Urgent please help: Peaches got hurt

[zina10]

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?

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

[Sgt7212]

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?

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?

[Sgt7212]

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

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

[zina10]

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..

[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.

[Pengil]

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!

[Craiga 01453]

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!!
...just find yourself a better snake sitter moving forward, hahahaha.

[Godzilla78]

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.

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.

[Booper]

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.

[zina10]

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.




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.




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..






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.