A possible Duct-Tape Nightmare

[DiscoJaguar]

Let me preface this by saying, I am a dumb ass.

This is a short tale of what could have ended up far worse than it did. Recently, I moved both my ball python and my dwarf retic into a sort of tub set up, and at the time it completely slipped my mind that snakes love to get into tape when ever they can . That being said, I had taped my heat pads to the back of the enclosures thinking that would be a sturdy way to keep them there.

Everything was going fantastic, temps were going good humidity was settling slightly under 50% for both cages. Then I looked into Artimus's tub, and promptly freaked out. During the night, he had gotten out of his cage and caught a piece of the duct tape that I had foolishly not noticed was hanging off and promptly got stuck. He proceeded to I can only guess wiggle around on it till he got off, and decided the cage was a better place for him.

At this point, i'm freaking out and calling the vet trying to get in today, thinking he tore off his scales and infection the whole nine yards. Now between the time I noticed, and the Vet I began scouring the internet of pictures and threads of snakes and tape, and most if not all of them were pictures of the snake missing its' actual skin, and showing the muscle under that. No where could I find a picture of what Artimus looked like. The vet informed me that he has scraped himself similar to how we would scrape our knee, not removing the scales at all merely just scraping off the top layer.

I have attached a photo, because I have yet to come across a case similar, and was wondering if you good people had any more light to shed on future treatment. (Not that I do not trust the vet but I live in a small town and he's not really reptile specific.)




Thank you for taking time to read all of that.

[Ridinandreptiles]

so the tape was outside his enclousure? i say just keep an eye on him

[DiscoJaguar]

Yes, the tape was holding the heat mat to the back of his cage (outside) I didn't notice that some of it was peeling up at the edge, and my guess is he rubbed up on it peeling it back more as he got caught in it.

[Ridinandreptiles]

oh i see, he looks fine IMO just watch him close

[MorphMaster]

You really shouldn't blame yourself... It wasn't inside the enclosure so u didn't do anything wrong... Idk if it's just me, but I don't go look at the tape every day looking to see, "hey look at this." quick grammar question, does the comma in that quote go inside quotation marks or right where I put it

[KMG]

It sounds like your "sort of tub system" has some security issues. I agree putting tape on the outside is not a bad thing but your snakes being able to escape is. I would rethink your tub system and upgrade it. Atleast your snake does not seem to be to bad off but if could have been missing and that would be really bad.

Good thing you had your snake tape to catch the little escapee. LOL!!!

[gsarchie]

I would say that your vet is spot on with the diagnosis. I do want to ask something, however: are both of your balls housed in the same tub? I ask because you say that you have 2 balls and the retic but you say that the temps and humidity in BOTH tubs were doing great. To me that says that you have three snakes and two tubs.

[DiscoJaguar]

I would say that your vet is spot on with the diagnosis. I do want to ask something, however: are both of your balls housed in the same tub? I ask because you say that you have 2 balls and the retic but you say that the temps and humidity in BOTH tubs were doing great. To me that says that you have three snakes and two tubs.

Oh! I must have misrepresented myself somewhere, I apologize. I only have TWO snakes in total, one ball python, and one dwarf retic. Neither of them are housed together as that would be irresponsible.

- - - Updated - - -

It sounds like your "sort of tub system" has some security issues. I agree putting tape on the outside is not a bad thing but your snakes being able to escape is. I would rethink your tub system and upgrade it. Atleast your snake does not seem to be to bad off but if could have been missing and that would be really bad.

Good thing you had your snake tape to catch the little escapee. LOL!!!

I only called it sort of a tub system, because it's not a full on rack (If I don't call it a rack, I wont want to bring more snakes home ). On closer inspection the way he had gotten out was I had forgotten to push the tub all the way in, and he had managed to stick his head out through the gap. In any case, you're totally right, missing snakes are an incredibly bad thing.

[Mike41793]

You really shouldn't blame yourself... It wasn't inside the enclosure so u didn't do anything wrong... Idk if it's just me, but I don't go look at the tape every day looking to see, "hey look at this." quick grammar question, does the comma in that quote go inside quotation marks or right where I put it

right where you put it.

OP- id be less worried about the tape and more worried about the escaping. You want to check and make sure that the enclosure is secure so she doesnt get out again. Tape is fine to use outside of the enclosure. The only time it becomes dangerous is if they get it stuck on them like you found out lol.

[gsarchie]

Sounds good, glad to hear that they aren't housed together!