn't have to make a post like this but here we go. The boyfriend and I went away for a few days, and when the person minding them finally checked on them last night (we've been gone since Sunday) they found Peaches had somehow (with locked glass) managed to push the glass across and slide out, before getting stuck. I honestly don't know how long she'd been there, but she was alive and got put back but when we got back today after being told she was fine we've found her with wounds on her side and also near her butt. They are bloody, but there is no fresh blood and although she bulges it dosen't feel like any ribs are broken.

Sorry about the bad photos, we were trying to not pull her too much and it's dark out:
Bulging around where she got stuck:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/zMRRpp1.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/jfkACRw.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/Vo3UKP9.jpg

It looks a lot worse in person, and I'm very worried. She dosen't seem too distressed, and did her usual defensive posture when we picked up her hide. her eyes are bright and she is interested in her surroundings. She's currently trying to escape the box we've put her in to clean out her viv and put paper towels down to stop infections since blood means an open wound.

What should I do now? We cannot get Neosporin in the UK (only on prescription apparently) so I don't know if there is anything I can do right now. we are ready to phone the vet tomorrow morning.

Please help, I'm so worried about her :(

Silver sulfadiazine works as well if you can get that (brand names include silvadene). Betadine can work as well. Vet trip would definitely be good. Hopefully it's just external damage and all will be well.

since you were away and couldn't really assess what happened, i would recommend a vet just to be safe if you can swing it. idk much about wound care. it almost looks like she might have thrashed about, making it all much worse. ):

sending positive vibes ~~~

Thank you, will 100% call the vet and get her in. She's gone back into her viv now and is slithering about (as I type this she is having a good drink lol) and she isn't dragging her tail/section below where the wound is so I'm taking that as a good sign.

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Originally Posted by Booper

Thank you, will 100% call the vet and get her in. She's gone back into her viv now and is slithering about (as I type this she is having a good drink lol) and she isn't dragging her tail/section below where the wound is so I'm taking that as a good sign.

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please keep us posted. if you say she's moving normally, then yes that sounds like a good sign. just so i have a better picture: where at on the body is the wound? like that last quarter section? jc.

I don't have much experience with injuries, but I agree with what tttaylorrr said. If it was me in your situation I'd make a vet appt more as a precaution than anything else, especially since I wasn't there to see what happened.

Good luck, please keep us posted. Sending best wishes to you and Peaches

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

where at on the body is the wound? like that last quarter section? jc.

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Yeah, it's pretty much the last quarter. Will update tommorow and have a look at buying some Betadine as that seems like the most easiest to get ahold of. Who knew most antiseptics are prescription only in the UK?

I just can't believe some people... the person looking after them failed to mention they don't like snakes... they were ready to leave Peaches where she was and even hung up the phone when we insisted that Peaches would die if left there... Now that I'm a bit less worried about Peaches I'm getting more angry about how people think that snakes are 'wild animals' (their words) and it was 'completely different to if their cat got stuck in a door' (also their words). Peaches and the others are my babies and I will be absolutely devastated if anything worse happens to her. Absolutely gobsmacked that people still think like that :mad:

That's so terrible! Why wouldn't they just say that upfront so you can find someone else??

I have a friend who I'm sure would look after my snakes if I needed it and she's hung out with them plenty, but now I'm even more convinced that if I needed someone else, I have to insist on seeing them hold the snakes first.

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Originally Posted by Booper

I just can't believe some people... the person looking after them failed to mention they don't like snakes... they were ready to leave Peaches where she was and even hung up the phone when we insisted that Peaches would die if left there... Now that I'm a bit less worried about Peaches I'm getting more angry about how people think that snakes are 'wild animals' (their words) and it was 'completely different to if their cat got stuck in a door' (also their words). Peaches and the others are my babies and I will be absolutely devastated if anything worse happens to her. Absolutely gobsmacked that people still think like that :mad:

