Ball Python Wounds Healing

[GwenTheBall]

Hey guys! So around 2 weeks back my bp got bit by a rat and it was totally my fault (frozen thawed is not an option for my location) it wasn't deep or anything but a single scale was cut in half. It is completely healed now although you can still see the deformed scale. I was wondering if you guys can post photos of your snakes' wounds when they were new and what they look like now. Would scales also grow back to the way they originally looked given time? Cheers!

[303_enfield]

If you can buy a live rat you can kill it or stun it. Heck, a gas set up is cheap. I learned in the 70's that feeding live can lead to blind snakes. Hopefully your snake will make a full recovery an not be rat shy next feeding.

After two sheds you'll get an idea how the scar will look. When feeding live don't leave the prey in for over thirty minutes.

Good luck!

[Bogertophis]

Feeding live can also lead to dead snakes...especially from rats. Just saying. Having your beautiful pet scarred up like a wild snake that has no option makes a nice
reminder that there ARE better ways to keep a pet snake. Rats are intelligent animals...being humane (pre-killing the rat using CO2 methods) is much safer for your
snake...even a tiny bite from a rat can result not only in scars but infections that are hard to treat. You don't think rats brush their teeth, do you?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The real question is not what other people's snake wound look like because they all heal differently but what is your snake wound look like.

As for feeding live it can be done safely if this is your choice (would be nice if people decided to educate others on live feeding rather than trying to scare them. )

[Spicey]

You can mix vinegar (or some other mild acid like lemon juice) with baking soda in a jar or bottle to make carbon dioxide gas. since carbon dioxide gas is heavier than air, put your prey animal in a sealable container with a tight lid, and "pour" the gas into it and close it up tight. the animal will die or at least be stunned long enough to safely feed it to your snake. make sure you have a batch of gas big enough to fill the container, though. an animal asphyxiating slowly is not a pretty sight or sound.

[dakski]

Sounds good that it is healing.

I agree with Stewart Reptiles that people don't have to be afraid of feeding live if that's their preference.

I prefer not to and I feed all my animals F/T from the time they are young (and frankly my Boas and Corns could care less). BP's can be picky but you said F/T isn't available in your area. Does that mean you want to feed F/T but feel you can't? If you didn't know, you can order F/T online easily and it's much cheaper.

If defrosted properly and offered properly, many BP's will switch. I switched a ten year old wild caught BP to F/T a while back and my BP takes F/T with no issues (I've had my current BP for almost 8 years now and she's happy as a clam eating F/T).

Having said that, if live is what you are into, that's fine, and sometimes damage can occur. However, if you are sure to watch and make sure the BP takes the rat and deal with any injuries, that's fine too.

How big is you BP and what size rats are you feeding? I only ask because if your animal would do well on small rats, but you are feeding mediums, for example, which your BP may also be able to handle, a smaller rat might pose less risk and be easier for your BP to overpower. I am not a pro here, as I haven't fed live in 30 years, but I think I've heard that elsewhere. Someone please correct me if I am off base here.

[GwenTheBall]

Thank you for this will definitely try it. I do try to stun the mice before feeding and even use the tweezers after coiling to hold their mouths away from my bps. Although in this case it was hard to keep it from biting since the mouse's head was hidden. I try to make sure my ball pythons are as safe as i can make them and suggestions like these are very appreciated.

[GwenTheBall]

They are around 1.2kg and i feed around small to medium rats. I have tried to order frozen rats online but unfortunately they are extremely overpriced in my area compared to live rats (around 5x more expensive) and are just not an option. Thanks for your reply.

[GwenTheBall]

I do try to stun it although in this instance its head just happened to be in a really bad spot and i couldn't really do anything about it. Although I do want to try the safest option so Im looking into a gas setup as suggested by two people on this thread. Thank you for the suggestion btw

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I do try to stun it although in this instance its head just happened to be in a really bad spot and i couldn't really do anything about it. Although I do want to try the safest option so Im looking into a gas setup as suggested by two people on this thread. Thank you for the suggestion btw

Number 1 rule of live feeding: NEVER stun a prey this is how you end up with a wounded snake.

You can either feed live responsibly following some simple guidelines or you should feed F/T