Injured Petsmart BP

[Slicercrush]

So recently, I was hired at a Petsmart about 20 minutes away from my home as a small animal department worker. As much as I don't often agree with how these chains work, I found the staff to be very knowlegable so far, and all well trained, my two managers even keep BPs and many of the other creatures they sell. That being said, their sick room can be pretty depressing. All animals that are found sick are sent straight to a vet, thank god, and afterwords its up to us to make sure they all get their medicine and care at the end of the day.

Today, after finishing my first day on the floor, I was brought into the sick room to help finish caring for all the animals. After walking in and giving a guinea pig his medicine (cherry flavor!) I discovered a young normal BP. He was thin and very young, probably about a month or so old, with a fully stuck shed. Upon closer inspection, the poor thing had a small section where his scales had gotten a bit torn off. I asked about this, and my manager stated that he had arrived with a small cut, but the vet said just to keep an eye on it and that it wasn't serious. Either during the shedding process, or by a worker that failed to tell someone about an accident, the poor thing managed to open up the gash way more. It isnt super large, but its very noticeable.

I want to try and care for the thing as best I can, so I started to look over his sheet. The poor thing hasn't eaten in weeks because they were soaking him twice a day, stressing the crap out of him, and not keeping any humidity in his cage. I called one of my managers in, and gave a few changes which she accepted quickly (Having been gone for a week before I was hired, she hadn't been able to check up on him), which was to lower the amount of soaks, and mist its aquarium and cover the top with a moist towel most of the way to keep the humidity high. Im hoping that this helps to relieve a bit of stress on the snake, and i'm going to try to see if I can coax him to eat in a week or two, if he's feeling better.

The main thing I want to ask about, is if anyone can give me some ideas to help deal with the wound. It is no longer bleeding, though I can't tell how severe it really is since the shed is probably making it look a lot worse. I was told before non-medicated neosporin could be used to help clean it and make sure it isnt infected, is this true? If anyone else has ideas on how to care for it, I would gladly like to hear it.

I don't go back in till monday, so i'll try to get some pictures up on this thread ASAP. Any help is appreciated, thank you guys.

Heres to hoping he gets better soon.

[Sunnieskys]

That baby needs to go back to the vet now. I work at Petco and that animal would be at the vet again asap. If a tear or any injury get worse it goes back. I am also one that I tell my store manager what I'm doing. I don't ask, I tell.

[Armiyana]

Hello fellow pet care associate!
Pictures can really help us understand it a bit more. As you know... there's sadly certain store protocols that need to be followed and sometimes those are infuriating. Schedule a recheck immediately with the store's vet. Also be sure to touch base with management to make sure other employees are taking proper steps with the sick reptiles as well.

Obviously, whatever the vet says is important to follow, but until then:

With the open wound I wouldn't want any risk of irritating it more. Take out any bedding in there, just paper towels for now.
It sucks cause you still wanna maintain humidity, but any bedding getting stuck in an open wound will make it worse. Mist it down as needed and keep a good sized bowl for the little one

Neosporin is great. Just make sure it doesn't have painkillers in it. Silva sulfadizine from the vet is a much better option for these cases if it's a deeper wound. That or if it's a really nasty tear, it may need stitches.

I would still soak the snake every other day to make sure the wound stays clean. It's important to keep the little one from getting septicemia from this wound. It can also help with some of the stuck on shed, but do not try to peel it off in case that's what made the wound worse.

Depending on how malnourished the baby is, the vet may recommend assist feeding if it still refuses food. Regardless, I would be very hesitant to try feeding this baby anything too large because of the risk of further injury depending on where it has the wound. You may need to start with something like pinkies to keep the wound from stretching and eventually work up to larger meals.

Someone may be able to offer up some alternative advice, but really, getting the vet to see this little one is the most important thing right now.

[Slicercrush]

That baby needs to go back to the vet now. I work at Petco and that animal would be at the vet again asap. If a tear or any injury get worse it goes back. I am also one that I tell my store manager what I'm doing. I don't ask, I tell.

Hello fellow pet care associate!
Pictures can really help us understand it a bit more. As you know... there's sadly certain store protocols that need to be followed and sometimes those are infuriating. Schedule a recheck immediately with the store's vet. Also be sure to touch base with management to make sure other employees are taking proper steps with the sick reptiles as well.

Obviously, whatever the vet says is important to follow, but until then:

With the open wound I wouldn't want any risk of irritating it more. Take out any bedding in there, just paper towels for now.
It sucks cause you still wanna maintain humidity, but any bedding getting stuck in an open wound will make it worse. Mist it down as needed and keep a good sized bowl for the little one

Neosporin is great. Just make sure it doesn't have painkillers in it. Silva sulfadizine from the vet is a much better option for these cases if it's a deeper wound. That or if it's a really nasty tear, it may need stitches.

I would still soak the snake every other day to make sure the wound stays clean. It's important to keep the little one from getting septicemia from this wound. It can also help with some of the stuck on shed, but do not try to peel it off in case that's what made the wound worse.

Depending on how malnourished the baby is, the vet may recommend assist feeding if it still refuses food. Regardless, I would be very hesitant to try feeding this baby anything too large because of the risk of further injury depending on where it has the wound. You may need to start with something like pinkies to keep the wound from stretching and eventually work up to larger meals.

Someone may be able to offer up some alternative advice, but really, getting the vet to see this little one is the most important thing right now.

Thanks for such quick replies guys, really hoping to get this guy to pull through.

Pics will be posted ASAP, as well as taking him to the vet.

Luckily, the wound isnt too bad (at the current moment of writing it), at least in how depth and length are concerned. Its more along the lines of the scales being removed, without cutting deep through into anything super fragile. I personally don't believe it deep enough to need stitches, but i'm also no vet.

We have the animal hospital in store, with a vet that has basic reptile knowledge, though if she knows she cant do it, we have a manager drive them to the nearby exotics vet. I'll have a talk with the in-store vet/managers as soon as im back to make sure the little one gets cared for.

Honestly if he pulls through well, tempted to take him home just so I know this doesn't happen again.

Had him switched to paper towels today as well. Wasn't on any substrate, but I didn't find reptile carpet ideal, either. Was glad to find that they had a UTH set to a proper temp with a thermostat, though.

[Bogertophis]

Thanks for looking out for this little guy.

[tttaylorrr]

please keep us posted OP!

[Slicercrush]

please keep us posted OP!

I'll be doing my best!

[Slicercrush]

please keep us posted OP!

Not the best pictures, working with the poor baby currently. Theyre gonna try to feed him again tomorrow, he seems horribly malnourished and no one is comfortable to try force feeding yet, gonna try to get them to bring him to the vet when my proper manager comes in. Hes still pretty active, and seems to be healing quite well, though the sheds still a problem, especially when he wont eat.

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[Slicercrush]

Got some closeups of his injury. Skins healed, though no scales. Also has retained eyecaps. Poor Baby...

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[Bogertophis]

Looks like the injury is healing OK, but in order to heal better he needs nutrition too. If he was at my house, I'd tube-feed him thinned Gerber's chicken
baby food w/ reptile vits added; it's fairly easy to do & very digestible... Poor little guy! I'm so glad he has you to watch over him.

In those first pictures his head looks so big compared to his skinny neck! But at least he's hanging in there...thank you for the update...I'll keep him in
my good thoughts for sure.