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:( you poor thing...i'm so sorry you (and Peaches) have to go through this. what they put you both through was nothing but an act of selfishness.

~~~ <3

They've looked after the snakes on multiple occasions so I didn't think anything of it... more fool me. I'm just so relived that a relative talked some sense into them, I really do hate to think what would've happened if Peaches had been there until tonight.
Thank you all so much though, I really was panicking when I saw her but I feel a lot more chill now, now it's just a waiting game to see what the vet says.

Hopefully everything is ok with no internal injuries! The external will heal. Her acting normal is definitely a good sign.

You really need to find someone you can trust and rely on to look after your animals.

Im actually worried about that myself as I don’t have anyone locally that would. I need to get my search on for a snake sitter should I need one.

I’m sending prayers for your Peaches. We need some kind of network of reliable snake sitters. I’m in Kenmore NY 14217 and would definitely snake-sit for anyone within an hour-ish drive.

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Originally Posted by DLena

I’m sending prayers for your Peaches. We need some kind of network of reliable snake sitters. I’m in Kenmore NY 14217 and would definitely snake-sit for anyone within an hour-ish drive.

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60440 here in the Chicago IL area, also willing to do the same. :)

Seattle here and willing to drive 2 hours any direction to help a herper out.

If that was my snake I'd get some Betadine (Povidone Iodine) and make a dilute solution the strength of a weak tea. You can get some at any livestock feed store (Big R, etc..). Use warm tap water about 85F to 90F. Then soak the snake for about 10 minutes every other day. Don't make the water too deep, just enough to be a little more than the width of his thickest part of his body. If he has Spider or Champagne or any other morph that would give him a 'wobble' be sure to assist his head to keep it above water. Otherwise just watch closely the whole time to make sure his head stays above water. After a couple weeks of soaking you should see some significant improvement.

Oh, the poor baby :(

I'm not usually one to run to the vet with every little problem, but this is one thing where I say, absolutely a case for the vet.

She was probably struggling to free herself and the wound looks almost like a crushing injury. For a wound to heal well and quick, it needs to be clean. Not just clean of dirt and old blood, but also have any non viable tissue and scales trimmed off. Plus, with a wound like that, giving some antibiotics wouldn't hurt !!

After that, just keep her on paper towels and keep the enclosure clean and sanitized until the wound is completely closed.

There is probably some tissue trauma and swelling, but that should heal up in time. But it looks to me like there is some skin and scales that may need to be trimmed off to give you a clean wound that can heal nicely.

The vet will know what to do :) Please let us know how it goes...

I'm crossing fingers and toes she will heal up quickly and without any complications.

Well, this is an unfortunate situation. And kudos to the BP.net members who have expressed a willingness to snake sit for others. However, if you are away for 4-5 days you really don't need a snake sitter. I advise no feeding for a week before your departure, clean the cage if necessary and provide fresh water shortly before you leave. the snake will do just fine. I travel from the US to Asia annually for about 14-18 days and follow my above advice and have had no issues. now, if there is someone who knows snakes that can sit for you, that's great. ideally cages will be cleaned and water refreshed as needed, but i think you're better off just leaving them alone than providing a sitter who is not up to the task.

Okay so!
We took her to the vet, and the vet is happy that there are no broken bones. She's given us Metacam (an anti-inflammatory) to give to Peaches orally as they wouldn't let us inject it at home, and so the plan is to put it in a small weaned rat to give her each evening for the next few days. I'm not sure exactly how easy that's going to be... Would it just be easier to put it directly down her throat?
And would it be worth getting some Betadine to soak her in as well to combat infection from the outside?

Glad to hear that nothing's broken! Betadiene wouldn't hurt to prevent infection if there's broken skin. As far as the oral dosing goes - feeding daily for a few days sounds like a LOT. However, I'd call and consult the vet before doing anything differently than they told you. Medication injected into a rat is likely to have a different effective dosage than direct oral dosage. Also, you'd need to be careful to avoid the glottis.

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Originally Posted by Booper

Okay so!
We took her to the vet, and the vet is happy that there are no broken bones. She's given us Metacam (an anti-inflammatory) to give to Peaches orally as they wouldn't let us inject it at home, and so the plan is to put it in a small weaned rat to give her each evening for the next few days. I'm not sure exactly how easy that's going to be... Would it just be easier to put it directly down her throat?
And would it be worth getting some Betadine to soak her in as well to combat infection from the outside?

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I have to say, that does sound a bit odd to me.

