This is CRAZY!!!!!

[Aric]

Coming home tonight on a heavily traveled 2 lane road and come to this point where we see something in the road, as we get closer I noticed it was a snake, which I thought was DOR (dead on road). The first thing that came to my mind was "pet". Larger then any other snake ive ever seen on a road before. We went right over top of the snake and somehow the car behind us also missed it. We turned around and got back to the snake very fast, as we get back to it we stopped in the road (no cars at this point).

I jumped out and ran over to it and its then I saw it was a 4-5.5 foot red-tail boa. I pick it up and I knew then that is was very much alive, hissing alot. We luckily had a cloth bag in the car that we put it in. We got back here and the snake was not happy at all, hissing very loudly. I got a temporary tank setup and opened the bag and the snake had struck at its tail and had quite a few teeth stuck in the bag, I got all its teeth out of the bag luckily without any coming out of the snakes mouth. I put the snake in the tank and he hasnt moved since. I dont think its going to live but im keeping my fingers crossed. He hadnt been hit by a car and its not overly underweight but hes got part of his mouth open and his head is laying on the aspen and tilted to the side. Ill keep you all updated the situation, hopefully he will live.

[ladywhipple02]

Oh man, Aric! He sounds like he's in bad shape...

Is he being kept away from your other snakes? I mean far away... boas are carriers of IBD.

It's so sad, but it's possible he was dumped off because he was sick and his owner didn't want to pay the bill to take him to a vet.

I hope he makes it.......

[Aric]

Oh man, Aric! He sounds like he's in bad shape...

Is he being kept away from your other snakes? I mean far away... boas are carriers of IBD.

It's so sad, but it's possible he was dumped off because he was sick and his owner didn't want to pay the bill to take him to a vet.

I hope he makes it.......

Ive got him in a room in the basement, the room with the pythons is upstares. From the spot we found him its possible that hes been out for a while. I just glad we got him from the road before some idiot runs over him just because hes a snake, people around here will go out of their way just to run over a snake, even if its on the other side of the room.

[ladywhipple02]

Good to hear The mouth hanging open, head tilted to the side thing is a bit worrying. But the fact that he was hissing and striking it good news...

People aroung here go out of their way to hit cats and dogs in the road (no kidding... seen it happen). So I totally know what you mean.

Thanks for giving him someplace warm... even if he doesn't make it, he'll at least be comfortable.

[Aric]

Its weird because when I picked him up off the road, he was holding his head up fine, he was moving alot when he was in the bag in the room while I was getting the tank setup. But now his head just hangs. Hes moving the lower half of his body a bit (not moving around the cage) and seems to be breathing normally. Maybe he injured himself somehow when he struck at the bag and got his teeth stuck?????

[ladywhipple02]

It's possible... if he pulled too hard trying to get unstuck from the bag, maybe he hurt himself.


If he makes it through the night, I'd definitely try to get him to a vet. Even if he's physically okay, he might be carrying something from his time roaming free. Personally---and this is just me---if he makes it through the night and seems to be resting easily, I would leave him alone for a few days, let him calm down while keeping a good eye on him, then try to get him in somewhere (just make sure you clean your hands, utensils, etc. thoroughly after you handle him).

I'll have my fingers crossed for him!

[jdmls88]

I wish you the best of luck, sounds like hes in good hands. On a positive note if he survives and revives you will have a RTB!!!

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

If you would like, I will gladly take him in if you need it. My vet specializes in snakes, mainly a boa lady. Let me know if you need anything.

[Aric]

hes not doing any better today, hes completely limp and im not sure if hes alive or not at this point. Im just glad he didnt die on that cold wet road last night.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Didn't realize this, you probably got plenty of resources there. My best advice for now is to keep him warm(leave the hot spot at a slightly higher temp such as 92-93 for a bit) and well hydrated. Out of the few boa rescues I have had my finger in, dehydration and less than satisfactory temp gradient have caused a bunch of problems. If you need anything else, I have a link of another forum with a few vet techs and a few guys that do rescues like this all the time.