A cautionary tale...

[Dracoluna]

We all love our animals or we wouldn't be doing this. Because of that, we take every precaution we can think of. When I leave on a trip, I leave about 3 pages of instructions for my pet sitter so that nothing could possibly go wrong and they get a several hour walk through (even if they've pet sat for me before) at least a few days before we leave. This time, I was going to Hawaii for a week and my friend Jim was going to be watching the animals for me. He's great with everyone except the snakes which I assured him would be fine without any real care other than making sure the room stayed warm. He was relieved by that and I left without worry. I did the usual check up thing the first few days to make sure everything was going well and it was fine. When I got back, Jim surprised me by saying he'd cleaned tubs on everyone and refreshed the water. I immediately went to check everyone and things seemed fine. 2 days later, the room felt warmer than usual and when I opened one of my adult's tubs, I got a blast of warm air coming out. It dawned on me that he'd said he'd used my empty tub to put each one in while their tubs were getting cleaned and that 'empty tub' is the one with my thermostat probe. I purposely leave it empty and don't use it to reduce the risk that the probe gets pushed off the heat mat. I immediately pulled all the tubs out and stacked them on the floor (they have lids). Checking over every snake, they all were warm but they'd been on the 'cool' side and all seemed fine. Opening the lids, I cooled them down then checked the probe. It had been pushed back and when I put it back where it belonged, my herpstat began beeping a warning as it hit a high of 107.3. It took about an hour to drop the temps back to where I'd put the tubs back in and double and triple checked everyone. Though active, they all seemed fine. The next day, I checked and the only thing out of the ordinary was my lesser girl laying partially on her side. It's breeding season and she's been bowl wrapping off and on so I figured I'd check her more closely in the evening. When I got home from work, I saw her doing the same thing. Looking her over, the lower half of her belly was pink. It was then I realized she had a burn from the high temps.

Following what I knew of burn care, I changed her paper out and took my pastel enchi boy out, moving him to his own tub. Dany's belly felt a little damp and I noticed that the scales were starting to peel off as I rubbed her. At this point, she was still a light pink. Getting the betadine out, I used a paper towel to dab, not rub, it on her belly. At first, it didn't seem to stick but at least I knew it would help. The next morning, I was seeing blotches of brown. Same betadine treatment. Over the next 48 hours, her belly turned to a dark brown with the scales almost appearing to slough off if touched. Her paper was changed twice a day whether it needed it or not and she was treated with betadine twice a day. She'd lay with her lower half turned to the side, taking the pressure off the burn. On feeding day, I offered and she ate happily which reassured me she was feeling alright other than discomfort. By day 5, the scales were starting to harden and she went into blue. Day 7 brought about a shed and underneath the hard brown scales, her belly scales seem slightly wrinkled if you look very closely but other than that, she's back to normal. Up until she shed the burned skin, I continued the betadine treatments and the scales almost seemed to soak it up once they changed colors. It's been 3 weeks since she shed now and is still eating with no sign of problems. Luckily I caught it early and was able to be proactive about avoiding infection.

This shows how resilient they can be but also reminds me that all it takes is forgetting one little thing to have a catastrophe nearly happen. Anyone who takes care of my snakes, I reiterate time and time again which tubs are my 'permanent' tubs because of the probes both on my hatchling and adult racks. I make sure they are not moved, touched, etc. Because I didn't think he'd be even pulling a tub out much less using my empty one (he'd never held an adult bp before cleaning the tubs), I didn't tell him how the probes and thermostat system works. As this is my first year to really breed (2 of my girls are 3 y/o now and Dany, my lesser, is 2 but up to weight), I'm excited but because of this, not sure if any of my girls will go since they've been exposed to the higher temps. All I can think of is at least I didn't lose anyone even if none of them produce because they are first and foremost my pets. After this, I wish I'd taken pictures of the progression but at the time, I was too concerned with keeping a close eye on her in case a vet visit was needed. I did, however, keep some of the shed belly skin. It's a good reminder of why I'm generally so overly cautious.

[angllady2]

This is a reminder, no matter how careful we think we are, it only takes a moment for an accident to happen. I am very glad things turned out they way they did for you.

Gale

[CatandDiallo]

Wow I thought this was going to be much worse but was relieved to find out that only one snake had a burn. I'm glad she's feeling better. When me and my ex left for vacation a few times we were worried that someone would mess up somehow but thankfully it never happened.