Ball Pythons don't always eat when stressed. And they want you to feed daily for a few days? I'm not so sure you would want the snake to constrict with these wounds?? Or that the snake would want to. The wounds are further back, so perhaps it may be ok. You probably also don't want the skin to get stretched right now, though, as it will with several meals inside.

I'd be afraid that the snake would refuse to eat, and then the meds are wasted.

Back when I did "rescue", I often medicated directly into the mouth. It wasn't that hard, really.

However, you should listen to your vet, if anything, you can call them and discuss the treatment further.

Keep the wounds clean, dabbing them with a cottonball soaked in a weak betadine solution will sanitize them. Other then that, keep the enclosure very clean.

Let us know how things are going :)

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Originally Posted by Booper

Okay so!
We took her to the vet, and the vet is happy that there are no broken bones. She's given us Metacam (an anti-inflammatory) to give to Peaches orally as they wouldn't let us inject it at home, and so the plan is to put it in a small weaned rat to give her each evening for the next few days. I'm not sure exactly how easy that's going to be... Would it just be easier to put it directly down her throat?
And would it be worth getting some Betadine to soak her in as well to combat infection from the outside?

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In the late 90’s when I had my red tail boas, my female got a respiratory infection when we were moving. The vet prescribed oral antibiotics and I was wondering how I was going to do that because she was close to 6ft long. The first day was a pain, loading up the syringe, holding her head and wiggling the syringe into her mouth to squeeze in the antibiotics, then holding her mouth shut while I massaged her throat to try and get her to swallow it. Understandably, she was not too happy with the whole idea. But by day 3, she did not resist at all and totally went with the flow. I think it was 2 weeks I had to do that.

With that being said, I never thought of putting it in her food but I wish I had. I fed her live but could have probably done fresh kill with meds inside.

I only have 2 concerns/ questions with that method.

1) I’m assuming since the meds need to be administered every day, the prey item offered will be much smaller than normal to avoid her getting full and refusing it, and thereby wasting a full dose of meds, but their metabolism is slow so depending on how long meds need to be given she could still get full.

and

2) Going back to question 1, their metabolism is slow so how would that affect the meds if they are inside the prey item? In theory she could have several prey items/ med doses in her stomach at the same time, so the meds may not get released the way they are intended as a steady dose daily into her system and that would render the meds ineffective OR could get released all at once as the prey digests. If that happens, what are the risks of overdose?

Does anyone know if any of those concerns are valid?

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Originally Posted by zina10

I have to say, that does sound a bit odd to me.

Ball Pythons don't always eat when stressed. And they want you to feed daily for a few days? I'm not so sure you would want the snake to constrict with these wounds?? Or that the snake would want to. The wounds are further back, so perhaps it may be ok. You probably also don't want the skin to get stretched right now, though, as it will with several meals inside.

I'd be afraid that the snake would refuse to eat, and then the meds are wasted.

Back when I did "rescue", I often medicated directly into the mouth. It wasn't that hard, really.

However, you should listen to your vet, if anything, you can call them and discuss the treatment further.

Keep the wounds clean, dabbing them with a cottonball soaked in a weak betadine solution will sanitize them. Other then that, keep the enclosure very clean.

Let us know how things are going :)

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Ok similar to what I mentioned I was thinking. Your post wasn’t up yet when I began writing mine.

They are valid points Sgt, you would think the meds being inside of the rodent would take a while to actually take effect.

With a Ball Python, most likely the amount of meds is quite small. You could probably use a dropper (like they have for children at the drugstore) or a large eye dropper.
They aren't very thick, so you wouldn't have to shove something as big around as a syringe into the throat. Droppers are also nicely rounded at the edge. You could also run some super fine sandpaper along the edge to make it super smooth. Less danger of irritating or damaging the throat.

I guess you could try the "feed with meds" method first, though. It just really sounds odd to me..

Sounds to me that this vet isn't terribly familiar with snakes, considering that feeding every day, and adding meds to the food, is more of a mammal strategy.

Eek! I can see why you've been so concerned, but I'm glad to hear she doesn't have any broken bones. I hope she heals quickly!

Phew!!! Glad to hear no broken bones and the injuries seem minimal.

I gotta say, feeding a snake daily sounds like an odd Rx to me. But I'm no vet.
I personally wouldnt stray from the vets regiment though, because I would fear dosing the snake directly may alter the medication's dosage strength and cause more harm than good.
I wouldn't hesitate to call the vet back though if Peaches refuses the food, because of course now she wouldn't be getting her meds.

Anyway, great job getting her to the vet quickly and getting her on the road to recovery. She's lucky to have you!! :gj:
