Oh no, need prompt advice, have had an accident

[Badgemash]

I decided to take her to the vet in her little tub (I just took her bowl out and put the lid on) which turned out to have been a good idea. It's a sterilite tub and there is a small ledge where the handles attach and he said it was likely the cause of the injury (apparently he had seen something very similar before). Basically if she was hanging out up there on the ledge, pressed against the roof, and I pulled the tub open her skin and some of her neck probably got caught in the little gap between the top of the tub and the ceiling. Since the injury looks like a tear rather than a cut, and some bruising came up around it he thinks this is what happened. The bruising came up this morning and was not visible last night when I fed, so the injury probably happened when I first opened her tub to offer her the pinkie.

I honestly don't remember if she was up there or not at the time, but I have seen her do it in the past so I am assuming she was since I cannot find any other explanation and it matches the injury. It never occurred to me that her skin could catch in the gap since the tubs fit really snugly in that rack, but she is a very small baby (hatched at 32g, got to 29g, and is up to 60g now).

Treatment at this point is basically keep her and her environment very clean, so I will be F10-ing everything and changing her paper twice a day to keep any bacteria at bay. The edges of the tear had mostly closed back together this morning by itself, but he said since the wound was shallow and her baby skin is so thin he couldn't have stitched it anyway. He did swab it with something to clean the little part that's still open, and if she's up for it I can do a dilute betadine swab every 12 hours until it's fully closed (which looks like it might be tonight anyway). I am to watch closely for any signs of infection, swelling, or changes of color, and if I see them come back immediately to get her on antibiotics, and we'll be going back for a checkup in a week regardless. I wanted to start antibiotics anyway, but he gently reminded me that I would have to do it by injection when she's already pretty stressed out (and also very tiny and thus trickier to inject correctly) and that prophylactic antibiotic use is what breeds resistant bacteria. Her prognosis at this point is good, he expects a full recovery and the mark should go away in a shed or two.

She seems perkier today, which is a relief. I'm going to go measure the rack slots and then head to the store and see if I can find replacement tubs with no ledge. I am mortified that I have injured an animal that I am supposed to be nurturing, and I hope others can learn from my mistake. It doesn't matter if you're rushed, or feeding one snake or 200, pay attention, slow down, and look where they are and what they are doing.

ETA: thanks for the happy thoughts and good wishes everyone, I'll keep updating as she progresses.