Help me with burn and feeding issue. Please.

[SchuttsR1]

Hello all!
Well to start this whole thing off. My ball got a burn from a falty thermostat. I did catch it but not till I tried to feed him. I took him to the vet as soon as I could. They gave me the burn cream and antibody.
Well he is a 6 month old and he now hasnt feed in almost a month. He has lost 100 grams and I dont know what to do. I have tried ft and live and nothing takes. I used a pinky once and he just kind of moved it around.
Now if this was a normal situation I would leave him alone but since I need to apply burn cream three times a day thats not a option. The vet has said I might need to force feed him since hes young and getting weak. He was a very strong feeder before.
Just wondering if anyone has been through this or options?
Thanks!

[dr del]

Hi,

We really need to know how bad the burn is, how close it is to healing, what weight the snake is now and what weight it was before this happened.

Pictures of the burn would be really helpful.


dr del

[SchuttsR1]

I will try to get some pics up tomorrow morning. He started off 320 grams 4 weeks ago now at 240 grams. The vet told me it wasn't that bad.

[franken_stein]

Aw I'm sorry to hear about that! I can't really help much I guess, but I just wanted to let you know that my BP is burned, too. I adopted him so I have no idea at what age he got it. It was already healed by the time I got him, but there are white burn marks around his head, which will always be there. He didn't eat while it was healing (it must've been painful, the skin would've had to stretch right where the burns were if he would've eaten). But he's A-OK now. Just wanted to leave some encouraging words -- I'm sure yours will be fine in due time too! Good luck.

[SlitherinSisters]

That really sucks. My advice on thermostats, although it's too late for you, is that if you are going to buy a cheap thermostat you are better off getting a dimmer and checking temps every single day and adjusting as necessary. Cheap thermostats are a waste of money! Rancho and Johnson are the cheapest I would go. I would have lost my collection in the beginning had a friend of mine not told me to put a dimmer (a lamp dimmer) as a back up on my cheap RZilla thermostat. The thermostat melted a couple weeks later and my dimmer cut the power! I'm super thankful for that $10 dimmer! I keep them as a back up on my expensive thermostats just in case.

As for your snake. He might not eat until he is pretty well healed. I would be offering him a small live prey, mouse if you can get it. They are stinky and I always have the best luck with live mice and tough feeders. Don't force feed him. If you have to eventually, if he gets really skinny and week, assist feeding him would be the route to take. That's when you place a frozen thawed rodent in their mouth and they should swallow it if you put it in far enough. Force feeding is putting a tube down their throat and injecting egg yoke-that should pretty much never be used except for hatchlings who didn't soak up their yoke, or very extreme cases. Unfortunately not every BP makes it through sickness or injury. Hopefully yours pulls through!

[SchuttsR1]

Well I take it your photos need to be hosted to post here?
Thanks for the kind words guys! I would really hate to loss him. He really is a great pet and as tame as can be. I am starting to see some improvement as he's moving about his tank more. I may try an assist if he let's me.
Also thanks for the info on the thermostats. I'm going to use a dimmer switch from now on!