...just find yourself a better snake sitter moving forward, hahahaha.

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

Sounds to me that this vet isn't terribly familiar with snakes, considering that feeding every day, and adding meds to the food, is more of a mammal strategy.

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Yes, a vet that is obviously ignorant of ball python feeding and metabolism. I don't care if the person went to school and has the title "Veterinarian", they clearly have no idea what they are talking about in saying that you should feed a weaned rat every day! Many vets, work with mammals 99% of the time, with the occasional bird or reptile. If they even had any knowledge at all of snakes, they would understand that feeding every night is a laughable mistake. Ridiculous. Even if you do go with this strategy, a weaned rat is way too big to feed daily. You will have to feed a VERY SMALL prey item, like a young mouse, and just hope and pray the snake is in the mood to eat, with a major belly injury.

The oral injection idea mentioned above sounds more realistic. Find a new vet next time.

I'm really upset I took her to a bad vet :( We rang back and the vet said that giving without food is a no-no since the there needs to be food in the stomach to give it... and now I'm really confused because I don't know much about snake metabolism and honestly I'm just back to freaking out again because I just want to do whats best for Peachy :( She is 1155g and she eats a small rat every two weeks, last time she was fed was the 11th of March, how long would it be in her system for? Would it be okay to just inject it down her throat? I'm so confused, I've got people telling me to trust the vet and not listen to people online who aren't even in the same country and then I've got you guys who are a lot more knowledgeable and I just want to do what's right.

Here are some helpful tools IF someone has to dose a snake orally. (not saying that is what OP should do, just a FYI)

Not everyone has a professional dosing kit at home, but this works as well..


Cheap dropper, found at most walmarts or drug stores, nice and smooth and not to wide, so can be inserted deeper down the throat to make sure the medicine goes down. I recommend taking fine sand paper and running it over the edge of the dropper making it sure its completely smooth and soft so it doesn't scrape the throat. Works well with smaller amounts of meds.

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens...263a08e8d.jpeg


If you need to give larger amounts of meds but want the smoother and narrower tube (rather then a syringe) this is a good option. Usually found online. Can also be smoothed out with sand paper to make it soft and smooth at the opening.

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens...L._SL1500_.jpg


I have these speculums at home. Have ever only needed them once, but they are good to have around. Holds the mouth open safely while you insert the droppers into the mouth/neck. That can be done without a speculum, too, it just makes it easier. There is also a plastic version..

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens..._180_pic_1.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens..._182_pic_1.jpg


Hold the snake with the head and upper body elevated for at least 30 seconds or so to make sure the meds go down into the stomach.

If I am wrong, then I am wrong. Go ahead and follow the vet's advice and TRY to feed a weaned rat with medicine inside it EVERY DAY. Let me know how that works, and good luck with that. If the strategy works, I will eat my words, and apologize, if the strategy fails, call the vet back and tell them, that sure enough the snake won't eat veery day, and NOW WHAT DO I DO? I just want what is best for the snake, and I cannot foresee the snake eating a small weaned rat every day.
But what do I know? I am just a

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people online who aren't even in the same country.

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lol, I hope it works, I hope the vet is right, so your snake heals. I am not a vet, so I don't know what else to do, and I am not dispensing any medical advice, I am just stating that the feeding idea sounds unrealistic, and I have fed ball pythons approximately 400 times in the last few years.

If the vet says that the snake needs food in the stomach in order to safely feed the medicine, then just feed to snake one normal meal. It will take quite a few days to digest that one meal.
Or try to feed smaller prey items daily, like small mice.

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

If I am wrong, then I am wrong. Go ahead and follow the vet's advice and TRY to feed a weaned rat with medicine inside it EVERY DAY. Let me know how that works, and good luck with that. If the strategy works, I will eat my words, and apologize, if the strategy fails, call the vet back and tell them, that sure enough the snake won't eat veery day, and NOW WHAT DO I DO? I just want what is best for the snake, and I cannot foresee the snake eating a small weaned rat every day.
But what do I know? I am just a
lol, I hope it works, I hope the vet is right, so your snake heals. I am not a vet, so I don't know what else to do, and I am not dispensing any medical advice, I am just stating that the feeding idea sounds unrealistic, and I have fed ball pythons approximately 400 times in the last few years.

