(Note: I know there is controversy feeding live vs. f/t. I prefer if I didn't get any lectures/hate for feeding live. This post is solely to get advice on the best care I can offer my snake AFTER the injury has already happened. Telling me I'm dumb for feeding live isn't going to help prevent infection. After this situation, I am considering switching to pre-killed or f/t anyway. So please, keep it to yourself.)

Apollo has recently gone up in size with his food and he is now eating small adult rats (they grow up so fast). Today was only his second time with an adult. The first time went very well, but today not so much. I was watching the entire time, but after he coiled, he almost completely covered up the rat so the rat's mouth was not visible. Once the rat had died and Apollo pulled away, I saw two small holes on the bottom side of his neck around the area where the rat's head was.

I understand the basic care for wounds. I plan on giving him a small bath with antibacterial soap to clean the wounds, but there are a few specific questions that no one seems to answer that I want to be 100% sure on. The first thing is how long should I wait to take care of the injury? I usually leave him alone for 48 hours after he eats just so I know he has completely digested, but obviously, a lot can happen to the wound in a couple of days so when do you guys think it is best for me to handle him to clean the injury? My motherly instinct is to do it immediately but I know that's probably not a good idea. Also since the bite is on the underside of him, I plan on changing the substrate to newspaper or paper towels to avoid dust and whatnot from the current substrate (eco earth coconut fiber). That requires him to be picked up and moved I need to know how long to wait before I do that. Along with the substrate, is there a preference on whether paper towels or newspaper is better? To me, paper towels don't seem like a very good option, but I don't have any newspaper lying around. If there is a reason to choose one over the other please let me know and I will venture out to find newspapers somewhere if need be.

Next is about using Neosporin/ointment. I know everyone says something different, but should I put some on the wounds after I clean them just to have that extra layer of protection? I want to do everything I can to avoid infection but if the Neosporin is going to do more harm than good, please let me know.

Lastly, I want to make sure I'm not downplaying how bad the injury actually is. Apollo has gotten a scratch from his food before, but I know bites can be much worse. Everyone says it should be okay if the wound is not too deep but no one ever defines how deep is too deep. The bite looked much worse initially than they do now. There was only a little blood coming from one of the holes but it was a very small amount. Apollo isn't acting any different and he had no problem getting the rat down, and he is now back in his hide sleeping. It has been about 30 minutes since he finished eating. As I said prior, the bite is on the underside of him, and it is on his neck about 2 inches down from the base of his head. Luckily when he was finishing swallowing the rat, he was upright just long enough for me to take pictures without having to handle him. I have attached to pictures to this post. If it is worse than I think, please let me know. I'm lucky enough to work at a place with an exotic veterinarian so I can go there if I need to.

I know this is a lot but I want to make sure I am doing the right thing for my boy. I really appreciate any help and advice. If I'm being honest, the only reason he is fed live now is because the breeder we purchased him from fed him live and when doing my research before getting him, I read A LOT on how ball pythons can be very picky. I thought it'd be best to stay consistent since he was so young. Now I've learned that Apollo is probably the least picky ball python ever and he will literally eat in any scenario so for his safety, I might be switching away from live soon. I don't like seeing him hurt and it's scary .