Quote Originally Posted by MommaK View Post
Yes vets go to school for years for this sort of thing( I am in the process as we speak), and as the person above me said they decide where to draw the line of what they will and wont do based on their opinion...in that school they get told to draw the line at a certain point, a point that they decide for themselves based on their years of schooling. How is their years of schooling more validated than years of seeing, breeding and working with these animals?

Ideally Ralph would have had a surgical suite attached to his snake room whisked the little one in there documented from start to finish his entire clean up, sterilization, and wound closure and made a public service announcement saying that this had a risk of septicemia, infection, dehession and various other complications and had his DVM.

How ever what he did was fairly similar to what would have been done if a vet would have agreed to complete it for him ( and when you first saw that wound, that would have been a BIG IF). They would have cleaned the wound, put what they needed to back inside and stitched her up. Yes they would have worn gloves and had an operating room, but the actual procedure is the same thing.

I still say he did the right thing and that the choice he made was far better than just culling the little thing without giving it a chance, and just look at her now.. an gly tummy but a wonderful looking snake!

sorry for the rant.
Ok. I agree that the method he used would be similar to a vets. HOWEVER, he is NOT a vet, as evident by trying to place part of the yolk back into the snakes belly. I realize he has no surgical suite. But sans sterile gloves ( not gloves in an open box across the room as someone said) is even to much a risk for infection.

The years of school MORE then validates a vet over a breeder in the simple aspect that the vet is TRAINED to so such things and not just trying it. If a vet decides against said proceedure it is due to his knowledge of what the out come can and can't be, which is what he is trained to do.

I submit that had the snake died, more then a few who agree with what he did would be just as opposed to it as I am and blamed the guy for not seeking out a vet.

And as you stated, septecemia ( an infection) dehission, bleeding and many many other things need to be considered and watched for post surgery. Nothing is mentioned in either video of that.

I am just afraid that someopne will try something similar to this at home and lose a snake that they should have taken to a vet to be saved. There is a reason vets or doctors don't post thses kind of videos. So that the average joe ( not a breeder with years of experience as he has) doesn't try this at home.