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I have already said that feeding her isn't working, so we phoned the vet to see if it would work to just feed her on her own. I never said that I did not want to listen to people from other countries, I am saying that people here are telling me not to, and it's confusing me and making me worried that if I do what the vet says it will be wrong but also if something I do from what someone on here has told me to do is wrong too, do that make more sense? I get the feeling from your 'internet tone' you are angry and I don't know what I've done to upset you, but I am very scared and worried because this is the first time this has happened for me and I am extremely worried about doing the wrong thing, does that make more sense?

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Originally Posted by Booper

I have already said that feeding her isn't working, so we phoned the vet to see if it would work to just feed her on her own. I never said that I did not want to listen to people from other countries, I am saying that people here are telling me not to, and it's confusing me and making me worried that if I do what the vet says it will be wrong but also if something I do from what someone on here has told me to do is wrong too, do that make more sense? I get the feeling from your 'internet tone' you are angry and I don't know what I've done to upset you, but I am very scared and worried because this is the first time this has happened for me and I am extremely worried about doing the wrong thing, does that make more sense?

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No, I am absolutely not angry. If the feeding strategy is not working, than what did the vet say to do? I am just ridiculing the vet's medicinal administration method. There must be a better method, especially if the prescribed method fails completely. I don't think force-feeding the snake would be a great idea either. Not sure about that, but again, if the snake won't take a weaned rat, try a very small prey item.

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

No, I am absolutely not angry. If the feeding strategy is not working, than what did the vet say to do? I am just ridiculing the vet's medicinal administration method. There must be a better method, especially if the prescribed method fails completely. I don't think force-feeding the snake would be a great idea either. Not sure about that, but again, if the snake won't take a weaned rat, try a very small prey item.

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Thank you for clearing that up, I'm sorry for over reacting and accusing you of being angry. We have tiny mouse pups we can try, but like another user mentioned before I am worried that if I inject the prey and it takes a while to digest, I could end up overdosing Peaches which I really don't want to do.

Just to clarify. If I can get peaches to eat a smaller meal (like the small weaned rat) every, say, 5 days would it be okay to give metacam orally, as there would be food in her stomach?

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Originally Posted by Booper

Thank you for clearing that up, I'm sorry for over reacting and accusing you of being angry. We have tiny mouse pups we can try, but like another user mentioned before I am worried that if I inject the prey and it takes a while to digest, I could end up overdosing Peaches which I really don't want to do.

Just to clarify. If I can get peaches to eat a smaller meal (like the small weaned rat) every, say, 5 days would it be okay to give metacam orally, as there would be food in her stomach?

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I don't know, I am not a vet. What did the vet say to do? If the vet just said, "just feed it every day," then what did they say to do, if that fails?
In my opinion, I would say YES, feed the small weaned rat every 4-5 days, and give the metacam orally as Zina illustrated. It makes sense from the vet's advice that the metacam be given on a full stomach, and it makes sense from a ball python keeper's advice that most pythons won't eat every day.:gj:

But again, ask the vet. "what do I do? The snake won't eat every day, just like the ball python experts said!" Either force-feeding a tiny prey item, or naturally feeding every 4-5 days, along with daily oral administration of the metacam dosage seems the only options to me.

GOOD LUCK to your booper! I had a snake get stuck in the lid once also, and it was so scary! The injury was not nearly as bad as your case though. That injury looks pretty nasty, but I am glad there are no broken ribs! That is great news, the vet gave you! I am not saying you have a bad vet, they may be a great vet. I am just saying it seems they have very little knowledge or experience with snakes, based on the feeding advice. Reptiles require a specialist type of vet.

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Originally Posted by Booper

Thank you for clearing that up, I'm sorry for over reacting and accusing you of being angry. We have tiny mouse pups we can try, but like another user mentioned before I am worried that if I inject the prey and it takes a while to digest, I could end up overdosing Peaches which I really don't want to do.

Just to clarify. If I can get peaches to eat a smaller meal (like the small weaned rat) every, say, 5 days would it be okay to give metacam orally, as there would be food in her stomach?

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Please don't get to stressed !!

Let's figure this out ;)

Everybody is just confused at your vet's dosing method, because snakes usually do not eat daily. And we are talking Ball Pythons here, and on top of that, a stressed and injured one. It just seems odd.

But your snake isn't going to die, probably not even if it gets NONE of that medicine in it. Didn't you say it was sort of a anti inflammatory ? Or is it supposed to keep infection at bay ?
