Back in February, I took on a rescue snake with severe burn wounds. It looks like the snake got a really good hold on a heating element inside a cage. The burn was on the belly with 50% of the belly affected and the skin sloughing was down to the muscle underneath. This extended from midbelly to the very tip of the tail.
I'm happy to say that the wounds have healed amazingly well! The snake, tentatively named Zuko, still has a very visible 'limp'. The belly scales on the burned area don't exist anymore. The skin just puckered and scarred over the area while it healed so it's a scarred line and then the sidescales. I was very excited to see the snake finally exploring outside of it's hide for the first time ever in mid April.
Zuko has done so well! I don't know an exact age, but I'm assuming a little over a year. There was a bit of weight on Zuko so I wasn't worried about feeding for a long while. I've had a 6 month hunger strike on my oldest snake, so I know how this goes. I would offer food each week switching between live and fresh kill offers, but there was never interest. A young baby pastel was always happy to have an extra course in her meal. Late April- May however, Zuko did start dropping body mass. It's not to the point where the spine is entirely palpable, but I worry.
Zuko is still a bit shy about the very last 1/5th of the belly/tail area. Because of the open wound and now because of the scarring, I have only been offering smaller prey. I was worried about the stretching of the belly with the open wound if the snake did eat, now I don't know if the scarring would affect how well the snake can eat. If it were an uninjured snake I would be offering large rat pups, but I've been trying hoppers and small adult mice instead.
There's interest in the food and sometimes a couple strikes, but I think once the snake strikes it looses confidence because that's usually where it also looses balance from the scar affecting mobility. Sometimes on a strike it'll kinda flop sideways. I've left the smaller size fresh kill prey in the habitat with Zuko overnight and one time tried a live rat pinky. Another time tried braining. No luck. Just ignores it.
I've done 3 assist feedings in may at week intervals with the smaller prey items hoping to jump start the feeding instinct more. After the first assist, the interest in food did go up. More tongue flicking and posturing, but still not grabbing the meal.
My only real concern is the body mass. I know assist feeding one of these smaller prey items isn't going to help in the long run. Should I just wait it out a bit longer and see? Or should I risk offering a larger prey since the smaller items may just not be what Zuko instinctively wants and I'm just babying the snake because of the scarring?
Thanks ahead of time for any advice guys!
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