Did the vet give you anything to prevent infection ?

Do you have another vet you could ring and ask about this ? Is this vet a reptile specialist ? Just take your time answering, please do not stress in between. Peaches will be fine, even if she doesn't get the meds right this second, so lets just figure this out ;)


edited to say: Don't feed weaned rats daily either way. That would amount to a small rat within 2 days, and a large rat in no time. I'm pretty sure you don't need to stress the snake with a huge meal right now, they can't digest that fast. This method would only work if you find rat fuzzies or something of that sort. Not sure the snake would take that?

Ok, I went back and re-read your post. So its a anti inflammatory. Never really heard of giving that to a snake, but possibly some vets do.

Usually, you give anti inflammatory for pain and perhaps, swelling. Sort of like we do with Ibuprofen. Usually anti inflammatory ARE taken with food (in mammals anyway) and they can cause stomach irritations. NO idea about snakes or that particular med, though.

I would really like to hear what Deborah or other very experienced keepers have to say about this, is there a way to tag someone ?

Since that medicine is a anti inflammatory, it is not going to be something that will decide whether your snake lives or dies. So please don't stress over it to much.

For now, until you figure that out, just keep your baby comfy and warm, perfect husbandry, super clean enclosure, and dab the wounds with a weak betadine solution a couple times or at least once the day. Until they are not open anymore..

You did good going to the vet. It means you care and try to do the right thing. Sometimes though, vets aren't really reptile experts, and its always helpful to get another opinion. Of course you should listen to your vet, but if you get a funny feeling about it, it never hurts to ask another vet or some experts.

Good research Zina, if the only medicine is an anti-inflammatory, then what is supposed to prevent infections? That is the real danger here, infection, not tissue inflammation.

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She's given us Metacam (an anti-inflammatory) to give to Peaches orally as they wouldn't let us inject it at home, and so the plan is to put it in a small weaned rat to give her each evening for the next few days.

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Yeah, find a vet that understands reptiles. This isn't a puppy that needs comforting, and medicine in its dog chow. :rolleyes:

Ok, there are quite a bit of stories about Metacam online.

It IS used on reptiles, but the experiences the owners had, vary wildly.

It IS mostly for pain relief and some inflammation, and like with all those medicines, care must be taken not to overdose. Under dosing on the other hand, leaves little "effect".


Now..this is MY OWN PERSONAL FEELING about this. I wouldn't be comfortable with the meds or the instruction. If this was given by syringe/injection (which it can be) it is MUCH easier to give the correct dosage with the correct time line.

The daily dosage with feeding makes me uncomfortable. To many variables. What if the snake doesn't eat. What if it doesn't eat on day 2 or 3 or ? Just how soon is the med effective if injected into the rodent? Will it be effective immediately? In a couple of days? Will it double up if 2 or 3 food items are still being digested 2 or 3 days into this?

I just don't know. Not giving me the warm and fuzzies.

If ALL this does is help with pain, I'd be tempted to leave it out. While pain relief can be a nice thing, I would worry to much of dosing error and toxicity or other side effects. Snakes metabolism is quite different then a mammals.

I'm not a vet, though. And I may be wrong. Just sharing my thoughts.

I think I would make sure the vet is a reptile specialist, esp. snakes. Then I would bring up the concerns and discuss them. Ask about alternatives. Ask about possible injections. Ask about meds preventing infection. At least a topical one. And if you aren't comfortable or if that vet is not a reptile specialist, try to get in touch with another one. At least over the phone for now, ask for a consultation.

I'm trying to be rational and not freak out, but my brain is just like 'PANIC'!!

I tried to do some online research into Metacam and Meloxicam in snakes, but really all I could find was other reptiles, Green Iguanas, and one study on Ball Pythons which said it was no good used during surgery (At least, that was what I got from it... I failed A level Biology badly).

The vets I went to are supposed to have specialised vets for reptiles, and it's where I took cinnamon to be sexed before as I didn't really know any other reptile people in my area. When we phoned the vet back today, she said that Metacam has to be given with something in the stomach (I guess like you said Zina to stop stomach irritation). She did also say that it would be better to just not give it rather than do it on a empty stomach, as Peaches should heal by herself, but the Metacam will help speed up the recovery. I know that ball pythons don't have a metabolism that means they need to eat everyday, so I'm hoping feeding a small weaned rat every 5ish days will leave enough time digesting for the Metacam to not cause any irritation, as force-feeding her a small prey will stress her out a lot and I don't want her thrashing around with her injury.

I cleaned her out again this morning since she peed everywhere and left me a nice little present in the corner lol :D I'm guessing bowel movement is a good sign.

Would there be anything similar to betadine I could use before it arrives? You can only get it on prescription (chemists here apparently stopped selling Iodine products early last year) so I've had to order online and it probably won't arrive until at least Wednesday. Antiseptics I would usually use on myself are rubbing alcohol, saline solution, or TCP antiseptic. But I am not a snake :P Any ideas would be great.

I'm sorry again for being so worried, I am trying to be rational I promise!

If the vet said Peaches will heal without medication, that is great news. Just relax, and make sure the injury stays clean.


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Whatever you do, don't use alcohol ! :O

I'm sure it would kill bacteria, but OUCH.

I like ointments that contain an antiseptic, but you have to make sure they do not contain added pain relief. Perhaps you could go do a drug store and ask the pharmacist what would be comparable to a betadine solution?

Do you have nice/big petstores? Not sure if you have vetricin over in Europe, but that is a nice sanitizer as well, and quite safe.

If in doubt, though, just wait, Keep an eye on the wound, make pictures when you have to handle her anyway. This way you can document the healing process and you will notice if things get worse, instead of better.

Well, you did pay for the vet visit, just call them one more time.

Ask what would be safe to keep the wound clean, and whether you even SHOULD put anything on it. I tried to google it, but you do not seem to have any of the products I'm familiar with.

What did they say about the risk of infection, or giving an antibiotic? To prevent septicemia?

What have you got to loose calling one more time ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

Whatever you do, don't use alcohol ! :O

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Read loud and clear!

I had a look online for vetericyn, but it seems I can only get it online even from Pets at Home so I'm in the same boat as the Betadine. It's 6pm here now so everywhere is closed, but tommorow I will have a look around and see what I can find.

I've read online that saline solution can be used on snakes, so I might grab Peachy in a bit and use a syringe to flush it out.

If you have chlorhexidine (brand name includes novalsan), that also works with an appropriately low dilution. However, since it seems to be really difficult for you to get anything useful there (how does anyone clean their cuts in the UK??), there's really nothing wrong with just leaving it to heal on her own as long as the wound is already clean. Just keep an eye out on it for signs of infection beginning, and as long as it is healing at an appropriate rate, just have faith in her immune system and keep her home extra clean.

Saline solution can irritate the healthy tissue - if there's no signs of infection at this point, I'd just leave it be.

Edit: Looks like I might be behind the times on saline solution. Properly prepared, fresh saline solution seems fine. But it also looks like just flushing with tap water had the same results soo there's that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Booper

Read loud and clear!

I had a look online for vetericyn, but it seems I can only get it online even from Pets at Home so I'm in the same boat as the Betadine. It's 6pm here now so everywhere is closed, but tommorow I will have a look around and see what I can find.

I've read online that saline solution can be used on snakes, so I might grab Peachy in a bit and use a syringe to flush it out.

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You won't have to do a super thorough scrubbing kind of cleaning at this point. That is only beneficial when the wound is fresh, or infected.

If the wound is healing nicely, you don't want to irritate the tissue. At this point you just want to make sure you keep it clean. Since snakes sometimes tend to lay in their mess, or it soaks the surrounding paper towels, you want to clean it when needed.

Since the injury happened a while ago, bacteria either entered deeper tissues, or it didn't. My biggest concern would be that the injury might possibly have been deep enough to let bacteria enter into deeper tissue or the blood stream. In that case, antibiotics should have been given as a preventative, so the snake doesn't get infection or worse case possible, septicemia.

I'm hesitant to even mention this, because I don't want to freak you out, and its not like you can do something "right this second", not even call the vet.

Most likely this has not happened, or she would begin to decline. I'm only mentioning this because "IF" you call the vet back, you might want to ask about this. He is the one that saw the wound up close, so he should have a better idea about all this.

So do not worry so much at this point, just write down everything you can think of that you may want to bring up to the vet, before you call :) I tend to forget half of what I was going to ask, by the time I'm talking to a doctor/vet.

The vet did say about internal infections, and said that it didn't look deep enough to worry about it right now, but obviously if it starts to feel warm/swell up/leak etc. to go back straight away, so I am on the look out for an internal infection.

I did get a photo of her today, it still looks quite bad, but it is a lot better looking than Thursday night:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/CfbyQ05.jpg

We're pretty sure the 'lumps' around the wound are just swelling, as they have started to go down.

That is great :)

I think she will be just fine.

Also look out for dark spots under the belly scales, discoloration and such.

She is lucky to have such caring owners.